Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - 5 Real-Life Strategies for Instant Motivation | Clutterbug Podcast # 244

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

Do you ever feel like you've been busy all day, but didn't actually get anything done? I've been there too.  In this episode, I'm sharing real, practical strategies to help you get more done, feel more accomplished - and do it all in way less time. Whether you're struggling to find motivation or just need some time management tips, this episode is full of advice to get you back on track and feeling productive!  Download your FREE vision board template here: https://clutterbug.me/products/digital-vision-board-templates     You can find more Clutterbug content here: Website: http://www.clutterbug.me YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clutterbug TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/   #clutterbug #podcast #motivation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you ever have those days where you feel like you felt busy or you felt like you were doing stuff all day, but you can't actually think of anything you accomplished? And you definitely didn't get done the stuff that you really, really wanted to. I feel like this is something we can all relate to. And today we're talking about some real strategies to get more done and feel more accomplished, but in way less time. Hey, clutterbugs, welcome back to the clutterbug podcast. Today we're talking about one of my favorite things to talk about, which is time management and motivation. And I love talking about

these two things because for a really long time, these were two of my absolute hands-down biggest struggles. Part of it, I'm sure, was ADHD, but part of it was I just don't like doing stuff I don't want to do. You know what I mean? So I really struggled to get motivated to do tasks that I thought of as boring or mundane or things that were really hard work, which a lot of that stuff was housework. So laundry and dishes and scrubbing and cleaning often got put off because I just never felt like doing it. To be totally honest, I just didn't want to. And that at the real crux of it is what's behind motivation. You actually have. You actually, When you're motivated to do something, it's because you actually want to do that thing.

And if you don't really want to do it, if you don't feel excited about it, if you're not pumped, like, yes, this is going to be awesome. Faking motivation or forcing yourself to do something when you're not motivated is brutal. It feels next to impossible. So we're going to talk about some real strategies to get you excited and wanting to do the things that you don't really want to do, ways to trick yourself, trick your brain, and trick your body into feeling motivated. But we're also going to talk about time management because this is a skill, really. It's a critical skill that can help you get more done in less time because you're

really doing the things that matter first. Okay. So let's start with time management because what is time management. It's not making to-do list. It's not about scheduling everything. Time management is really about understanding how you spend your time and making decisions, like conscious decisions, on what is more important, prioritizing your tasks. So basically, making a list is awesome. We can brain dump everything down. But what I do, and what I definitely recommend you do, is after I make this big old list of all the things that would be super awesome to do in a day or in a week or even a month, I will go ahead and I will circle the things that are really urgent, the things that have to be done right away, like maybe buy a gift for a birthday party that's this weekend or pay a bill or call a doctor and book a doctor's appointment.

Then there's also things that are important but not super, super urgent. So these will be the things that I would definitely make note to schedule to do later, to do later within a couple of days. So this is basically what time management looks for me. I'll grab a piece of paper, friends. I'll brain dump like crazy. I'll write down all the things that I want to do that day, that week, that month. And then I'll circle the things. Oh man, I got to do these two days or in the next few days.

And then I will book appointments for myself to do. those things if I don't have time to do them immediately. So I will put in my calendar, okay, I'm a reminder to do this task at this time tomorrow. And sometimes I'm not like free at that exact time, but again, it's that mental reminder it goes off of my phone or I'll get an email notification and I'll be like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I gotta do that today right. Well, I have time today at two. So I'll push that forward a little bit.

But without those reminders and that scheduling, I will totally get distracted and do other things. Then when I'm looking and I've kind of addressed all the things that are really urgent and important, now I can look at the things that are important but not necessarily have to be done right away. And I can take a look at my calendar and kind of plop them in at times where I think it might be good to tackle those things. Like this sounds like common sense. I know it sounds like common sense. But a lot of us aren't doing this. And I know that because I wasn't doing it for the majority of my life.

I would make a list. And then I would put the list somewhere and my brain would just do whatever it felt like in the moment. And I would forget about important things. Or I would do a lot of make work projects. So I would say, oh, the kitchens is a disaster. I've got to do the dishes and clean it or whatever. And then I'm organizing my spices for some reason. Not saying that that didn't need to get done,

but it certainly wasn't the critical thing that needed to get done in that situation. It wasn't the most important and it wasn't the most time sensitive. I got to do the dishes so I have clean dishes when my family goes to eat dinner later that day. So stopping myself from getting distracted and doing a lot of these little. make work projects is absolutely critical. And the way that I do that is writing down all the things I want to do and then circling the urgent, most important things or writing those on a separate list and scheduling them into my day. So I mean, you kind of get it, right? You're visualizing where you should spend your time and you're prioritizing the things that matter most. So you're

kind of forcing yourself to do those things first. But this is where we get. into motivation because maybe you've got to clean your kitchen but you really don't want to tackle the dishes you know you're dreading it they've gone a couple days they're baked on or maybe the mountain of laundry looks like it's going to take hours to put away and you're dreading all of that and we get more excited about organizing a junk drawer or another little project that still is productive, but doesn't feel as daunting as the important task. So even though time management is critical and identifying the things that are really important, scheduling them into our days, putting them in our calendar, setting reminders, that doesn't mean we're going to do it. Let's get real.

That doesn't mean that just because we know this thing is the most important doesn't mean we're going to actually get off our butts and start with that thing. Because the big thing that's missing, for a lot of us is the motivation to do those things. So we're really going to dive into this little tips and tricks and things that you can do to feel motivated in those times that you just don't. To create that excitement and the actual want to get up and do those things. And I promise you, this is easier than you think. But as you're listening to this podcast, do me a favor. and get up and let's really take action on something. Let's make it better today in the next few minutes, 15 minutes that you're going to spend with me. Make something better so that you don't have to do it

later tonight and you don't have to do it tomorrow. This is about giving yourself a gift. So whether that is, get in there with me right now. Let's put away laundry. Let's do those dishes. Let's declutter something. Let's vacuum the floor. Let's get a wet cloth and just walk around and dust stuff. It does not have to be crazy pants, but also is there something really important that you've been putting off? Something that you're like, I got to do this. This is something that needs to be done. It's super important. And I've been procrastinating it. Let's talk right now about how I can help you get motivated to do it. right now. And the one thing I just talked about is actually a motivational strategy that works for me

and not motivation isn't one size fits all either. So this might not work for you. But again, I'm going to talk about lots of techniques and I promise one of those will. So for me, looking at my future self as my best friend and always thinking, how can I make her life easier? How can I take some weight off of her shoulders, I find that really motivating for me. And I think that motivation comes from, I wish other people kind of looked at how busy I am and other people looked at me and said, oh man, I'm going to give her a break and I'm going to do this little task for her to be kind to her. And I was always waiting for somebody else to look at me that way and to be considerate of me in that way and do these kinds things for me.

Maybe like one of my love languages is acts of service. And I was thinking about this many times and kind of feeling sorry for myself. And I thought, why can't I give this gift to myself? Right. And that strategy of like really just trying to love myself in this way by doing something small to make my life easier or later, I personally find that extremely motivating. because I really do see it as a form of self-love, doing something small so I can rest later. Taking something off my plate so I'm not overwhelmed tomorrow.

It is a way of thinking. It's a mindset shift that is very motivating for me. Now, if that's not resonating with you, that's okay because there's a ton of other things that we can do. And one of my favorite motivators is actually Tony Robbins. And if you've listened to Tony Robbins or if you haven't, he really focuses on the body and the connection from the body to the mind. So one of the techniques that you're going to hear over and over from Tony Robbins and a lot of other truly motivating people who are motivating experts is to move your body in a way that you would if you actually felt excited and pumped and happy to do that thing. So you don't want to do the dishes. You don't want to do the laundry.

You're not feeling like, ooh, you don't have energy. You want to sit on the couch. You want to just lay around. You want to take a nap. There's no energy going on when it comes to this task. But if we can take a second and move our body, so we kind of bounce up and down a little bit, or we like, do some jumping jacks, turn on some music and dance around, clap our hands. Doing these sort of, like think about, you just won the lottery.

How would your body react? And when we move our body in this way, it has that connection to our mind that makes our mind feel happy and excited. It really works. So, like, that's why when you're a kid and you're about to do something that you don't really want to do, the teacher might say, let's get up and do some jumping jacks or let's, like, cheer and woo. If you ever go to, like, motivational seminars, they will absolutely get you up and get you starting. moving your body because this is a proven technique to affect your mind. Move your body in a way that tricks your brain into thinking you're excited and motivated. And if you follow Mel Robbins, who is also somebody that I love, she talks a lot about

high-fiving herself in the mirror. So literally like high-fiving, like you got this and high-five, excitement, high-five. That again is a moving. movement that signals to your brain, you're motivated, you're ready, you're excited, you know you're going to do this, you're pumped, even though you're not, okay, even though you don't feel that way. It's like moving your body. Another incredible technique for motivation, we talk about at nauseam, okay? I talk about this so much and if you're in the Take Your Houseback group, we talk about this all the time, but we talk about it because it works. And that is five minutes matters. So setting a

timer for five minutes and only having to do the horrible thing that you don't want to do for five minutes. So you're dreading putting away that pile of laundry. Set a timer on your phone. You only have to put away laundry for five minutes. Don't want to do the dishes. You only have to wash for five minutes. You only have to start emptying the dishwasher for five minutes. Set a timer and do five minutes. And I think why this is so powerful is because getting started is the hardest part, but also we can stop at five minutes. We don't have to keep going and we've still made progress and it's better than it was five minutes ago. And that is powerful. Most of the time what we're going to do is actually keep going. But even if we don't, we're still ahead. And a lot of people resist this five-minute

matters strategy because they look at the mess and they think, well, five minutes isn't going to make a difference. That's a waste of my time. It's a waste of my energy. I'll just wait and do the whole thing later when I feel motivated. But we know motivation just doesn't work like that. First of all, you are just making your life harder for yourself down the road tomorrow or the weekend you who you're putting this off on second of all it's just going to continue to get worse and more stuck on or the pile's going to grow even bigger right you're just adding more work down the road but the most important thing is motivation doesn't just hit us you can't wait to feel motivated because sometimes we feel motivated at 3 o'clock in the morning for some reason. And that's not right.

Or we feel motivated because we're watching somebody else, you know, outside of the house. When we're not even home and can't even do anything, we're like, I suddenly want to go home and clean. But by the time I get back, we don't actually want to do that. So we can't rely on future, maybe I might want to feel motivated someday. We can't rely on that. We have to create our own and setting a time. for five minutes is one of the most effective ways to create motivation and to get things done even if we stop at five minutes. That's okay. You've done enough and that's amazing. Another motivation technique, again, if none of these are resonating or if you've tried them and you're still like, I just don't feel like it guess. Listen, another motivational technique

is called visualizing success. Did you know that most people who live in a cluttered or messy home truly believe that it's never going to get better? In their heart, they believe that they're going to fail anyways, that they're just not that type of person who is able or capable of keeping a tidy house or that their family's going to mess it up or or yeah, they truly don't believe that it's possible. And they can't visualize what it's going to look like and feel like at the end,

truthfully. So the biggest roadblock in their way of achieving it is themselves. They just don't believe it's possible. And I know that you're listening to this and might think that sounds silly. but I want you to think about the way you talk to yourself in your head. I want you to think about the words and the sentences that you tell yourself when you think about the home. Do you tell yourself it's just going to get messy again? Do you tell yourself, even if I cleaned it, it's still going to look ugly because I need new furniture. I need to renovate.

Do you tell yourself my kids are just going to come in and mess it all up the next day anyways? are you talking positively or are you talking negatively about this to yourself and this matters. It makes all the difference in you feeling like doing it and you definitely feeling like not doing it. Are you having positive thoughts about it or negative thoughts? And if it's negative thoughts, it's really easy to switch those to positive, without having to lie to yourself. If you were telling yourself, oh my gosh, the kitchen, it's never going to stay clean. It's a disaster.

We're just going to dirty the dishes again after we eat, you know, all these negative, negative thoughts. It's really easy for you. You can't tell yourself, I'm going to clean it. It's going to stay that way because you don't believe it, right? That's not effective. That's a lie. But you can say it might not stay that way, but it's going to feel really good to start from a clean, fresh slate before dinner today. Or after dinner for tomorrow, I'm going to wake up

to a clean kitchen and that's going to feel really good. Or I may not be able to do the whole kitchen, but I know that I can at least get all the dishes done and I'll feel really good about that. So we don't have to lie to ourselves. We just need to find the positive in those situations and we need to honestly visualize the success that comes with it. And I'm not trying to get woo-woo with your friends here. I'm not trying to be all like manifestation and the universe will just bring it to you. But there is real science behind the power of positive thinking because you're not going to want to do something that you're dreading. And stop. So how can we get you thinking positively about the outcome and really seeing it and like what's it going to feel like when this kitchen's clean.

What how am I going to, what's it going to look like? How am I going to feel about myself when I catch up on all the laundry? That's going to feel so good. And allow yourself to feel that because then you're going to start feeling that motivation to actually do it because you're feeling positive thoughts. You're feeling maybe even a little excitement about. what it's going to look like when it's clean and how good it's going to feel, right? And that's the truth and the root of motivation is excitement and drive and the real want to do it.

I'm going to take a quick second to thank today's podcast sponsor, Cozy Earth. It's fall, right? I'm all about feeling cozy and fall. And one of my favorite things to do is crawl in bed. after a long day and snuggle up to Joe and watch a movie. And years ago, we switched to good quality sheets and let me tell you, it has made all the difference. They're softer. They feel cool. I never get overheated.

And it's that feeling of luxury that you get from like a nice hotel. I get that every time I crawl into my bed. I don't make my bed every day. I wish I did, but I don't. But I still get that. feeling because I have beautiful sheets. And Cozy Earth are my favorite sheet set. And right now, you can give their beautiful bamboo sheets a try. They also have pajamas and lots of other things. And you can go to cozyearth.com slash clutterbug and use the code Clutterbug for an exclusive

40% off sitewide. Again, go to cozyEarth.com slash clutterbug and use the code Clutterbug for an exclusive 40% off sitewide. Again, go to cozyearth.com slash clutterbug and use the code clutterbug for an exclusive discount of up to 40% off sitewide. Before I let you go today, while you're cleaning and you're doing like you're kicking your house's butt, you're making things awesome, you're checking stuff off your list, I want to nerd out with you guys for a second and really try to encourage you to do something that maybe you're going to think is weird or if you've already done this maybe update it and that is creating a vision board hear me out friends it doesn't have to be a big piece of bristol board where you cut a bunch

of magazine pictures out and paste them on like a school project i actually don't love those kind of vision boards what i mean by a vision board is actually having goals for yourself and and not just goals in your head, taking them out of your head and putting them somewhere. And it's great to write it down. Like I have a goal planning binder. I'm like a nerd about goals. Listen, okay. I'm a nerd about goals. But that's okay. I have a goal planning binder. But I also, because it's in a binder, I forget to remember. So the thing about a vision board is it's a visual cue of like, oh yeah, this is what I'm working towards. Oh yeah. This is going to be amazing when I'm. achieve this thing. And I don't want you to put things like be a billionaire or have a yacht,

if that is out of the realm of possibility. The magic here is choosing things that are definitely in the realm of possibility for you. But something that you're going to have to push and drive for. So maybe you want to have a clean, clutter-free home. Can we find a picture of a home that you really like and print it off or can we save that as the backdrop image on your phone as a wallpaper on your phone so every time you look at your phone the first thing you see is this reminder of oh yeah this is a goal this is what i'm working towards this is what i want to accomplish i know for me for a long time my vision board i had black and white pictures that i kind of put out and just it was very simple It wasn't like crazy pants. I just printed them off my printer. And they had them all in one place

as I came in and exited my house. It's something that I kind of caught in my peripheral vision as that subconscious reminder. And truthfully, almost every single thing on that list has come true on that vision board. So it's time for me to create a new one. And I want to really encourage you to do the same thing. If you're not sure what this vision board can look like, I'm going to give you some suggestions. You can literally find photos of examples of the thing. Maybe you want to become debt-free. Maybe you want to start a little business. Maybe you, I don't know.

I mean, you want to redo your living room. There's so many things that you could put on your vision board. But what it could look like could literally be you printing out some pictures and putting them in dollar store frames. and maybe having a few of them on your dresser in your bedroom. So when you wake up, you see, you're like, oh, those are my three goals that I'm working on. Or use them as the backdrop of your desktop on your computer. Or use them on your phone. And if you go to clutterbug.com, you will see a free digital template for a vision board that's electronic.

So it's already designed for you in Canva. I did that for you. It's on clutterbug.com. Under the printable section, you're going to find a digital download for a template of one for your phone and one for your computer. Or you could print it out

and you kind of find photos that you like and you on the computer, you save them to your computer, you drag and drop them in. And it's a really fast and easy way of creating this bigger goal for you. And not just in your own. head, but somewhere really visual to remind you. So before I let you go, please think of a goal

that you would like to accomplish by the new year or in the new year. And how can we create a visual reminder somewhere in your home of this big, amazing goal that you are definitely going to achieve? Because there's real power in that, in that constant. reminder, that subconscious reminder of, oh yeah, this is what I'm working towards. And oh yeah, I'm excited about achieving this. And I can't wait until I get there. And when you are having these sort of thoughts in the back of your mind without even realizing it because you've seen this thing on your phone or on your computer or maybe something

small that's like on your desk or on your dresser, this will keep you motivated. to keep working towards that goal. I promise you it works. It really is quite magical friends, not like woo-woo universe magical, but brain magical because your mind is an incredibly powerful thing. So short and sweet little podcast today, I hope you got something done. I hope you're proud of yourself because you're amazing. And if you want to stop, stop. You did enough. You made it better. You're incredible. Just get back there tomorrow and do a love. little something again because consistency is the key. Thank you guys so much for hanging out and I'll see you guys next time.