Exercise #8 (of 30): List Your Excuses
Then… give them a 2-year life span.
I realize I have a secret conversation going on in my head. And it goes like this…
“My ______ is a mess anyway, so I think it’s ok to live with another mess here ……”
I have a few ‘cluttered-up areas’ in my life. If you look at my computer desktop – you’ll find files and folders all over the place… the entire wallpaper is almost blocked out by desktop icons. iPhotos – no organization at all. Apple Notes – so many folders, I stopped know what’s where.
And unknown to me, they’ve become excuses. to accept clutter in more areas in my life.
That’s how clutter perpetuates.
Today’s exercise is – list them, so that you are aware of every ‘clutter-zone’. But instead of attempting to clean them up immediately, give them a 2-year life-span.
That’s right. Simply determine to clean them up within 2-years. Today’s exercise is to simply acknowledge them, so that you don’t have any hidden excuse to let clutter live in some other part of your life / home / office / work.
And if you want – beside that list – you can also list the contrasting ‘clutter-free zones’ that I wrote about yesterday.
Here’s my list of Cluttered-Zones (to be eliminated in 2 years):
- Computer Desktop [Immediate Action]
- iPhone App List [Immediate Action]
- Photo collection (it’s all over… iPhotos, Google Photos, Folders…
- Notes (Apple Notes, Evernote and (paper) notebooks)
- Tasks (in Asana, Trello, Wunderlist and on paper)
- Kindle Libary
- Contact Lists (Facebook, Google Contacts)
- … more… (I’ll add to this later)
My Clutter-free Zones (non exhaustive):
- Daily Planner
- Desk
- Wardrobe
- Calendar
- Walls (in the study)
- iPad App List (app home screen)
- Personal & Family Budget Tracker
- … more… (I’ll add to this later)
