The Tipping Point of Clutter

I have been carrying around a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s, The Tipping Point, ever since it first hit bookstores.  I even made my family pull over during a holiday trek into the mountains to search bookstores prematurely because I just knew it had wisdom I wanted. 

Well, nearly three years later and following several incomplete forays into its pages, one of the professional organizers at White Space who knows me well gave me The Tipping Point  on CD.  I was about to embark on a road trip and she suggested it might be a way for me to finish the book.

The good news . . .it worked.

The better news . . .I discovered numerous points of wisdom that were key “a-ha” moments for me.

Consider Gladwell’s point of view on “clutter.”  Granted, he was talking about the information clutter we experience on a daily basis.  According to his research we are now besieged by 254 different messages daily.  And the challenge for marketers is to not only stand out, but to be memorable – or in his terms “sticky.”  The difficulty for them is that our minds are so “cluttered” with the immediate details, information and statistics of our daily lives that we have little capacity left for potential items of interest.

Guess what?!?  The same is true for our physical environments.  When your desktop, closet, cabinets or car are strewn or stuffed with clutter it is nearly impossible to focus on the tasks before you.  Do you find it difficult to make decisions?  Are you paralyzed by indecision in the moment?  Are you distracted by the stuff around you?  Do you often feel like the items cluttering your desktop are calling you . . . nagging you for action?

If so, you are not alone!  If not, let me say here and now that you are probably in denial and unaware of the distraction caused by your surroundings.

I challenge you to commit to do two things for yourself:

First, commit to clearing and organizing a small space.  It could be your desktop, a pantry shelf, a kitchen cabinet or your closet.

Second, keep it clutter-free for the next 30 days.  Does this seem impossible to consider?  Follow the steps below and let me know what you discover.  Good luck . . . and keep me posted.

1. Commit to clear one small space.
2. Organize and contain that area.
3. Spend the last 15 minutes of each work day re-establishing the newly created order in that area; straighten papers, hang up clothes, put dishes and appliances away.  Whatever pertains to the area to which you have committed.
4. Notice how much that one small change affects your focus, energy, time.
5. Let me know what you noticed.

To paraphrase Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point, little changes can create big effects.  Test your own.

(Buy the Book)