how to lighten your load before the new year!

i’ve been re-reading Deep Work (highly recommend!), and author Cal Newport shares this story:

“when Ryan decided to simplify his life, one of his first targets was his possessions. for years, driven by a consumerist impulse, he’d been trying his best to fill this ample space. now it was time to reclaim his life from his stuff. the strategy he employed was simple to describe but radical in concept.

he spent an afternoon packing everything he owned into cardboard boxes as if he was about to move. once the packing was done, he spent the next week going about his normal routine. if he needed something he packed, he would unpack it and put it back where it used to go. at the end of the week, he noticed that the vast majority of his stuff remained untouched in its boxes.

so he got rid of it.

stuff accumulates in people’s lives, in part, because when faced with a specific act of elimination it’s easy to worry, ‘what if i need this one day?,’ and then use this worry as an excuse to keep the item sitting around.”

your space is an opportunity to evaluate what you want circulating in your life! that begins by simplifying the path to you, and that path begins at home. while this is my pre-party purge prescription, i encourage you to leverage it this year so you step into 2021 noticeably lighter and deeply replenished. all you need is a little consistent effort, patience, and a commitment to take it one room at a time!

step 1: divide any room into 4 quadrants. does one quadrant look more cluttered or out of balance than the others? if so, begin there.

step 2: grab a box, and remove every other thing from the shelves and tables. when a room is ambushed by too much stuff that rarely moves / changes, your energy is being litigated by overwhelm. aim to have the space howling with a few empty spots. leave it alone for at least a week. after a breather, only return what you miss, need, +/or would buy again.

step 3: what’s collecting dust? consider that these items might not be worth missing, and donate them. when you clear out what you don’t love, you emphasize your availability for new prospects and potential. 

step 4: go back to step 1, and repeat through the remaining 3 quadrants. xo