Unclutter Your Life in One Week - Rilegato

Doland, Erin R.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 143915046X ISBN 13: 9781439150467

Casa editrice: Gallery Books, 2009

Riassunto

Organization expert Erin Rooney Doland, Editor-in-Chief of Unclutterer.com, will show you how to clear the clutter, simplify your surroundings, and create the remarkable life you deserve -- in just one week.

Simple living isn't about depriving; it's about enriching. But while scribbling "Be more organized" on a list of New Year's resolutions doesn't take much effort, actually becoming more organized requires real change.

Are you constantly late to the office because you have trouble getting out the door in the morning? Is your house in such disarray that you can't have friends over for dinner? It's easy to feel stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed when your surroundings, schedule, and thoughts are chaotic. The solution? Unclutter Your Life in One Week with organization expert and Editor-in-Chief of Unclutterer.com Erin Rooney Doland. This essential manual is a simple, day-by-day plan for purging your life of clutter, becoming more efficient and productive, and creating a symbiotic relationship between your work and personal life.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer for organization. Erin offers useful and innovative suggestions for tackling the physical, mental, and systemic distractions in different areas of your home and office each day. Her down-to-earth approach will help you part with sentimental clutter, organize your closet based on how you process information, build an effective and personalized filing system, avoid the procrastination that often hinders the process, and much more. Once you cure the clutter, she shares practical advice for maintaining your harmonious home and work environments with minimal daily effort.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sugli autori

Erin Doland is Editor-in-Chief of Unclutterer and lives in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition to her work at Unclutterer, Erin is a twice weekly columnist for Real Simple magazine’s website, has written for CNN.com and ReadyMade, and is in negotiations to contribute a regular column to Fast Company. She borders on having a fanatical commitment to a more minimalist and simple lifestyle.

David Allen is an international author, lecturer, and founder and Chairman of the David Allen Company, a management consulting, coaching, and training company. His two books, Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything were both bestsellers. He is a popular keynote speaker on the topics of personal and organizational effectiveness.

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chapter 1

Foundations

Simplicity is revolutionary.

Being overworked, overbooked, and overwhelmed is passé.

Right now, you have a choice to make. Do you want to live a stressful life controlled by your possessions and the demands of things that don't matter to you? Or do you want to be relaxed and living a remarkable, uncluttered life?

When I made the decision to live simply, it took me fewer than seven days to clear the physical clutter from my life. Unfortunately, those seven days took place sporadically over six months because I didn't have resources to guide me through the process. I wanted a manual to explain to me the hows and whys of simplifying, organizing, time management, uncluttering, and productivity -- but I never found it. I've created this book so that you can unclutter your life in one week. It's going to be hard work, but you deserve to live with less stress and anxiety. You deserve a remarkable life. And, most important, you deserve to experience all the benefits of being an unclutterer.

Unclutterer (un-'kl e-t er- er) n. Someone who chooses to get rid of the distractions that get in the way of a remarkable life.

Distractions, also known as clutter, come in many forms -- physical, time management, mental, and bad systems. When your surroundings, schedule, and thoughts are chaotic, it's hard to move through the day. If you're constantly late to work because you're having trouble getting out the door in the morning, then you may have a problem with organization. If your house is in such disarray that you can't have friends over for dinner, then your problem is likely with physical clutter. If you are overwhelmed with e€‘mail at work and laundry at home, then you may be using bad processes. If you are repeatedly missing client deadlines, then you may need some time management help. The list of distractions is endless, and only you know specifically how clutter is interfering with your life. By getting rid of clutter and organizing your work and home life, you will free up time, space, and energy so that you can focus on what really matters to you.

As Albert Einstein explained, "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler."

An unclutterer lives as simply as he or she can without making life difficult. For instance, I love books and devote an entire wall of my living room to them, but I don't have more books than I can store on those shelves. You might enjoy television, but instead of being tied to the networks' schedules, you record programs on your DVR and watch them when it is convenient for you. Simple living isn't about depriving; it's about enriching. You're getting rid of what doesn't belong to make room for what does.

The official unclutterer motto has been passed down from generation to generation by parents, teachers, and large purple dinosaurs: A place for everything, and everything in its place. Nothing in your home or office should be without a designated living space. Every pair of slacks should have a hanger and space in your closet to hang without getting wrinkled. Every pen in your office should have room in a cup or a container to rest easily when not in use. Think of it this way: If Oprah were to surprise you and say your home or office was going to be featured on her show, you shouldn't have to run around tossing things into a box to get your space to look the way you want. When everything has a proper place, you never have to wonder where something is or think twice about where to put it when you're done using it. This way of living might sound like a big change for you -- it certainly was for me -- but you're totally capable of making it.

Why Change?

I can't force you to become an unclutterer or go through the process for you, but I can give you the tools and information you'll need to make it happen. You're in control here, and you're the one who is going to have to put in the elbow grease if you really want to make a change. The benefits of an organized life are so incredible, though, that all of the sweat you invest will be worth it.

If you think making changes in your life is difficult, you're right. Considering an actual life-and-death situation, only one in ten Americans who has had heart bypass surgery changes his lifestyle to prevent future heart attacks. Most patients don't adopt healthier lifestyles because they receive very limited information and minimal support about how to make positive changes. When patients are provided with resources and the opportunity to learn about the benefits of making significant changes to their lives, the statistic improves from 10 percent to 77 percent. Almost eight out of ten people will make significant changes to the way they live if given the proper motivation and information for success.

So why am I talking about the grim realities of bypass surgery patients in a book on organizing? Good question. I mentioned these statistics because change of any kind -- the life-and-death kind and the not-so-doom-threatening kind -- is difficult. Scribbling "Be more organized" on a list of New Year's resolutions doesn't take much effort, but actually becoming an unclutterer requires change.

This book will be your support system and resource manual as you go through the process of uncluttering and organizing your life. Since I'm taking care of giving you the tools, you're going to have to supply the second ingredient of success: motivation. You need to determine why you want to make a change. What is it that will drive you to keep working even when you're struggling?

Close your eyes for a minute, take deep breaths, and let your mind fill with all the things that make you happy. I know it sounds silly, but do it anyway. Relax and focus on the good things in life.

What came into your mind? Did you see the faces of your friends and family? What were you doing? Where were you? Why did these things bring you happiness?

Now make a list of those things that came into your mind. Group items on your list that belong in the same overarching category. Family, friends, hobbies, personal time, good health, career, vacationing, and spirituality are common groups of items, but your list will be unique to your life. Also, no one but you is going to pay attention to this list, so be honest with yourself -- don't list what you think you should list, identify what really makes you happy. This list is your motivation. These items are the reasons you want to become an unclutterer. This list is a reminder to you of what matters most in your life.

Take your list and put it somewhere easily accessible. Fold it up and put it in your wallet or tape it to the dashboard of your car. There will be times when you're ready to give up on the process and looking at this list will quickly remind you why you're making a change. This is the life you want.

One of the things on my list is travel. I want to drink wine in Bordeaux, ski the Alps in Switzerland, and photograph elephants in Thailand. To make these trips, I have to save my money and be able to clear my calendar on short notice. Budgeting my finances and juggling my work responsibilities require scheduling, time management, and planning. The more organized and uncluttered my life is, the easier it is for me to be able to travel. Experiencing the world firsthand is a powerful motivator, and so is time with my husband, family, and friends, and being able to accomplish the other items on my list. Do a bit of soul searching and figure out what and who matter most to you. What is it you wish you could do more often or with improved quality?

Work-Life Symbiosis

When people talk about what matters most and what they hope to achieve through the uncluttering process, I often hear responses that include the phrase "work-life balance." People need to work, but they want to balance that need for income with a rich personal life.

"Work-life balance" is just a buzz phrase in the business world. As far as I can tell, it exists for the sole purpose of making people feel bad. We hear the phrase "work-life balance" and like Pavlov's dog we're triggered into thinking, "Ugh, if only I had work-life balance! I would be happy if I had work-life balance! It sounds so dreamy!"

Um, it's not dreamy -- it's bullshit.

Seriously, do you want your work life to sit in perfect balance with your personal life? Do you want to be at work the exact same amount of time as your free time? (And, don't forget, you spend a good portion of that free time sleeping.) Since there are 168 hours in a week, you would need to work 84 hours to keep things in "balance." To keep things equal, you wouldn't have time to enjoy the money you would be making.

Put aside the numbers for a minute and think only about the quality of your work. My guess is that you draw from experiences in your personal life to help solve problems in your work life. You remember something you encountered when you weren't at your office or from your past and it helps to spur an idea that advances your work. You can't flip a switch and immediately stop being Personal You when you're in the office fulfilling the role of Employee You. You're one person, not two, and you can't be balanced.

Stop feeling inadequate about not having "work-life balance" and accept the fact that it is unachievable and undesirable. Instead, aim for something you can attain and enjoy: work-life symbiosis.

Work-life symbiosis is what you achieve when all aspects of your life exist together harmoniously. It's as crucial to your achieving a remarkable life as simplifying, organizing, managing your time, uncluttering, maintaining your ideal level of productivity, and exploring your personal interests. In fact, the work-life symbiosis concept is the basis of how this book is organized. Explore a week of your life and see how you can smoothly transition f...

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Gallery Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2009
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 143915046X
• ISBN 13: 9781439150467
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 237
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: Indigo Musikproduktion + Vertrieb GmbH; https://www.indigo.de; ; Schlachthofstr. 36a; Hamburg; 21079; Germania