I recently read the book Great With Money by Melissa Burke and Ellen Rogin. With the goal of the book being to help readers create a prosperous mindset and a confident approach to money, you might expect it to focus on how to earn more and spend less. Well, it may surprise you to know that “clear your clutter” is the first step to prosperity described by the authors. Yup, clearing the clutter in your life is the first step towards prosperity.
Even without the benefit of seeing disorganized homes and offices on the level that I do, these authors wisely recognize that being surrounded by clutter can block you from achieving more in your life – your piles of paper and other stuff represent unfinished tasks and postponed decisions that can weigh you down. The clutter not only physically blocks you from accomplishing things, but the mental clutter it creates can prevent you from moving forward in your life. You’re too busy focusing on what you haven’t accomplished to be able to think about creating new accomplishments.
Sure, great achievers like Albert Einstein were famously buried in clutter. However, I’m guessing that because you’re reading a blog about organization, you sense is that being better organized would help you accomplish more. As Swiss philosopher Henri Frédéric Amiel stated, “Order is light, peace, inner freedom, self-determination: it is power. To conceive order, to return to order, to realize order in oneself, around oneself, by means of oneself, is well-being.”
Not only does clearing clutter and creating order create a physical and mental path towards prosperity, it can actually directly generate prosperity. While helping clients de-clutter their homes and offices, I’ve discovered money (I once found $3,500 cash that the owner had no idea existed tucked away in a book!), uncashed checks, unused gift cards, and uncashed savings bonds. I’ve found things clients knew were “here somewhere” and saved them the trouble of having to buy replacements. I’ve consigned clothing and household items to resale shops that have generated income, and donated items to charity which have generated tax deductions. I’ve unearthed financial documents, insurance forms, medical paperwork, etc. that had direct financial implications for the client.
What financial potential lies buried in your clutter? What could you achieve if only the mountains of paperwork and stuff disappeared? What steps towards de-cluttering and organizing your life can you take to start realizing more prosperity? I encourage you to take at least one step today to move you in the right direction. Good luck on your journey.
Wishing you simplicity, harmony and freedom,
