Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that not all messes in complexity have
Speaker 1: to be dealt with. Sometimes you can just sweep it
Speaker 1: under the rug. I recently recorded some time makeover videos
Speaker 1: to illustrate the nine time rules in my forthcoming book,
Speaker 1: Tranquility by Tuesday. Most of the video was filmed in
Speaker 1: readers homes, but we also filmed in my kitchen, which
Speaker 1: is command central from my family of seven. You can
Speaker 1: imagine what my kitchen looks like on a typical Thursday.
Speaker 1: Even if we are on top of the dishes, we
Speaker 1: wind up with stuff on the counter, random toys, mail,
Speaker 1: and people's art supplies. So what did I do before
Speaker 1: the Tranquility by Tuesday film crew arrived. I moved the
Speaker 1: random stuff to a pile by the stairs and put
Speaker 1: a wooden crate of papers and old magazines in the pantry. Miraculously,
Speaker 1: the counter was now clear, perfect for video. As we've
Speaker 1: needed things, we've dug them out, and yes, the mail
Speaker 1: pile has re established itself it always does, but when needed,
Speaker 1: everything was out of sight. There's a saying that you
Speaker 1: can't just sweep it under the rug. Presumably you should
Speaker 1: sweep messes into a dustpan and empty the dustpan into
Speaker 1: the trash instead, And that's generally a good idea literally
Speaker 1: and metaphorically. If you have a significant conflict with your spouse,
Speaker 1: if your finances are in disarray, if you're dealing with
Speaker 1: the aftermath of a traumatic experience, you probably need to
Speaker 1: deal with the issue thoroughly, get to the bottom of it,
Speaker 1: understand it, work through it. Some physical complexity needs to
Speaker 1: be dealt with systematically too. If your attic is such
Speaker 1: a disaster that you re buy things that you know
Speaker 1: you have stored, you should probably clean it out. If
Speaker 1: you have stacks of paper on your desk and you
Speaker 1: can't get your work done because you're unable to find
Speaker 1: the materials you need, you would make your life better
Speaker 1: by getting organized, but sometimes that is just not necessary.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you can deal with a mess by sweeping it
Speaker 1: under the rug, like my ten minute kitchen cleaning. Sometimes
Speaker 1: getting disorder out of sight is really all you need.
Speaker 1: Maybe your desktop is covered with downloaded files and documents
Speaker 1: you're working on that you intend to deal with but
Speaker 1: never get around to. No worries if you need to
Speaker 1: screen share during a video conference, just drag all the
Speaker 1: files into a folder labeled desktop and you're good to go.
Speaker 1: Your kids scattered toys all around your living room really
Speaker 1: don't have to be neatly organized every night. That is
Speaker 1: truly a waste of time, as they are just going
Speaker 1: to come out again the next morning. So if you
Speaker 1: value the place looking orderly, just throw all the toys
Speaker 1: into a basket in the corner for your kids to
Speaker 1: find another day. Better yet, have them throw them in there.
Speaker 1: Perhaps you can sort through the basket once or twice
Speaker 1: a year to give away anything they've outgrown. That's enough.
Speaker 1: All the documentation for your taxes can just go in
Speaker 1: a file. If you have the data in a spreadsheet,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter if the paper documentation is organized.
Speaker 1: If you do need to produce the documentation in the future,
Speaker 1: you can dig through the file to access the documents
Speaker 1: you need. Otherwise, what matters is that you have the documents,
Speaker 1: not that they're perfectly organized. Before you spend a lot
Speaker 1: of time organizing, think through whether the organization is necessary.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you really can get a mess out of sight
Speaker 1: and put it out of mind and save your time
Speaker 1: for more important things in the meantime. This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our times. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, then breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. From
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