Like to listen? Check out this podcast episode, inspired by this article.
Here’s an embarrassing fact about me: I’m a clutterbug.
This doesn’t mean I like clutter. In fact, quite the opposite — I vastly prefer being surrounded by order and spaciousness, but my whole life I’ve been better at accumulating than letting go.
The chaotic artist’s studio. The writer’s desk piled high with a jumble of papers.
These are iconic images. (Just look at this famous picture of Einstein’s desk on the day he died.)
Creative genius, these images seem to say, is facilitated by clutter.
Some studies, including this one, described in this New York Times article, even suggest that messy environments encourage originality and a search for novelty. (Though it’s interesting to note that the same study suggested that a tidy, orderly environment tends to inspire healthier dietary choices.)*
What this study didn’t investigate, though, is the difference between mess and clutter. [Read more…]
A couple of years ago I ran a clutterbusters pilot program, and successfully cleaned out some big clutter “hotspots” in my house, including my closet, my bathroom cabinets and drawers, my nightstand, and several kitchen drawers and cupboards.
Unfortunately, I ran out of steam before I could tackle the Really Big Hotspot: the studio.
AKA the Studio of Doom. It was just too daunting to tackle at the time.
I learned a lot from that clutterbusters pilot program experiment, though. In particular, I learned these two things:
1) For true BHAGs (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals), if I want dramatic results, I tend to be most successful when I commit to short bursts, rather than long hauls.
(For better or worse, I’m a creator, not a maintainer.)
2) I get approximately 5,000 times more done when I gather a community around me to join in.
(The energy of the group fires me up and keeps me going, and it holds me accountable! When I’m on the hook to show up, and to report back what I’ve done, I actually do it.)
I also already knew that
3) All enormous projects are attainable, if they’re chunked out into small enough baby steps,
Armed with this knowledge, I didn’t need genius powers of deduction to realize that if I ever wanted to tackle the Studio of Doom, I’d have the best chance of success by:
1) Setting a time-limited goal,
2) Chunking my BHAG into digestible tasks,
and
3) Gathering a community around me.
So it was, with these three points in mind, that the Great ClutterBust was born!
I declared April as my Month to ClutterBust the Studio of Doom, and I invited anyone who wanted to join me, for whatever price they wanted to pay. 31 women jumped in, and we’ve been having a big, ol’ spring-cleaning party!
At least two or three times a week we meet up virtually at pre-scheduled ClutterBust sessions, where we check in to share our goal for the session, then head off to bust clutter, then report back again at a designated time. Plus there are additional ClutterBust sessions inside our Facebook group, as well as lots of “spontaneous clutterbustion.”
It’s remarkably fun (who knew clutterbusting could be fun?), and though we still have a week left, the results have already been astounding!
Watching everyone’s clutter fly out the door has inspired the heck out of me — as expected — and knowing everyone else is watching my progress has kept me on track.
I’m not alone, either; a common refrain in our check-in calls is, “I never would have gotten this done today if it hadn’t been for this call.”
Amen.
The really cool thing, though, is that the impact of clutterbusting has been so much more profound than merely clearing physical space. “I feel like I can breathe again!” people are reporting. “I feel a new sense of freedom, hope, and possibility for my life!”
Amy shared that clearing up her accumulated clutter has opened up space for her to think better about her health — her health, people! — and she’s now taking better care of body, and her whole being, thanks to the Great ClutterBust.
Kristie has experienced similarly dramatic results in unexpected areas of her life:
When I started the Great Clutterbust, I was filled with questions about whether my relationship should be busted as well. Cleaning out brought up some serious relationship questions as well. Turns out that ” taking it off the table” in the physical world helped us take things off the table relationship wise and clear the air as I cleared the house. Much sweat and two big SUV full of get rid of’s later, I feel so much cleaner inside, happier with my self, family/ relationship and home. The emotions and the clutter were blocking me worse than I suspected. It’s been a pleasure to sit together in our clean den and work on our creative projects!
Cool, huh?
Stephanie wrote:
Every time I throw something out, I feel like a pound of weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel connected and supported as I declutter, which has turned out to be much harder and more emotional than I realized. Knowing I’m not alone in this has been gold. The activity in the group is also a gentle reminder to keep decluttering a priority, so I don’t give up or put it off YET AGAIN. I’m getting clarity on how I want to transform my space to better support me, both in how I want to live and what I want to accomplish. I am literally clearing out the space to live my dreams.
And Allison shared the following:
For years my office/studio/guest bedroom/exercise room was also the junk room. A cluttered, inhibiting, disorganized space that accomplished none of its purposes. I had committed to cleaning and reorganizing it yet again, and not done anything, out of fear nothing would be accomplished in the long run.
This group gave me the support and impetus to jump in. Once I got going, my husband caught my enthusiasm, and it evolved from a clutter bust to a major repurposing (including some minor renovations).
Now it almost feels like we built an addition. We took two rooms that were ignored and avoided and reclaimed them as beautiful, functional spaces we are spending quality time in developing our hobbies.
These kinds of transformations make me absolutely giddy!
As for me, I had a big epiphany about why I’ve never been able to create the beautiful, inspiring workspace I’ve always longed for.
Yes, strangely enough, the room where I make art (and spend about 90% of my life at this computer!) has always been purely utilitarian, almost entirely devoid of aesthetic intention.
Considering that I’m an artist, and highly attuned to aesthetics, this is weird, no?
As I liberated surfaces and airspace, it occurred that although I have no problem creating beauty and order when others will directly benefit from (my art, music, classes, writing, etc.), I have never given myself permission to create beauty for which I am the only direct beneficiary. It’s as if there were literally no space for me to even think about what kind of space I would like to be creating in!
Perhaps more profoundly, I suddenly realized that surrounding myself in a sea of clutter has been a form of constant self-punishment.
It’s a vicious cycle: clutter triggers hopelessness and self-disgust, which triggers a self-punishing attitude, which triggers more clutter, and so on, in an endless loop.
Interrupting this cycle has finally opened a space for some self-compassion.
Clearing my clutter has liberated a new sense of permission to focus energy and attention not just on getting rid of excess, but on truly beautifying my space. For the first time ever I can actually think about how I want my space to look and feel, and I’ve been having such fun channeling creative energy into redesigning my floor plan, researching air-filtering (and non-toxic to cats!) plants to bring green inside, and brainstorming Ikea hacks for replacing my old furniture with sleek, new pieces that will not just function beautifully, but will delight me in the process.
None of this would have happened without the Great ClutterBust. I am so very grateful to each and every one of the clutterbusters in that group — your energy, ladies, fired me up to do the impossible!
As I’ve been clearing physical stuff out of my space, it’s made me think about the mental stuff that needs clearing too. Unfinished business, hanging over my head, weighting me down just as much as the pounds of stuff I’ve been piling in boxes and shlepping down the stairs, out the door, and into my car.
Unfinished business like the book I decided I wanted to write back in 2012.
Yes, I started working on it in earnest maybe (ahem) a year and a half ago, then shelved it “temporarily” while I was building out the content for Your Big, Bold, Creative Life Academy.
Given that the book is essentially the Academy in book form, it made logical sense for me to shelve it for a bit. After all, I’m not a superhuman, and working on two supremely time-consuming BHAGs at one time is crazy. Plus the Academy content would feed into the book content and ultimately help me write the book.
But shelving the book for “a bit” stretched out into almost a year, and is threatening to stretch into forever if I don’t do something about it!
So, taking a page from the Great ClutterBust, I decided to run a similar program, to help me get to “Done!” on a complete first draft of my book.
Egad — it’s making me sweat to state this publicly. I’m literally feeling a hot flush as I write this!
The same thing happened when I announced the Great ClutterBust. “Holy sh#t!” I remember thinking, “What the #*&% am I doing?! Can I pull this off? What if I fail? No! No! NOOOO! I don’t want to commiiiiiiit!!!”
Believe me, I’m thinking exactly the same things right now…
I take this as a good sign. Remember: the most important thing is to get comfortable with discomfort. I pushed through my commitment anxiety with the Great ClutterBust, and look what I’ve managed to accomplish:
Studio of Doom, before (June 2011):
And after:
Studio Closet of Doom, before (June 2011):
And after:
Corner and Shelves of Doom, before:
And after:
Taboret Corner of Doom, before:
And after:
This just utterly delights me!
Pretty cool, huh? Again, these “after” pics are really “mid-stage” pics, because a lot of this furniture is going away (after I find new homes for them — the artisan built maple computer desk, the fixer-upper vintage student desk, AND my Epson 7600 wide-format printer [not pictured here] are all for sale, in case you’re interested!) Project Studio Makeover continues, and naturally, I’ll share more pics down the road as I have them.
Meanwhile…
Starting on May 1, I’m running a 6-week program based on the format of the Great ClutterBust, called Finishing Blitz, and I invite you to join me! This is a great opportunity for you to get to DONE on whatever project(s) you wish. Some ideas include:
Really, anything goes! If it’s been hanging over your head, now’s the time to get it done!
Here’s how this is going to work:
• For the six weeks starting Thursday, May 1, I will be adhering to a regular writing schedule to work on my book. These work sessions will start off as 9:00am-11:00am PT / 12:00pm-2:00pm ET, every day but Tuesdays (and certain travel days). I reserve the right to change these times, if I feel it will result in better work or quality of life. (They may, for example, move to 10:00am-12:00pm PT / 1:00pm-3:00pm ET).
• Anyone who’d like to join me for those regular work sessions will be able to log or dial into a special conference room for a brief check-in/rally. This will force me to be at the computer, ready to go, at 9:00am PT every day (and honestly, it’s hella terrifying me!)
• For those who aren’t available for morning Pacific Time time slots (or for eager beavers who just want more), I will also facilitate hooking people up in small groups according to your schedule. We’ll collect everyone’s available work times, and I’ll create a Master Calendar for everyone to consult. (I expect we’ll tweak this system as we go, fyi. I don’t have this part 100% figured out yet, but I’m sure we’ll make it work! :))
• I’ll also lead a weekly rally — a live call at 4:00pm PT / 7pm ET every Monday — to help you clarify your goals, break your project into digestible chunks, assign time to each chunk, receive support, and celebrate progress; plus an opening rally on May 1 and a closing rally on June 11, also at 4:00pm PT / 7pm ET (8 calls total).
• Rallies will all be recorded. Work session check-ins will not.
• We’ll all be able to connect, share, lend support, cheer each other on, and celebrate victories in a private Facebook group, just for Finishing Blitzers.
• YOU name the price you want to pay. To give you some perspective, Finishing Blitz is 6 weeks, with 8 live rally calls. I run 4-week programs with just three live calls, for $99, so $149 would be a steal, but you get to decide what that glorious feeling of completion is worth to you . (Or what you can afford, if it’s worth a lot more than you’ve got in your wallet.)
If you want to be generous, you might want to pay $199, or $299, or $399. If money’s tight, you might pay $49 or $79. The average payment for the Great ClutterBust was $50, so since Finishing Blitz is 50% longer than the Great ClutterBust, a commensurate average would be $75.
Everything starts next Thursday, May 1, with a work session at 9:00am PT / 11:00am ET, and an opening rally at 4:00pm PT / 7:00pm ET.
Wanna join me? Click here to jump in!
Now I’m off to get some much-needed rest…
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
As long as I’ve been an artist I’ve yearned for a spacious, organized, beautiful studio to create in. Instead I’ve always felt cramped and cluttered, the sheer weight of stuff — in piles, in drawers, in cupboards — creating an irritating psychic hum that I can’t escape.
Like the sound of a jackhammer at the next house over, it’s something you get used to, but it’s a constant drain.
When I see someone else’s well-organized, uncluttered studio, I feel a rush of many emotions at once:
Envy (I want that, too!)
Shame (There must be something wrong with me that I can’t create that…)
Despair (I’ll never have a studio like that…)
For years I’ve felt intense embarrassment whenever someone enters my workspace. The fact that it’s upstairs makes it easier to keep informal visitors out of it, but it’s not possible to keep everyone out, and I cringe every time someone steps in the door. I don’t want to see the look in their eyes. I imagine they will think less of me when they encounter the truth…
“I’m an artist, not a housekeeper,” I’ve learned to say, and this is true. But beneath this truth is another one that I can’t avoid: a person can be an artist, and have a clean, organized, uncluttered studio!
Oh, how I long to be that kind of person!
Making that kind of identity transformation is not easy. If it were, I’d already have the kind of studio that other people search for pictures of to pin on their “Studio Porn” Pinterest boards.
For a long time I’ve been convinced that the true solution would be found in more: more and better organizational systems, more and better containers, more space — if only I had the money to afford a warehouse, a loft, or just a larger home with three bedrooms instead of two, so I could use two whole rooms for my studio!
More recently I’ve been coming to terms with the opposite idea: that the true solution will be found in less.
Less stuff will mean I need less stuff!
Less stuff means fewer containers and less furniture to store it, and less time to put it away.
Less stuff means more floor space and airspace and mental space.
Coming to this realization has been huge, but still, letting go of my stuff is hard. Sometimes it’s stuff I cling to because I think I might want to use it again, and I’ll be so frustrated if I don’t have it when I want it. But it can go deeper than that.
Sometimes letting go of stuff means acknowledging a mistake, like the hardwired Ikea lights I bought when I moved into this place… then never had installed… I feel a weird sense of guilt (or false guilt, really, since I haven’t actually hurt anyone and am not truly culpable), a feeling that I should be using this thing, whatever it is. So I hold onto it… but still don’t use it.
Of course, if it’s still in my space, I’m bombarded regularly with that same false guilty feeling! When I let it go, I’m no longer reminded of the mistake.
Sometimes letting go of stuff means turning the page on a chapter of my life that’s over, but that I’ve been reluctant to completely leave behind. Like the dozens of full-size samples of my ketubah prints that I paid good money to have archivally bagged with foam core boards, to display in my booth at wedding faires. I haven’t done a wedding faire since 2009, and have no desire to do one ever again, yet there’s still a fear of burning bridges.
I’m learning, though, that space and freedom are more important to me than bridges to old paths I’m no longer interested in walking.
Sometimes something gets stuck in my space because I can’t figure out where to take it. I’m loathe to send anything to landfill if I can avoid it, but what the heck do I do with the two old halogen photo light sets, for example? The reflectors and stands are perfectly good, but three out of the four lights themselves — the piece that the lightbulb screws into, with a cord that plugs into the wall — no longer work, and are probably not fixable, nor even worth fixing.
In cases like this, if I set a clear enough intention to let the thing go, eventually I find a solution. Freecycle. RAFT.
I’ve also learned that in order to clear out my own space, I have to be ruthless, which sometimes, yes, means landfill.
I’ve made multiple passes at clutterbusting over the past several years. Each one has been good… but not enough to get me the studio of my dreams. For that, more drastic measures were required than I was capable of taking at the time.
I just wasn’t ready to let go of enough to get me there.
Now I feel like I’m finally ready to go the distance. It may take me much more than the month of April to get there, but I have a sense of calm and ease this time. I’m finally ready to release my grip on so much that I was clinging to before.
I think holding onto stuff gave me a false sense of security. Something has shifted lately, so that the stuff I’ve been clinging too feels more like chains constricting me and weighing me done than like safety. Letting go feels like freedom.
I should be clear: I’m not dispensing with all my worldly goods. I am, however, acknowledging that, as Ann, one of the members of The Great ClutterBust put it, everything in my life is borrowed: my stuff, my home, my body. I own nothing — I’m just borrowing it for the time I get to use it in this life.
Knowing that everything is borrowed is helping me to choose more carefully what I want to surround myself with.
It’s like a library (another idea from the brilliant Ann): I don’t want to borrow every book, just the ones that are relevant, uplifting, or useful, and that I plan to actually read during the check-out period!
I’m painfully aware, all of a sudden, of just how many “overdue books” I’ve been hoarding…
Some time ago I went from ready to eager. Suddenly I was champing at the bit to clear out my excess stuff.
Even with my new state of readiness, though, I knew doing it alone would be rough going. So I did something really smart: I rallied a community around me, and created The Great ClutterBust.
There are 31 of us in The Great ClutterBust as of this writing (and more continue to trickle in). We share “before” and “after” pics of our spaces. We cheer each other on. We share resources. We empathize.
Most days there’s some kind of live session, either preplanned or spontaneous, in which those who are available can check in to say what we’re planning on tackling, then we go off and clutterbust in our own spaces, together. In today’s “live” ClutterBust session people cleared out closets and shelves, I wrote some wedding thank you notes (mental clutter that’s been weighing me down!) and drove my packed-to-the-gills car down to RAFT, where they happily took everything off my hands, including those old photo lights!
Score!
As the brilliant Ann pointed out, we used to think “Score!” when we found some wonderful object to bring into our homes. Now we’re thinking “Score!” each time we get rid of something!
And astonishingly, we’re having fun! This herculean task I’ve been avoiding for so many years has become fun! Who knew?
That’s the power of community. We energize each other. Our enthusiasm is infectious.
(Even husbands are getting involved! When I first told Miracle Man of my plan to run The Great ClutterBust, his response was “But I don’t want to clutterbust!” I assured him he didn’t have to. Then, what do you know, he started getting fired up by what I was doing, and joined in! Other members have reported similar husband-buy-in.)
Before the official start of The Great ClutterBust, someone posted in our private Facebook group a report on what she referred to as her “desk archaeology.” Oh my goodness, what an apt metaphor! My desk, every drawer and cupboard and shelf and surface in my studio (and home!) are like archaeological sites that my job is to dig through, sorting the metaphorical dirt from the treasures.
This is a big job. A Very Big Job. But shovelful by shovelful, I am unearthing the studio of my dreams, and that feels so good.
Wanna join us? There’s still time. The Great ClutterBust runs through April 30th. Click here to be part of the movement.
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
I have so much shame around my clutter.
What’s helping, though, is knowing that I’m not alone. Gathering a gang of fellow clutterbusters around me has helped loosen some of that shame for all of us in the group, AND it’s already gotten us busting clutter, even before the official start day of The Great ClutterBust!
Here are some pics of the Closet of Doom in my studio, before the first pass of clutterbusting:
And after the first pass:
Granted, there’s still a lot to do — ALL the shelves need clearing, but the difference now is that I can see what I need to do, and I feel a remarkable sense of fluid freedom to do it — with ease. I never thought I’d experience that!
Why was I able to tackle the previously impenetrable Closet of Doom today?
Well, The Great ClutterBust tribe is a big part of it. Having our private Facebook group to share what’s been holding me back helped me process the clogged up feelings, so I could finally let go of the clogged up stuff!
A lot of what I’m clearing out is related to a part of my business, and styles of art, that I’m no longer as intensely focused on as I used to be. I realized I was holding onto this stuff mostly out of fear — of moving on, of letting go of a part of my life that was so important to me for so long, of burning bridges.
It’s scary to do that. It takes a kind of trust in the future, which is why it’s taken me so long to let go of the physical residue.
But sheesh — some of this stuff I’ve had in a closet — and not used — for fifteen years or more. (!!!) Letting it go will help me make emotional and physical space for what’s important to me now, and it will be of so much better service going to someone who will actually use it!
So goodbye, ketubah print samples — I spent a lot of time and money making you so I could exhibit my ketubot at wedding faires. Now you will work harder for me in the print racks of some of the local Judaica shops that carry my work, or you will find a second life as the paper for someone’s new artwork, and that makes me very happy.
And goodbye, matts and boards and papers and perfectly good frames and mouldings I never used — I spent a lot of money on you, but have neglected you for years. It will make me very happy to think of you in the hands of school children or developmentally disabled artists who will love you as much as you deserve to be loved.
This is just the tip of the iceberg — for the Closet of Doom, and for the rest of my studio. And my home, too!
Perhaps the best part? Thanks to the loving, supportive, enthusiastic energy of my fellow clutterbusters, this thing I’ve been dreading and avoiding for years is actually becoming fun!
Wow!
I’m excited to see what my studio looks like after a whole month of The Great ClutterBust. I suspect we’re all going to be transformed in some ways we can’t even imagine right now.
Stay tuned…
Wanna join us? There’s still time. The Great ClutterBust runs through April 30th. Click here to be part of the movement.
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
