How can I organise my home to change my life? Discover how tidying up can improve your decision-making and bring joy to your life.
At their core, the things we like do not change over time. By putting your house in order, you can (re)discover what they are. When you put your house in order, you can discover what you really want to do. After all, the things you decide to keep are the things that bring you joy.
Tidying changes your life. Being in an environment in line with who you want to be—without distraction of clutter—sets you up for an authentic life.
Tidying improves your decision-making capacity. By taking an item in your hand and feeling whether it sparks joy, you train your ‘decision-muscles.’ Doing this hundreds or thousands of times creates a strength like you have never known.
When we get clear on the reasons for why we cannot let something go, we find that there are only two:
- an attachment to the past, or
- fear for the future.
This is a useful observation, because each time you are having trouble to discard something that does not spark joy, you can explore your inner world. When you are particularly prone to either of the two, chances are these interfere with other areas in your life as well, e.g. work or relationships. Exploring to what extent this is keeping you from living up to your full potential is worth the effort.
Whether we are caught up in the past, or in the future, we cannot see what we need now, at this moment. The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we do not.
Facing and selecting our possessions forces us to confront our imperfections and inadequacies, and the foolish choices we made in the past. It is only when we take the things we own one by one and experience the emotions they evoke that we can deeply appreciate our relationship with them.
There are three approaches we can take toward our possessions: face them now, face them sometime, or avoid them until the day we die. The sooner we confront our possessions the better. If you are going to put your house in order, do it now.
There is greater happiness in life than to be surrounded by the things you love. Allow yourself this happiness and remove the noise that interferes with the happiness radiating toward you.
Human beings can only truly cherish a limited number of things at one time. Pour your time and passion into what brings you the most joy, your mission in life. Putting your house in order will help you find the mission that speaks to your heart. Life begins after you have put your house in order.
Benefits of owning less
When we have reduced the amount, we own and know where it is, we can tell at a glance whether we have something or not. When we do not, we can shift gears immediately and start thinking about what to do. We do not have to spend time searching for something we ‘might have somewhere maybe.’ Instead of suffering through the stress of looking and not finding, we act.
Your environment changes you
Much of this final part of the book is best summarised by another book that inspired me to read this one: ‘Willpower Doesn’t Work’ by Benjamin Hardy.
Hardy argues that the only way you change is by adapting to your environment. Getting your environment in order, then, is the key to getting yourself in order. Your mental and physical health, clarity on your life’s purpose and priorities… All follows from creating an environment that embodies who you want to be.
