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Podcast Transcript
Two-minute Tips for Turbulent Times with David Allen
Clean Up, Close Up
I’ll steal a play from Marie Kondo’s work that she’s been doing, by getting people to clean up closets and clean up their environment. And only keep the things you love and that turn you on.
Mine’s a little more universal. Look, there’s a lot of things that don’t turn you on that you still need to keep. There’s a lot of things that you need to kind of look at and say, yeah I’m not sure whether I want to throw that away or not. That’s fine. But it’s not a bad idea, especially in times like these, if you have any kind of extra time at all, to, as I say, bring up the rear guard.
I’ve mentioned this in several of my other two-minute tips, but this is sort of the universal clean up. Clean up your computer. Clean up your closets. Clean up the boot or the trunk of your car. Your garage, your attic, any spaces that you have. Any rented spaces that you have, to hold old stuff.
The world is just so addicted to hanging onto a lot of stuff, as opposed to being clean and clear. So I highly recommend you look around. What books need to be given away? What clothes need to be given away? What shoes have you not worn for two years? Where can you give those things away that people might be able to use that?
So look around your environment and say, how functional is it? How useful is it? How current is it in terms of the reality of these things and their meaning to you? And that’s fine. There’s no right or wrong in terms of whatever that volume is. It may be whatever it is that you want, how ever much you feel comfortable. But most people feel slightly uncomfortable about what’s still in their closet, what’s still in the drawers of their desk, what’s still anywhere. So now’s a good time, when I say “When in doubt, clean a drawer”, it’ll help a ton.