Recently Katherine has been listening to the audio book of Decisive* which is a resource written for business leaders. She found lots of interesting parallels to the decision making process our clients go through to reduce clutter.

We often see indecision at the root of clients’ clutter – “I don’t know what to do with this…” “What if I need this again?” “Well…I don’t know…” “Should I keep this or not?”

Here are some ways the core principles in Decisive apply to home organizing:

Widen Your Options

We can get tunnel vision about options and have a hard time visualizing a change. Let’s take the decisions around making an effective home office:

• What’s the best location for the workspace? Is it the dining table, kitchen, guest room, living room, or a closet? What is the best desk orientation and size?

Reality Test Your Assumptions

Dip your toe in the water of change by trying out an option rather than just relying on your gut instinct.

• Terrified of the prospect of letting something go in case you’ll need it? Store it in a box out of your active space and date the outside. If you don’t go into the box within a set amount of time (week, month, year?) you’ll know you really can live without it.

Attain Distance Before Deciding

Introduce some objectivity into your decision-making.

• What would I tell my best friend to do? What would someone else do in this situation?

Prepare To Be Wrong

We can’t predict outcomes, really. We tend to be overconfident about what we think the right thing to do is.

• As part of the decision making process, weigh the consequences of making a wrong decision.

Where do you see your indecision creating clutter in your home? Try applying one of the principles above and let us know how it goes!

*Thanks to Organization Development Consultant, Danny Ceballos for introducing us to this great resource!