If you are like most teachers, you may have some clutter lurking in your classroom – and let’s start with your desk.

Look at that big drawer in the lower right- or left-hand side of your desk – the one where files are supposed to go.  To use that drawer for its intended purpose, you will have to take out the extra pair of shoes, the box of energy bars, the toys you’ve taken from students, the extra bottled water, the wire in-basket that never was big enough, etc.   Another possibility for ‘clutter’ is the drawer that could be called the “history of makeup” area.  Whatever might be hiding in this drawer – toss it!  Do you ever really have time to apply makeup during the school day anyway? Get everything out of the drawer so it’s free and clear to become a place to access easily and quickly for your increased productivity.

Note:  If the desk you inherited from the previous teacher is broken, the drawers don’t open or are in some way non-functional, you should walk right down to the custodian’s office and ask for some immediate assistance. This is not a time when you should just “make do.” You are a professional educator and you deserve a functional desk.

One of my good friends, who is a teacher, says that we all need to have the “Disneyland Mentality.”   That is, no one would think of throwing garbage on the ground at Disneyland because there isn’t any trash already on the ground. They have lots of workers on the lookout for the least bit of garbage and no area is left unkempt at any time.  So, what does this mean for your classroom?  Hmmmmm…..

Look around your classroom, office, or home (wherever you are reading this).

• Do you see anything that is not in its designated space?

• Do you see some items that do not even have a designated space?

• Are areas of your desk, side table, floor, or shelves piled (however neatly) with paper, folders, containers, and random items?

• Is there anything within range of your view that gives you an annoying sense of “gosh, that needs to be done,” or a troubling sense of “yikes…I wonder if I should be doing that instead of what I’m doing now?” or the like? 

If these questions make you want to cry or throw your hands up in despair, have hope! Yes, you have some clutter, and yes, it’s time to make a move to rid yourself of it. Even the smallest change can give you a new sense of how your world can change for the better.

Put in place a “Disneyland Mentality.” Don’t allow yourself, your family, or your students to make a mess of your space. Organization should be the constant in your classroom.  Here are some steps you can take immediately to clear the clutter and conquer its attendant chaos.

1. Have a serious throwaway session! Don’t bother trying to organize things you shouldn’t be keeping in the first place. As Barbara Hemphill comments, “If you do not know an item to be useful, believe it to be beautiful, or love it for personal reasons, it’s time to get rid of it.”  

2. Get in the habit of throwing more pieces of paper out than you let come in to your possession every day (and that takes some doing, believe me!)  

3. Do the same for all the incoming items…physical, digital, and mental. For example, have a serious deleting session with your email. Then, get in the habit of getting rid of a higher number of emails every day than you have new ones coming in. Once you have reached the point of 0 (yes, zero) emails left in your in-box at the end of each day, you will be more likely to maintain this state.

Imagine your students grading you on your room’s “clutter factor.” Ouch. Wouldn’t you like to get an “A” this nine weeks in clutter reduction? For some teachers, old habits die hard, but for others, once they learn to get and stay clutter-free, they see the difference and feel the freedom.

How can you stay in the present (mentally) – or get to the present? Here are 5 strategies:

1. Breathe. The idea is that you breathe in. Then you breathe out. This helps you to get centered – and somewhere I read that the space between breathing in and breathing out – that’s the present. So actually, right now, breathe. In. Out. In. Out. It’s amazing that we need to be reminded.

2. Stand up straight or sit up straight (if you are physically able to do so). Just pull your head up, straighten your spine, pull in your stomach, and of course, breathe. It’s interesting how making sure we are doing all of these behaviors just pulls us to the present. Apparently there is no chance of multi-minding when we are focused – just for a moment – on standing up straight, pulling our head up and our stomachs in – and, oh, yeah…breathing. Those four tasks take all our concentration and are sometimes enough to break us out of whatever past tense, future tense, or too tense thinking we were in just before.

3. Say, “One thing, right now.” It’s a calming phrase. It helps you to get centered again. “One thing, right now.” “One thing, right now.” “One thing, right now.” Say it over and over as needed. Let people around you know that if/when you get into a “state,” they might help you by saying, “One thing, right now.”

4. If you have an object that helps you focus on the present – then use that. It might be something physical, it might be a picture, it might be a quote. It’s whatever will calm your mind enough to focus on now – just now.

5. Make marmalade. This recommendation comes from D.H. Lawrence’s suggestion: “I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.” The idea, of course, is to take up an activity where you need to be focused. Making marmalade, doing repair, engaging in some kind of intricate work….all of these activities require your focus and that you be present. Figure out what your marmalade activity is.

I promised that these were simple – and they are. Yet, we often don’t apply simple solutions. Give one or more of these a try when you need to bring yourself back to NOW – and see if you aren’t more focused and much more peaceful, too.

Human beings love to achieve…to set goals and to reach those goals. It’s motivating. Use that to your advantage when you are cleaning, clearing, decluttering – and of course, destressing.

Make a VOW to rid yourself of a certain amount, number, or percentage of your ‘stuff,’ whether your stuff is books, papers, files, cans, emails, stuffed animals, or anything else that is cluttering up your mental or physical space.

VOW is an acronym for:

• Visualize

• Orally Commit

• Work through the obstacles

Let’s explore this acronym…

You may be one of the people reading this post who has a wall (or several walls) of books in your home or office. You know perfectly well that it’s time to move some of them out – whether it’s to make room for more books, to make room for other items, or just to create space, which is a SUPERB reason.

You could VOW to get rid of 2 books (a goal involving a number) everyday for 100 days.

• First, you’d Visualize what it would look like to get rid of 200 books.

• Then, you’d Orally commit to doing so. You could tell a colleague, your students, someone in your family, or your coach. You need to say it out loud so you hear yourself making the commitment. This helps to get the idea and the commitment into your brain.

• Then, you Work through the obstacles. Obstacles might be where you’d find the time to get rid of two everyday; the fear that as soon as you get rid of a book, you’d wish you had it; the worry that stuff will fall down if you start taking out books; and so forth. Since only smart people read these articles, I’ll bet once you name these obstacles, you can work through them. If not, let someone help you. Humans also love to help others.

Another VOW (involving a percentage) that you might make could involve your acknowledgement of the research that indicates that 80-90% of what is in the average professional’s file cabinet will never be used again…so you could VOW to recycle or shred at least 50% of what is in your file cabinet.

An example of a VOW involving an amount could be determining that as you declutter (and then destress about your laundry room/pantry) is that you will fill two average-size grocery bags with food you’ll never eat, containers that you don’t need, or whatever else can be removed from that space.

Human beings love measurable goals. Use that proclivity to your advantage by VOWing to get rid of a particular number, amount, or percentage of something as you reduce your clutter and the experience the concomitant reduction in your stress.

And you are invited to access the full-color Get a Plan! Guide(R) to Ridding Your Workspace of Clutter to REALLY get going on decluttering.  This special Get a Plan! Guide(R) will give you (and others with whom you work) suggestions and motivation to start de-cluttering your workspace (and even your home).

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” – William Jennings Bryan

In life, “A door must either be shut or open.” (Anonymous); I think that means we need to determine which doors we want to shut and which ones we want to open. For the purposes of this article, let us consider those doors you want to deliberately keep open instead of letting them just slam shut (or gradually close).

Maybe you want to decide to keep the doors open to certain experiences, people, things, behaviors, attitudes, practices, strengths, and more. If so, I recommend that you get a door jamb or a prop of some kind to make SURE that the door stays open. It makes sense that your door jamb is actually a plan you need to put into place (no matter how rudimentary at this point) for how you are going to keep particular doors open. Let’s think about some examples:

• Do you need to set up date night with your honey? Will that happen magically or do you need to establish a plan to make that happen?

• Do you need to get a walking partner to keep you on track with your walking plan? Who should you call? And how about calling him/her today?

• Do you need to hire someone to clean your house so that you can continue to enjoy a productive environment, free of detritus? Might there be people who would be happy to fill this role for you?

• Do you need to enroll in a class to increase your skills in one or more areas so you can stay on the cutting edge? Where might you take such classes? Is there a website you can access – today – to learn more?

• Do you need to call a friend to set up time for lunch? If you want to keep up your relationships, this is one way to do so and it takes deliberate actions on your part. Don’t trust this to chance.

• Do you need to join a group that gives you a weekly boost of instruction, direction, and energy? Then get out there and do so!

“It is your life – and it is your decisions that help to make your life what it is. Make a plan that involves these decisions. Surely you don’t want your decision muscles to get flabby“. H.W. Andrews encourages us by saying,

Not all of your decisions will be correct. None of us is perfect. But if you get into the habit of making decisions, experience will develop your judgment to a point where more and more of your decisions will be right. After all, it is better to be right 51 percent of the time and get something done, than it is to get nothing done because you fear to reach a decision.

Decide to keep the doors wide open to what you want in your life. Then make a plan so your decisions become a reality.

It is not just the big things that need to be eliminated in order to reduce stress. You may need to get rid of those extra Cool Whip tubs that fall out of your cabinet every time you open the drawer. You will be surprised by what is on this list. How about starting to eliminate your stress by getting rid of:

1. A ratty planner. Go out and buy one that you love – right now!

2. Ugly decorations for any holiday. Less is more.

3. Irritating sounds (try noise canceling headphones – the technology is amazing).

4. Unnecessarily long meetings (be sure to announce the time you’ll be leaving at the beginning of the meeting).

5. Paying bills by writing checks (and addressing envelopes and putting stamps on). On-line banking and bill paying is fast, easy and secure.

6. Waiting in line at the post office to buy stamps. Please. You have better things to do.

7. Old prescription eyeglasses. The glasses you have from 3, 4, 5+ prescriptions ago…have got to go (and can be dropped off at your eye doctor’s or the Lion’s Club to be given someone who needs them).

8. Returning low-dollar items. If you bought it at the dollar store and it’s defective, fagetaboutit! Depending on your income bracket, you might choose never to return anything….just give it away.

9. Gadgets that don’t work (can openers, VCRs, etc.). All they do is bug you. Get rid of them!

10. Gadgets that you never use (Ron Popeil and other info-mercial kings have single-handedly contributed to the need for this listing!).

11. Plastic tubs in your kitchen (you have Rubbermaid, Tupperware, and so forth a-plenty…so why do you need 35 Cool Whip tubs?).

12. Anything past its expiration date (medicine, spices, contact solutions, canned goods, mayonnaise, etc.).

13. Habits that you obsess over.

14. Emails. Not all email….but if you have hundreds or thousands of emails in your inbox, sent items, deleted items, or some other “items” folder….you are not being peacefully, predictably productive. Start eliminating.

15. Phone books. What in the world do you need phone books for? MAYBE keep one but, for heaven’s sake. Get rid of all the others. They are big and cumbersome and just in the way.

If you can get rid of one of these today, you are making progress. Start working toward eliminating at least one each week for the next 15 weeks and you will much less stress in just four months from now. Hooray for you!!

Please comment on what you want to eliminate – and the difference it makes for you!!  We’re interested

Eric Hoffer said,

“A preoccupation with the future not only prevents us from seeing the present as it is but often prompts us to rearrange the past.”

When you are deciding where to ‘live’ – in the past, in the future, in the present (or some other cosmic option you might know about) living in the future, just like living in the past, robs us of the present.

Many people over the past year or so have felt a sense of fear, dismay, and negativity that seemed to sweep over people who normally didn’t become fearful and dismayed. This has caused many of us to do some intense thinking about this phenomenon. Let’s think about fear, just a bit.

If you are being chased by a mountain lion or a brown bear, you are afraid – and what you are afraid of, if you really think about it, is the future. It’s your picture, your vision, your imagining that you are going to get clawed, mauled, tossed around, or eaten. You feel fear now (and so would I), but that fear is really about something in the future.

While this may seem a bit dramatic, I want us to get the mental picture of where all fear is directed. It’s always directed in the future. You may want to write that down:

Fear is future-directed.

Even if we are afraid that something we did in the past is going to come back to haunt us – it is not the past that we are really fearful about – it is the future of what will happen when someone (or lots of someones) find out. You can probably think of someone famous in the news right now (no matter when you read this, unfortunately) whose past is jumping up (big time) – but his fear is about the future.

You can probably think of something that you have done that you really, really hope others do not find out about – and you can recognize the fear, worry, and angst that come as we imagine what would happen if people found out. Spending a great deal of time being fearful of the future…based on something from the past, isn’t wise and it certainly isn’t productive.

So, I hope this is clear, that is, that you understand that fear, worry, and anxiety are all future-focused, not present focused. As Tennessee Williams wrote:

“The future is called “perhaps,” which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the only important thing is not to allow that to scare you.”

If you are feeling fearful or worried, see if you need to pull yourself mentally back to the present.  It’s not so scary right here, right now.  Really.

And please, if you want ideas for staying positive, you’re invited to be part of the Staying Positive Society.  

Unless you are ever-vigilant (and have been for the past 5 - 10 years) when it’s time for de-cluttering, you will need a trash container.  If you are only cleaning out one wayward drawer, then a teeny trash basket may be enough.  On the other hand, if you are de-cluttering your entire classroom, office, garage, or wherever else you’ve decided to deal with, then you might as well bring in the BIG bin (or many large trash bags). 

Better to have plenty of space for tossing those items that no longer belong in your space - for for which there is really no other purpose or use.  

So, here’s what to consider when you are ridding your workspace of clutter and starting the ‘tossing portion’ of your activity:   

Designate one bin, container, box, or bag as TRASH.  Remember, whatever receptacle you designate for trash is NOT to be some dinky wastebasket, but rather a big trash bin. In many cases, people also need to have several large black trash bags for use when they fill up the trash bin. It is staggering what most people find to throw away when they begin this process.  And, if you have a teenager who wants to earn a little extra money (and what teen doesn’t?!) then his/her job can be to haul out the trash bags or boxes as you fill them.  When you are de-cluttering, it’s best to keep things moving. 

Just in case you are not sure what might get tossed,these are the sorts of items you might find to put in the “Trash” receptacle:

• scarily-outdated food items,

• old bottles of make-up,

• pen carcasses – those pens you tried to write with but since they didn’t write, you just tossed them back in the drawer,

• pictures of people you don’t even know or remember,

• boxes of software that you have never opened (and are meant for MS-DOS),

• anything that is either unidentifiable or for which you cannot determine a potential use, and which someone else wouldn’t find a use

• and more. 

Before you can even begin to think about what belongs where and how to organize what is useful to you – you have to clear out part of what isn’t.  And, sad to say for most of us, we have ‘trash’ that needs to be disposed of.  Go ahead and get started…today.  And set aside time in the future to REALLY have a ‘take out the trash’ day!  Your creativity and productivity will jump up, I promise.

I have written articles about dealing with physical clutter and electronic clutter, both of which can cause you and your businsss significant problems. But in this article, I want to give you 5 tips for dealing with your money clutter. Do not discount the wisdom in these brief, but brilliant suggestions.

1. Determine exactly how much money you have. You may already have an Excel spread sheet that shows this – or you may be in the situation that far too many Americans are in (I can’t speak for the rest of the world) and that is that you have have essentially no idea or you have a rough idea only. What I am telling you here is that you need to know EXACTLY.     This will take some time, but it is the first part of clearing your money clutter. How in the world can you expect to be a business owner (a successful business owner) if you have no idea exactly how much money you have? Take the time and do this within the next week. Make it a priority.

2. Reconcile your business checking account. If you do this regularly, then this will be no big deal. If, however, you have never reconciled your business checking account (which I have heard repeatedly from people when I ask them about this), then expect this process to take some time. Depending on your familiarity with your accounting system (e.g., QuickBooks) and your understanding of how to reconcile, and consider hiring someone to come in and help you with it. Do not just turn it over to someone. It’s your money and you need to have a hand in getting a handle on the “clutter.”

3. Invoice all of your customers whom you have not already invoiced. It is hard to get paid when you do not send out invoices. That seems like it shouldn’t need to be stated, however it is staggering the number of small business owners who never invoice customers for services or products already delivered. It may be because you don’t have a bookkeeper who helps you take care of this or it could be because you “forget” that you need to invoice clients. Or, it could be that you are uncomfortable with acknowledging the value that you deliver.

4. Follow up with any customers or clients who have been invoiced but haven’t yet paid. That is money just waiting to come back to you, but you may have to track it down rather than leaving it in the “pile” of money clutter. Be strong. If you have delivered the “goods,” you are asking for what is rightfully yours and it is your responsibility as a business owner to clean up this clutter.

5. Pay any outstanding invoices or bills that you have. Part of your money clutter may be that you are not living up to your end of the money flow equation. Pay your outstanding bills and if you cannot pay them in full, acknowledge that and get something worked out NOW with the business or service to which you are in arrears. Clean up the clutter.

I want you to take these five steps over the next five days and see what happens for you.

Money clutter. Have you ever thought about that concept? I’m sure you’ve thought about – and maybe dealt with – your physical clutter because you know that it can take a tremendous toll on your productivity.

But what about money clutter? Any possibility that you need to deal with this, too?

Let’s explore a few ideas related to money clutter. Apply the ones that resonate with you.

1. Go through your office, your wallet, your briefcase, you desk drawers, your car (or anywhere else that you know such things get tucked) and find all the gift certificates, gift cards, and other such items. The next step, which needs to be done promptly, is to use them, extend them, or give them as a gift to someone else who will use them. Money needs to be in motion.

2. Go through your office, including any stacks of unopened mail with the intent of getting rid of clutter and of finding money that is just lying around. When I have worked in people’s offices to help them get organized, I don’t think there has been even one time where we haven’t found one or more “surprise” checks. Sometimes, the amounts are small and other times, the amounts are stunning. Frankly, the amount you find doesn’t matter while you’re doing this. What matters is that you are paying attention to your money and not just casting it aside (which is really what you’ve done when you’ve let it just lie around, hidden and untended to).

3. Take an inventory of all the subscriptions that you pay for and what their renewal date is. Either set them up to automatically renew or put a reminder in your tickler file to cancel. This includes magazines, domain names, software services, online subscriptions, memberships in groups, etc. We added all these over long periods of time and ultimately, we don’t cancel them and have an extraordinary amount of money flowing back out the door each month for unused and unwanted items or services. It’s all money clutter.

4. Make sure you are paying yourself each month – or even each week. This does not mean taking money out of petty cash. It means you are cutting yourself a paycheck. You are running a business, right? Business owners get paid.

Do you think this won’t make a difference? Try doing all of these and see what happens. You are costing yourself and your business tremendous stress and money by having money clutter that is unresolved.

Let’s think about the orange cones of language. As verbal beings, language is a key element in the way that we communicate with one another and even with ourselves.

We think in words and we speak, write, and telegraph (do people even do that anymore?) in words or representations of words. And, words are labels for concepts – so our words are powerful means to convey what is happening internally and externally.

If you want to stay positive, no matter what is happening around you, then listen to the language that is being used in your midst. Whether it is the language that is used on the news, in the newspaper, in magazines, or in other people’s speech and conversation, take a few moments to think about it and then to notice in during the upcoming day.

For example, the words that are so commonly used, such as: scary… frightening… horrifying… terrible… burden… worse… shortage… disruption… downfall… sad… bad… dismay… abysmal… catastrophic.

Just say those out loud. How do they sound and feel in your mouth and in your mind. Horrible. Heavy. If you’re like me, you feel worse even reading or hearing those. These are the orange cone words. I’ll come back to that in a moment.

Now look at the words that are either antonymous with those horrible, heavy words or some that reflect a different perspective: calming… courageous… pleasing… wonderful… assistance… better… excess… organization… success… cheerful… plan-full… honest… hope… possibilities.

Now I’m obviously reading them in my own mind in the way that I think they feel, but I don’t even know if I could have read that second list in a heavy way. They’re lighter words.

Do you need to see about shedding your heavy language and taking up the light language? You are the only person who can answer that, although you might ask someone you trust what he or she thinks, too.

Now, it is possible that it’s not YOUR language that is heavy, but rather it is the language of those around you. If it’s on the news, of course you can turn it off. If it’s in newspapers, books, magazines, or other print, you can put it down. If it’s on websites you’re visiting, you can click off. If it’s co-workers, bosses, those who work for you…then you need to have some conversations. This article is not the venue to talk about HOW to have those conversations, but an awareness that you need and want to is a first step.

Create your own orange cone sheet (or contact me and I’ll send you one) as a place for making notes about the “orange cone words” or “orange cone language” that indicate to you that you are in or headed into a danger zone. Are there statements you start to make or words and phrases you start to hear that are good indications that you are entering into the not-so-positive zone? For example, someone the other day told me that if she heard “in this economy” one more time she was going to scream. Clearly for her, “in this economy” is an orange cone phrase because it sends her to a place she doesn’t want to go.

You may be able to fill this sheet out right now or you may want to keep this one handy through the week. It might be angry language, notes posted around that are hateful, attacks on others, gossip, fear-filled language, doom and gloom and end of world language, predictions of demise, racially, ethnically, or other “group”-based comments, and so forth.

Whatever it is for you…make note. Pay attention to the orange cones that are signals to you. Heed the signs and DO something. If there is one thing I’ve learned lately (and I’ve learned A LOT), then it is to heed the orange cones. When I start to hear or start to use particular language, then I know I need to pull away, get into my “pod,” do some reflection (if it’s me) or some deflection if it’s someone else. Going ahead full bore into an area where there were orange cones trying to warn me is just stupid. I prefer generally not to be stupid.