Day 1 of the 5 Day Declutter Your Life and Mind Challenge
Setting Your Decluttering Challenges
So you want to start with a challenge that is realistic and doable. Set a challenge for yourself that you know that you are able to do. I would caution you over picking a challenge like cleaning up your whole apartment over a day or weekend or even cleaning your bedroom might be a little ambitious. You may need to break these down into smaller manageable steps. So, we need to start small but with something that you are going to see an immediate difference.
We want you to be successful.
Here are some examples of challenges:
Cleaning off a part of the counter in your kitchen.
Organizing your clothing so that you know what you can wear or need to launder
Doing a load of laundry (or 2) even if you have to go to a laundromat
Cleaning up the garbage and getting out the recycling
Making a phone call you have been procrastinating about
Organizing some papers….. perhaps making a few piles to look at for next time
Having a difficult conversation with a loved one
Gardening – I love this one if and when I have the time.
Pick something that is somewhat challenging for you but also realistic. Perhaps it is something that you have been procrastinating about or an area that has been causing you some stress.
Lets look at what it means to set SMART Goals
Specific – write out clear, concise goals
Measurable – the ability to track your progress
Achievable – set achievable, yet challenging goals
Relevant – set goals that are relevant to your overall life plan
Timely – goal has a target finish time attached.
Depending on how much time you have you can set 1 – 5 (or really whatever you think you can manage for the day considering whats going on with your life, energy, commitments, time, etc.) It really helps to write them down. And if you can be accountable to yourself and also to others you will be more successful.
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Please share your goals in the Declutter Your Life and Mind Closed Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/DeclutterYourLifeandMind/
Please share any thoughts or feedback in the comments below as this is a work in progress for me. Thank you so much and Happy Decluttering
I like when you mention “Pick something that is somewhat challenging for you but also realistic.” It’s so important to be realistic, it changes the way you think and certainly helps people through the decluttering process.
Hi Shannon,
Thanks so much. Yes, you don’t want to pick something that is just easy to do but challenging in some way. And being realistic is important as it is more likely that you will be successful if it is something that is possible to do.
Breaking projects into small, doable steps is a great way to go. It’s overwhelm’s workaround. The key is making the step so small that you will definitely experience success. And once you do, you build keep building one small success after the next. Best of luck to all with the 5 day clutter challenge!
Thanks Linda, I love your expression “It’s overwhelm’s workaround”. Doing something small is the start and the more you can do this the more successful you will be. We have an expression in the CCSG that is “small is huge”.
I think Gardening may need to be broken down into small tasks as well!
Hi Janet,
Sorry just saw this now. I think you are so right about that. I often give myself an hour at a time and just wish I had more hours in the day as I never seem to get enough done. Thanks for commenting 🙂