Musings about electronic clutter

Posted on June 19, 2013 by moreen

With the advent of all things electronic these days, there are more ways for others to clutter our lives.

1. Plain old e-mail spam: filters, firewalls, and the trusty “block sender” function on our personal e-mail in-boxes are about the best we can do, however it still gets through, somehow. Unsolicited messages offering us everything from unfailing wealth increasing advice to physical perfection—in-box clutter. Thankfully we have a delete key!

2. Skype: like telemarketers, people find us and call with offers of activities we may not be interested in—digital telephone clutter. When I first joined Skype, I began receiving a multitude of messages before I even made one. Of course, I knew none of these people, and was less than interested in chatting with them. The good thing then was that I didn’t know how to answer a Skype call, so they went no-where. Maybe not knowing is a good thing, sometimes.

3. FaceBook: a great social networking tool, like Skype, Friend requests arrive from people and places I know nothing about, or on subjects I have no desire to discuss. In addition to that, people we have “Friended” post comments on our Wall that is potentially embarrassing—now we have Wall clutter! If we’re using FaceBook for business networking purposes, this doesn’t reflect well on our professional image. Again, FaceBook has provided a function to block these. Whew!

4. Cell Phone: telemarketers have found our cell phone numbers and are now calling at a frightening rate. And, if we inadvertently answer one of these calls, we’re billed for the time! Like Skype, I received in-coming calls before I even made one. If only those engaging in such behavior would find something more productive to do. Whoever invented call display is to be lauded here—don’t recognize the number, don’t answer!

And another thing about cell phones—my carrier sends me text messages that I really don’t need. Am I being billed MY minutes for that too?

What about people so addicted to their Smart Phones that they have their noses attached to their devices all the time? Could we call this addiction clutter?

5. Twitter: all those tweets that are posted one after the other by the same person, and occupy the entire screen, eliminating the occasional tweets that contain something of interest—tweety clutter. The designers have helped here too. These followers can be blocked, and unblocked when days are slow.

All in all, I guess some of my concern about electronic clutter is less intense than I thought at first. There are ways to prevent electronic clutter from taking over our lives after all. It will take some effort and risk to return to the real world. Are we prepared to do that?

How do you feel about electronic clutter? What methods do you employ in your business life and your family life?

Please join the conversation? We’d love to hear from you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We would be honored for you to reprint this article. If you do, please include the resource box below with the hyperlinks intact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moreen Torpy is the De-Clutter Coach, a Trained Professional Organizer, Author, and Speaker. Her new book is Going Forward: Downsizing, Moving and Settling In. See http://www.GoForwardDownsize.com for more about the book including where to purchase it, and http://www.decluttercoach.ca to learn about her organizing services and other books.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simplify, simplify, simplify

Posted on June 5, 2013 by moreen

What, exactly, does the word “simplify” mean? According to Merriam Webster, it’s to make simple or simpler as to reduce to basic essentials. We can go in a few directions with this definition

1. Commitments: Are we over-committed to activities that take precedence over our families? Or are all these activities preventing us from adequate self-care?

When we have no time for what we may consider important in life, or to re-energize ourselves because we’re on the run much of the time, eventually our lives will fall apart. Whether it’s our families that become estranged or we burn out ourselves, this is something to be aware of and concerned about.

Simplify by reducing those commitments to spend more time with family and taking care of ourselves.

Reading: Surprisingly, reading material that impacts our psyche can have a negative effect on us as well. In years past, I would read news magazines from cover to cover and one day I realized I was living in unnecessary stress. When I traced those awful feelings to what I was reading, I tossed those magazines and replaced them with books that were uplifting.

The same can happen if we have a constant diet of TV or radio news. There’s seldom anything happy there. I’m not advocating ignoring what’s going on in the world, just reducing the amount we consume. If anything earth-shattering happens, someone will certainly inform you.

Actually, any single input can create tunnel vision to our detriment.

Simplify by consuming positive reading and media. Find a comedy program on TV that you like and watch it regularly. Laughter is really the best medicine.

3. “Stuff”: By simplifying our surroundings, we can easily affect our outlook on life. Clutter in our physical space is directly related to clutter in our minds. The two are so inter-related that they cannot be separated. One does not exist without the other.

When we reduce the material goods around us, we will notice that our thinking becomes clearer. And conversely, when we get out thoughts in order, we will be proactive about eliminating things around us.

Simplify by asking what all those things mean and answering honestly, we can usually figure out ourselves what’s happening. Then by taking the next step to simplify that, we will find peace of mind. The key here, though, is to be brutally honest with ourselves.

4. Thoughts: How can thoughts be simplified? Aren’t they just there? Not really. For example, by holding onto negative thoughts or replaying the negative self-talk tapes, we can very easily become a negative person. By holding onto old grudges we can become angry, depressed, or both.

Part of clearing the negative thoughts is changing our input, like number 3 above. Another way is to forgive those who have hurt us. Remember that forgiveness isn’t for the other person, it’s for us. We don’t want to allow others to control the space in our heads.

Simplify by focusing on positive, happy thoughts, even if you need to pull away from your current pattern.

By working on these four areas to simplify, we’re actually downsizing the negatives in our lives and replacing them with positives. I guarantee that by doing this, your life will be happier.

What will you do today to simplify? Please tell us in the comments box below? We’d love to hear from you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We would be honored for you to reprint this article. If you do, please include the resource box below with the hyperlinks intact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clearing Mental Clutter

Posted on May 22, 2013 by moreen

Today we welcome Hazel Thornton as guest blogger in this space. Hazel is a Professional Organizer colleague living and working in New Mexico, USA. She is the originator of the popular Clutter Flow Charts. This post recently appeared on her blog at http://org4life.com. Glad to have you with us, Hazel!

Clutter comes in many forms. If you are worried about something, but aren’t doing anything about it — or can’t do anything about it — it’s mental clutter. For any persistent, worrisome thought, ask yourself: Can you do something about it? If you think so, or if you don’t think so, or if you’re not sure — think again just to make sure. If the answer is yes — you can do something about it – great! Do it! The pure fact that you are doing something about it will help you to not worry about it so much.

Why can’t you part with your mental clutter? Continue reading →