Life's Little Inspirations

Today we have a very special guest writer. My husband, John Kelly, shares his thoughts on how he is helping to fight the War on Clutter at our house. I can’t thank him enough for his continued support in all areas of our life. Thanks John!

My wife’s recent war on clutter has inspired me to resurrect a life strategy that when I have the discipline to use it, works great to combat clutter.

I forget how old I was when I realized why I had clutter in my life.  When I would put a pile of mail on the counter, when something meant for the office was placed carefully at the bottom of the stairs, and when a project was left half done on my coffee table, in my mind I was saying, “I’ll do that later”.  The reality is that 70% of the time I never did do it later.  And so it sat.  On the counter. On the steps. On the coffee table.  When I realized this, I started a strategy of:

“But, what if I don’t?”

Whenever I would go to put something down, I would remind myself that what I was ultimately saying to myself was, “I’ll put that away later.”  I started to respond to myself, sometimes out loud,

“But, what if I don’t?”

Then I would take the twenty extra seconds to put it away.  Recently, my wife Wendi and I have been working on the garden.  As we work, we talk.  When we talk, we get ideas.  When we get ideas, we have more projects.  One of the things I feel I have contributed to her “War on Clutter” is the desire to start fewer projects, but finish more.  That is, to have only one project at a time, but stick with it until it’s done.  And, I have a new mantra to go with “What if I don’t”, called:

“If it takes more than a day, put it away.”

Right now, there is an empty suitcase on the bedroom floor from my business trip this week.  I left it there silently saying to myself, “I’ll put that away later”.

But, what if I don’t?

Excuse me for a minute; I think I’ll go put it away.

When not helping Wendi fight the War on Clutter, John works as project manager for Schneider Electric North America. He is director of their HR Corporate University program as well as supports business leaders through performance consulting.
John has a B.S. in Psychology from Xavier University in Cincinnati and is currently pursuing a Masters in Organizational Behavior at Benedictine University. He has been a personal productivity and time management geek (and sometimes coach) since 1990.