One question that I hear often is “What do you do with the stuff that’s good?” Should you keep it? Can you just get rid of it? What happens if you don’t have it and then discover that you need it?
It’s happened to me…
I had a pile of really “good” stuff on my desk. This pile had articles that I wanted to read, ideas for new programs that I wanted to create and articles that I wanted to write. There were pages that I had printed off of the internet, notes I had jotted down about strategies to suggest to my clients and even information about classes and programs that I was interested in attending.
What should I do with all this good stuff?
Everything in the pile was “important” it was all related to me, my clients and my business. I “needed” it all. It was valuable and it represented revenue.
Well, actually it represented potential revenue. The pile wasn’t generating so much as a dime. What’s worse is that the pile had become an annoying distraction. It was in the way of my creativity. I was embarrassed about anyone seeing my desk since I’m “supposed” to be the organized one. I didn’t want to spend time doing the work that I enjoyed because each time I sat at my desk I’d have to face that pile. In an effort to minimize it I found myself moving it from one side of my desk to the other but in the end it was always there and always weighed on me. It was clutter.
One day I picked up the pile to sort through it, flipped through a few pages and put the whole pile aside, I was disgusted with myself. Then I stopped myself and took a look deep down inside. I realized that none of this pile was remotely “good” to me or anybody else if it was just sitting there. Nothing was going to change unless I dug through the pile, made some real “yes or no” decisions, and allowed myself to follow through on those decisions.
Here’s what happened. Before I looked through the pile I first spent a few minutes thinking about what types of things I wanted to be doing and why. This helped me understand what types of things I would want to keep. Then I went through the pile page by page. With each page I asked myself if spending my time and energy doing whatever the paper represented fit in with what I wanted. In the end, I found that even though all of the papers were interesting, only a couple of sheets of paper really fit into my goal and were ready to be used. I threw the rest away.
My hands shook as I tossed out all of that “good” information but in reality those sheets of paper were hiding what I really wanted. As soon as my hands stopped shaking and my heartbeat returned to normal I felt a huge weight lifting off my shoulders.
The most important thing is that without all of the clutter in the way I was able to act on what I kept. What I kept became a very successful CarrieThru program which has further evolved into my most recent program Clutter-Be-Gone. These programs have already helped many people get rid of their clutter and will continue to help many more people on this path. Had I not gotten rid of the extra stuff all around those few sheets of paper those programs would never have become a reality.
Now you may ask…have I missed any of the things that I threw away? I don’t think so. Frankly, I’m not even sure what I threw away but I think there was one statistic in there that I vaguely remember and would like to have, oh well. The bottom line is that if I had not gotten rid of all of the excess, even that one statistic, I would not have been able to move forward.
Think about it for a moment…what are your piles really costing you? What gems are hidden in there by things that are “good” and might be useful to you “someday”? Is holding onto all of that “good” stuff stopping you from living your life and following your dreams?
Ready to learn more? This is just one of the things you’ll learn about in the CarrieThru Clutter-Be-Gone program. Click here to learn more about Clutter-Be-Gone.
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