Success Information

Secrets to Eliminating Emotional Clutter


Are you plagued by clutter in your personal or professional life? Is there someone in your family or your work who is? Based on my experience, the answer is probably "Yes!"

As a professional organizing consultant for more than 20 years, I have discovered that eight out of ten people are bogged down in life with physical clutter somewhere in their lives. Ironically, most of them suffer in silence. In many cases, you would never know it just by seeing them, or even working with them, because they are frequently some of the smartest and most successful people in the world. In far more cases than most people believe, the clutter actually drives them to do or not to do the very things they want most or want not to do. In some cases, it causes emotional paralysis, even mental illness. The only thing stronger that their desire to get of the clutter is their desire to hang on to it, and a vicious cycle results.

My consulting business has been built on the concept "Clutter is Postponed Decisions®." In the beginning, I was referring to the physical clutter that plagues so many people in our increasingly materialist society. When I began to explore this issue, it became evident that the physical clutter was an outgrowth of another kind of clutter: emotional clutter - internal beliefs that control our behavior and our results.

If I just get organized, I will be able to do it all. I, or someone else I know, might need it someday If I keep it long enough, I can justify the fact that I bought it. I can't get rid of it because someone else gave it to me.

You can keep everything you want if you are willing to pay the price: time, space, money, and energy.

It suddenly occurred to me that decision-making about our emotional environment is just as important as decision-making about our physical environment. Deciding what thoughts to keep determine whether we just "keep on keeping on" or learn from our experiences, move on to even better things, and help others to learn by our example.

I once interviewed an extremely talented and prolific painter in her home studio. It was filled with beautiful paintings. "Do you ever like something you create so much that you can't let go of it," I asked. "On, no," she immediately responded. "I have to. Otherwise nothing new would come."

© Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger's Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com


MORE RESOURCES:

The Southern Ledger

Selig revels in Miller Park success
Bizjournals.com, NC - 11 hours ago
Selig also talked about the current economic downturn and concerns he had that it could impact the financial success of Major League Baseball. ...
Selig cites Brewers, Rays in declaring 2008 a success - MLB ESPN
all 243 news articles


OnlineSportsHandicapping.com

Sid Hartman: Team has had some success vs. Saints
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN - 6 hours ago
Brewster said he believed the play of the Gophers defense was a good sign for the future success of his team. "It just feels great to play a game where we ...
For Sporting News SportingNews.com
Vikings-Saints game plan Lionsfans.com
Saints, McAllister, brace for Vikings, Peterson The Associated Press
SportingNews.com
all 488 news articles


MLive.com

Academic powers find success on football field
MLive.com, MI - 10 hours ago
Vandy hasn't experienced this kind of success since the team was led by Dan McGugin, who retired in 1934. "We're changing the whole atmosphere at Vanderbilt ...


BART Riders Embrace Paying with Mobile Phones -- NFC Trial a Success
MarketWatch - 7 hours ago
"The success of this trial truly demonstrates the future of mobile commerce -- the ability to see account balances, make payments and participate in ...


Times Online

Fresh Barack Obama boost amid voter registrations success
Times Online, UK - 12 hours ago
Republicans acknowledged the success of the Democrat campaign in insipring new voters to register. But senior figures say that this does not mean they will ...


Music-Industry and Digital Music Services to Announce Major ...
MarketWatch - 10 hours ago
NEW YORK, NY, Oct 06, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Who: Board members DDEX, formed in 2006 to develop a single set of standard XML messages for the ...


SkySports

NASCAR: Stewart's success
SkySports - 16 hours ago
Stewart's No.20 car was overtaken on the final stretch by Regan Smith, but it was ruled that the move was below the yellow line going around the bottom of ...


Examine the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Market-Convenience and ...
MarketWatch - 10 hours ago
Datamonitor forecasts the IBD market will grow with a CAGR (200717) of 4.6% to reach $4 billion in 2017 and success will depend on brands demonstrating ...
Get a Deep Insight Into the Ad Funded Mobile Content Market ... MarketWatch
all 46 news articles


MLB.com

Phils' brass thrilled with team's success
MLB.com - 23 hours ago
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com Dallas Green (left, with manager Charlie Manuel) managed the Phillies to the only World Series title in the 126-year history of ...


Victory Days a success?
WTHI, IN - 1 hour ago
Now just a day after Victory Days has ended one of the main planners behind the event says it was a success. "With literally just a few months to work on ...

Success - Google News

home | site map | Randy Ross Unstoppable Success 101 Bryan Adams SEO | Free and Near Free Content, Links And Web Site Traffic
© 2006