I’ve always found myself caught between two sides of myself in keeping my place organized. One part of me is an aspiring minimalist, with a keen awareness of the gift of calm and peace I feel in a clean, tidy, and simple space. Other part of me is a pack rat, wanting everything organized in its place but seeing a need to hold onto everything, and with a brain so busy with activities that I seldom want to stop and tidy up.

If I put much (read: any) weight in astrology, I might ascribe this to being a Gemini. I do put some of it up to my nature as an Enneagram 1: my perfectionist tendencies are ingrained habits and coping mechanisms from way back in my life. In my mental fitness work, this would be my stickler saboteur coming out to play. Like so many 1s, we want structure, but we also rail against it, especially when it seems like no one but us knows how to do it correctly. Aren’t brains delightful sometimes?

Regardless of the habits or emotions you find popping up related to cleaning and decluttering, I love this tip I gleaned and shared in the midst of a decluttering phase early in COVID:

When you’re decluttering, always start with the most visible clutter.

It’s not rocket science, but how great is this suggestion? If guests enter your house through the front door, that means EVERYONE will get that view, even if they’re just popping their head in to pick up a package or drop off a meal.

So when you’re ready to declutter, always start with the most visible clutter: you know, the stuff you can see when you open the front door to come inside.

You know the brilliant thing about this tip though? It applies to both decluttering and to our daily lives in general.

In the physical realm, if we start with what’s most visible, we’ll see progress immediately, and even if we get distracted from our task, if someone shows up at the house, they’ll immediately get a cleaner view than they would have otherwise.

In the same way, if we’re feeling overwhelmed by all of the tasks on our to-do list, one helpful method is to start with what’s most visible. If there’s an item that’s been on our list, haunting us, for two months, knocking that thing off the list a) means we won’t be wasting any more brain space or time worrying about getting it done and b) means we can knock it off the list. Chances are that it was taking up more than its fair share of space, and having that done will be super helpful.

Likewise, if I’ve got a million things to do, but I keep putting off making a priority list, that’s the most visible thing that will be a huge help. If I do that first, I’ll be able to see the items that are essential and urgent and prioritize them accordingly. If the most visible thing is that I haven’t updated the family calendar or made the doctor’s appointment that’s required of me, maybe it’s that. But the same idea holds. Consider what’s most visible, or most present, and start there.

While my mental fitness work has me in a pretty great space right now, anxiety is always an old habit my brain can hop to with ease. When there’s extra on my plate to navigate, anxiety means that clutter that normally wouldn’t bother me can feel overwhelming. (I ignore the inner critic and judge in my head under great circumstances, but if I’m tested enough, the anger can say hello! Yes, I’m a textbook Enneagram 1, and my strickler and judge saboteurs are especially strong, and these patterns will always be available to me if I let them.) But the flip side of it is that when I make some time to declutter, I feel palpable relief, basically immediately, and my anxiety gives me a break for a while.

While the visible clutter isn’t always actually the most important thing on our list, it can give us the mental capacity to tackle other things on our list.

If your email inbox is freaking you out a little bit on the daily, it’s time to set a timer and do a bit of decluttering there.

If those dishes are taunting you while you’re trying to work on your side hustle, it may be more effective to do those first, or at least delegate and pass it on to another family member.

Don’t underestimate the power of tackling that visible clutter. And the reverse can be true as well. If you start with the invisible clutter (you know, the stuff in your cabinets), you won’t get the visible satisfaction of seeing and showing off your progress after a decluttering session.

Likewise, the invisible brain clutter may include tasks that, while nice to tackle, are ignoring the elephant in the room, or your brain, metaphorically speaking.

So, I challenge you – tackle some clutter this week. Physical or otherwise.

If you’d like to learn more about the sabotaging thoughts in your own brain, getting in the way of your own projects as you aim to create a life you love, let’s talk! I offer a free saboteur assessment, and you can learn more about it and book a time here.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

P.S. Grab a copy of my Four Steps To Your Dream Life Blueprint while you’re at it. Giving yourself the gift of organizing and transforming your future is one more way to declutter and grow!

This article is based on an article I originally published on February 5, 2021.