Everybody has their own special brand of clutter.  It may be paper, memorabilia, travel-sized toiletries, a chronically cluttered foyer, an irrational grip on worn out old clothing, or anything in between.  

For me, it seems to be the thing that never gets put away.  

Why do we do anything?  In his famous TEDx talk Start With Why, Simon Sinek powerfully speaks to the fact that “what” never motivates us.  It’s always the “why.”  “Why” is what fuels us to do anything of importance.  Why have any of my hundreds of clients ventured into getting organized, sometimes in the face of inertia, resistance, or even dread?  What is it they all have in common (besides being out-of-sight-out-of-mind?) 

Last week I was so in my element buried under paper that I asked my client to capture the moment.  This snapshot could not be a more accurate representation of what my work looks like! You’re looking at bank statements and explanations of benefits that date back to the 1980s.

Given that I have a minimalism video series on YouTube where I dissect reasons for letting go of my own items, one can correctly assume that a donations bag must be lurking somewhere. In this video I give you a peek inside a very typical donations bag.

First off, I’ve met so many people who swear by their Franklin Covey planners.  This is NOT a criticism of the Covey planner.  I repeat, this is not a criticism of the Covey planner.  In fact, for many of my clients, hard copy lists and planners are the answer, and I actually dissuade them from attempting many digital solutions.  

A while back someone wrote in with a question on the Paper Tiger filing system. My email to her summarized countless conversations with clients I’ve had on the same topic. Though I have one client now who successfully uses one, I rarely see them in-use. In fact, I can’t go a month without finding one of these systems empty or abandoned in a new client’s drawers.