067: Organizing Your House Part 2

09/23/20 • 24 min

In this episode, I’ll revisit the monster task: organizing your house! I talked extensively about Brooke Castillo’s CTFAR Model in episode 65, and I’ll mention it again here because plugging your thoughts and feelings (or what you want to think and feel) into this model will help you accomplish your goals. Just like I talked about in episode 64, the Goldilocks principle of a happy “medium” state of being applies not only to your parenting style but to the state of your home. As you work to find a mutual compromise between the members of your family, you’ll feel happier and your kids will feel happier too. I’ll discuss the simultaneous application of various brain hacks to help you slay the beast. One of my favorite tricks is Francesco Cirillo’s Pomodoro technique: set a timer to put your mind in work mode. Sometimes I think to myself, “If I clean for 20 minutes, it won’t be enough, and I’m too tired to clean for 30,” so I’ll set a timer for 25 minutes. More Goldilocks. I also use Dan Sullivan’s “80 Percent Approach” (get mostly there) to say “it’s good enough” because I know I’ll be revisiting any place I clean soon enough. And most importantly, I think about Darren Hardy’s concept of “The Compound Effect,” which is that many small actions over time will have an enormous net effect. That’s never truer than when organizing and cleaning a house! And most importantly, every time you cross off a completed task in your list, the neurons in your brain fire off a little dopamine, a neurotransmitter chemical responsible for “feeling good” and other regulatory functions. So don’t pass up the opportunity to get free drugs! Let’s get cleaning! As a little motivation for you, here’s our transformation video from 2013. https://youtu.be/VHHBcG3Somg I can’t believe we used to live with that clutter! HOLY STRESS! Subscribe on Apple! Subscribe on Android! Join my FREE parenting bootcamp! Let’s Connect! Here’s where you can find me: Learn more at https://www.coachingkelly.com. Find me on Instagram! Find me on Facebook!

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066: Organizing Your House

Let me tell you a tale of two teachers. When I was an intern, I worked under the mentorship of two different teachers with vastly different classroom styles. One had their room in immaculate condition with not a single object out of place; the other had a pretty cluttered (but clean) room. For both of these teachers, the state of their room was comfortable to them. The same should be true of your house. I always say, borrowing Dr. Phil’s expression, “how’s that working for you?” If you are comfortable in your situation, no need to change. However, my personal experience and many testimonies from acquaintances and clients has led me to notice a trend. There is often some correlation between a cluttered house and a cluttered mind. If you feel stressed, out of control, or angry at your spouse or your children, take a moment of introspection and plug the state of your house into The Model that we discussed last week. How is this making you feel? Do you want to clean because you don’t feel good enough based on the cleanliness of your house? That is the very first thing that needs to change! Just like when I coach people who want to lose weight and help them replace their subconscious thought “I hate my body” with “I have a body,” you will be able to approach the goal of a clean house by replacing “I have to clean” with “I get to clean.” Someday if you’re lucky you might end up like my husband David, who says “I love to clean.” I’m still working on it. The key here is to move yourself to set your house in order from the place of yes, the place of an abundance of love. It will be SO much easier for you to invest that time in the eternal task of cleaning if you choose to do it because you want to do it. Subscribe on Apple! Subscribe on Android! Join my FREE parenting bootcamp! Let’s Connect! Here’s where you can find me: Learn more at https://www.coachingkelly.com. Find me on Instagram! Find me on Facebook!

Next Episode

068: House Hacks

Cleaning and maintaining your house is an uphill climb every single day. It doesn’t come naturally to me! I am a C+ without any effort, and a B- with exceptional effort. But your relationship with your house is the same as your relationship with any other person in your life! Wild, huh? ... Allow me to explain. If you’re stressed, bitter, or angry because of a person, your relationship with them will feel strained. The house is neutral, but you can control your thinking about your house. The state of your house isn’t causing you stress, but your thoughts about your house definitely are. There are a lot of reasons why mess or clutter is triggering. You may not know where to start. It provokes anxiety. It makes it hard to relax in your house. Disorganization disrupts daily living. It’s distracting, it makes you ashamed. I asked which of these possible scenarios resonates with you and a lot of you said “all of the above!” But as you focus on choosing the thoughts you think in relation to your mess or clutter, you’ll begin to see that the tasks that trigger negative thoughts (which in turn trigger negative emotions) can be broken down into smaller tasks. The Pomodoro technique (we talked about this last episode) is great, for example. But the key thing here, the takeaway I hope you get, is that ultimately, you are in control. You do have the power to clean and set the chaos in order, even if it’s just one room, or one closet, or one drawer. As you chip away at the never-ending cleaning, just like me — remember, I’m a B- on my good days — you’ll feel better. You’ve got this! Subscribe on Apple! Subscribe on Android! Join my FREE parenting bootcamp! Let’s Connect! Here’s where you can find me: Learn more at https://www.coachingkelly.com. Find me on Instagram! Find me on Facebook!