Mental Clutter - STUFFology101 graphic

The Future of STUFFology 101

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In the book Chrysalis, coach and author, Ann Vanino writes about cocooning. The caterpillar knows nothing of what the future holds and yet, prepares a cocoon for a metamorphosis into a beautiful creature that takes flight.

Fifty Years of Clutter Awareness

For over fifty years, since I was a pre-teen, I have been aware of clutter due to my parents’ penchant for saying “yes” to anything that was free and then not being able to let go. Forty-five years later, after my mother died and my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I cleared their home. We’ve all read the stories of apartment-sized dumpsters of possessions being discarded. That was my experience. Forty years after those childhood experiences, and in my fifties, I realized I had a talent for helping others release their own life cocoons created by physical, mental, and temporal clutter.

Eric Riddle joined me, and together we have written articles about decluttering and a book, STUFFology 101: Get Your Mind Out of the Clutter. We advocate the process of S.T.U.F.F.—that is, Start. Trust. Understand. Focus. Finish.

Success Requires Commitment

The truth is, many of us need stronger faith and commitment to the task we set our minds to. Consider all the New Year’s resolutions that are broken long before the change of seasons.

To be able to stand back and truly marvel at one’s success is often the result of dedicated and focused effort. Like the caterpillar, our unyielding effort magnifies into an unexpected magical creation.

Larger Impact for Limited Time

We need to have a larger impact if we want to ensure our limited time is well-invested.

Mental Clutter - STUFFology101 graphicLate last year, I posted, We NEED Your HELP – Please Read and Comment. Surprisingly, we did not receive a single comment or email answering the questions I posed in the article. We did receive one heartfelt and thought-provoking email, which still warms my heart.

While the clutter world is filled with extremes—Marie Kondo’s anthropomorphic approach of imbuing life-energy to possessions before letting go of those that don’t spark joy to the tough love and therapeutic approach with extreme hoarders—STUFFology 101 continues to urge clutter bugs to define an area of clutter and to take the S.T.U.F.F. steps in letting go.

Time passes more quickly, the older I grow. How I invest my time is more important, because it is time I can never get back. The same is true for you.

I know what it means to live without a lot of STUFF. I feel lighter after working through an area of accumulated clutter. I feel JOY after gifting someone with something I no longer need. I find pleasure knowing I have no desire to accumulate possessions.

Do I share these experiences in weekly articles on STUFFology101.com? Bi-weekly articles? Monthly articles? Do I work on another book? Do I totally reconfigure the website? These are some of the questions I will begin asking as I take time to enter a STUFFology cocoon.

In the interim, look for a major announcement Eric will be sharing this month.

Do Something In 2022

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Welcome to 2022. Now what?

The ever-popular New Year’s Resolutions would have you promise a variety of things to yourself, such as losing weight or eating healthier. A trip to your local gym in January will reveal how popular such resolutions are.

What about a less grandiose suggestion, and likely easier to maintain all year long? Do something. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Easy enough to say, but often harder than it sounds.

For example, house cleaning or decluttering. Broadly this implies cleaning up the entire house, which can lead to the daunting task of doing everything to make it model home perfect. A perhaps unrealistic expectation.

Instead do something in one specific area or room completely. Like sorting, filing, or shredding that pile of mail on the counter and washing the dishes. Failure to stay on top of daily tasks or chores makes them harder to complete as each day passes.

You may be different, but I find that letting things pile up makes me want to take care of them less. So, for me doing something is better than doing nothing. That said, understand that you don’t have to do everything yourself. Ask a friend or family member to help. The worst that can happen is they might say no. I have found people are more inclined to say yes when I bribe them with pizza!

The beauty of doing something is that it is simple and specific to your situation. Repeated daily, weekly, or monthly and the results become easy to see.

At the beginning of 2021 I challenged you to define your clutter and START dealing with it. Now that we are at the beginning of 2022, I challenge you to do something.