Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is about how to ignore a mess, particularly as
Speaker 1: more people work from home. Sometimes we need to get
Speaker 1: stuff done even if the house is not one hundred
Speaker 1: percent clean. By learning to work in a mess, you
Speaker 1: can open up all sorts of possibilities for productivity. So
Speaker 1: I will start this episode by noting that I personally
Speaker 1: don't need a spotless home to work. I love a
Speaker 1: clean space as much as the next person, but I
Speaker 1: value my time far more. With five kids plus various
Speaker 1: community engagements, there's just a lot going on. If I
Speaker 1: have got two focused hours to do something, I am
Speaker 1: not going to spend the first forty five minutes cleaning up.
Speaker 1: Plus I know that those five kids are just going
Speaker 1: to mess everything up again and I will never get
Speaker 1: that time back. However, I've been studying time and productivity
Speaker 1: for long enough to know that some people really can't
Speaker 1: focus if their house is a mess. Now, I believe
Speaker 1: some of this is cultural conditioning. Many women have been
Speaker 1: taught that if their homes are messy, they are total failures,
Speaker 1: So there is no point even thinking about doing anything
Speaker 1: else until the mess on the floor is gone. Now,
Speaker 1: that might be the patriarchy talking, but some of this
Speaker 1: cultural conditioning isn't as nefarious. It just is what it is.
Speaker 1: I like a lot of what decluttering expert Marie cos
Speaker 1: writes and teaches about, but I do cringe every time
Speaker 1: I read her phrase your real life begins after putting
Speaker 1: your house in order. No it doesn't. Life is not
Speaker 1: dependent on your house being perfectly tidy. You can enjoy
Speaker 1: life no matter what state your house happens to be in.
Speaker 1: So if you are looking for permission to let things
Speaker 1: be a little messy so you can get your work done,
Speaker 1: here it is. But if you really truly have trouble
Speaker 1: focusing in a mess, then you just might need to
Speaker 1: acknowledge this about your personality and figure out a way
Speaker 1: to deal with it. If you work from home, one
Speaker 1: option is to do your best to create a workspace
Speaker 1: that can be shut off from the rest of your house.
Speaker 1: Even if this is a very small room or a
Speaker 1: converted closet or something. Figure out a way that you
Speaker 1: can shut the door and not see anything else. Then,
Speaker 1: if your office is pristine, you can consider that your environment.
Speaker 1: You might even want to put a little fridge in
Speaker 1: your office with some snacks and water and create a
Speaker 1: pristine pathway to the nearest bathroom. That way, you do
Speaker 1: not have to encounter any chaos that might make you
Speaker 1: think it is time to put away the laundry, do
Speaker 1: the dishes, and pick up the toys when you are
Speaker 1: supposed to be working. Really, this amounts to cleaning one room,
Speaker 1: shutting the door, and sitting in there. Another option is
Speaker 1: to leave your messy house. One listener mentioned recently that
Speaker 1: her husband took the kids to daycare at seven point
Speaker 1: thirty and she often didn't have virtual meetings until nine
Speaker 1: or so. She tended to use those ninety minutes to
Speaker 1: tidy up, but she realized that they might be more
Speaker 1: profitably invested in focused work. Someone else, hearing this, suggested
Speaker 1: that she leave at the same time as the daycare
Speaker 1: crew to go to a coffee shop. She might work
Speaker 1: on her top priority non meeting task for the day
Speaker 1: from seven thirty to nine, and then be able to
Speaker 1: relax during the day's meetings, knowing she had already gotten
Speaker 1: it done. Yes, there would still be clutter, but if
Speaker 1: she felt she had to deal with it, she could
Speaker 1: do that during small breaks in the afternoon. Most people
Speaker 1: have less energy and focus after lunch, so the opportunity
Speaker 1: cost wouldn't be so great. If that is not feasible,
Speaker 1: another option is to set an absolute limit on cleaning time.
Speaker 1: In the scenario I just talked about, this person might
Speaker 1: decide to clean for a maximum of thirty minutes and
Speaker 1: then have an eight am check in with her work buddies.
Speaker 1: They could set their goals for the day and hold
Speaker 1: each they're accountable for working on them until their meetings
Speaker 1: began around nine. No, not everything would get cleaned, but
Speaker 1: the most visible stuff probably would, and this would prevent
Speaker 1: the cleaning from stretching to fill the available space. And
Speaker 1: if someone truly wants a tidy house but also needs
Speaker 1: to spend that time working, maybe it would be possible
Speaker 1: to hire someone for an hour or two a few
Speaker 1: days per week to come in and clean. Perhaps someone
Speaker 1: might want to pick up some extra money by working
Speaker 1: before another job started, or maybe they'd be supplementing other
Speaker 1: things they were doing. It might be worth exploring. In
Speaker 1: any case, there is nothing wrong with wanting a neat house.
Speaker 1: The problem is if that desire keeps you from getting
Speaker 1: your work done. Or advancing in your career because you
Speaker 1: keep hopping up to put things away when you should
Speaker 1: be focusing, especially if you live with other people. Things
Speaker 1: will never be one hundred percent perfect, so better to
Speaker 1: figure out how to limit the time devoted to it
Speaker 1: or how to limit your exposure to it. Otherwise it's
Speaker 1: going to be hard to get anything done in the meantime.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four than Breakfast Pod. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
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