Q I'm overwhelmed with clutter at home and at work. I know I don't need all the stuff I keep around, but can't seem to lighten the load. What steps can I take to ease this?
A Do inner housekeeping first, and then outer cleanup will come more easily.
The inner gameExcessive attachment to material items often stems from a misplaced attempt to fill an inner need. Understand your inner values and goals, and examine the steps you're taking to align with them.
Set aside at least an hour for doing this groundwork, and be ready to do some writing. Take some deep breaths, put any other to-dos out of your mind, and focus inward.
Then, begin to write, listing your top 10 values -- the things that are most important to you, such as integrity, independence, compassion...you get the idea. Then trim this list to five, and then finally, to three. It'll get more difficult each time you cut your list back, but it'll help you focus on what matters most to you.
By the way, these steps are outlined in more detail in Jill Carroll's "Stop the Crap: Six Lessons to Get Your Life Back," which describes this set of tried-and-true activities for understanding your values and goals.
Next, focus on your goals. Try Carroll's question, "If money and time were not issues, what would I want to be, do, experience, participate in, or have?"
Consider short term goals--next week, month, or year--as well as multi-year goals. What do you hope to have accomplished when you look back at the end of your life?