What do you do with the stack with the 2 work out schedules , the catalog with the items you to order, the valentines day card,the book you started reading, the quick sketch...
For me, I had to get to a zero point so that I could deal with "stack stuff" as it came in the door.
- I had to give myself permission to let go of the books I knew I probably wouldn't finish (even though they were good or I felt like I "should" finish them.)
- I kept only a few cards--the ones that were life changing--and released the rest.
- Magazines and catalogs got recycled. If the information is that important to my success it will find its way back to me.
- Workout schedules were harder. For me it was a number of yoga routines. Again, I got rid of them and added the two that were most important to me to a notebook.
Business-type papers were another thing entirely. I found I had to pull everything into one giant stack and deal with it one piece at a time. Bit by bit. I thought it was going to take forever, but I sat in front of the TV and dealt with every piece. Once I "got to zero" I was better able to handle things as they came in the door.
I now open my mail over the recycle bin tearing everything into tiny little pieces.
The Fly Lady calls places where stacks collect "hot spots" and has a system for dealing with them. For me, I had to take the time to get to zero before I could have any success moving forward.
I continue to grow in the area of simplicity and have found the process to be a bit like peeling an onion. Each time I deal with a layer, there seems to be another one underneath. (I still have a huge tub in the garage from the attic cleanse a few months ago, that I haven't had the energy to deal with.)
I do believe that success in simplifying has a lot to do with breaking things into manageable projects. You can't do it all in a day, but you can take a drawer, tabletop or other "hot spot" and deal with it 10 minutes at a time. Enough 10 minute segments and simplicity starts to feel really, really good.
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