Editor's Note: This guest post is written by Suzanne who maintains a blog at Taking Care Of You. Suzanne is a woman who finds fulfillment in raising a family, engaging in 1.5 careers and being the creative mind behind 2 blogs.
Julie's purpose is to inspire you to write and I do appreciate her faith that I can inspire you as well.
Recently, my blogs highlighted a decluttering method called the 27-17-7. This decluttering approach can benefit just about everyone.
Briefly, here is the regular 27-17-7 concept:
1) Go through your home and find 27 items that need to be thrown away. Repeat every day until there is no more to clear away.
2) Once you've cleared the home of the obvious trash, choose 17 items that you don't need, love, use or want and donate, sell or otherwise get to a home that is not yours! Do this every day "Until there is nothing left to donate...not even an extra pair of shoes."
3) The final step is to find 7 homeless items and return them to their home or designate a home for them. Again, repeating until your items are orderly.
Here is how the 27-17-7 method can work for the creative mind. It's been tailored to declutter your life from the outside-in, allowing you to create from the inside-out.
1) First, find 27 items of physical clutter in your work area that need your decluttering attention.
For example...
...Declutter your office supplies to only those that you need, want, use and love. The rest are clutter.
...Clear out the paper clutter, i.e. throw away invitations to events that have passed, work through the "to be filed" pile, etc.
...Remove all items that don't belong in this area. Putting them away is not part of this task, thankfully!
...Continue until there are no physical items cluttering your workspace.
2) Now it's time to rid yourself of 17 items of mental clutter. Repeat until satisfied.
There are two kinds of mental clutter. The first type are physical objects that we retain because of emotions like guilt, e.g., keeping books because we spent money on them (not because they add value to our life), using furniture because it was given to us and we feel we "have to", etc. The second type are our negative thoughts, such as being overwhelmed by our to-do-lists, thoughts of inadequacy, and on and on.
3) Finally, choose 7 writing assignments, projects, etc. where you are going to focus the positive, accomplished feelings that you've created by completing the 2 previous steps.
Did you find notes on an unfinished project that you are now inspired to complete? Are you ready to tackle a difficult task you've been procrastinating to boost your feelings of accomplishment to the next level? At the very least, does your space now inspire you itself?
Whether you choose to adopt the 27-17-7 method or create your own, decluttering your surroundings and mind will inspire you to write. As Julie said so well, "The key to all of this is to keep a positive attitude, keep the creative juices flowing, and KEEP WRITING!"
In addition to Taking Care Of You, where she inspires us all to grow our inner awareness and focus on taking care of ourselves, she can be found boosting motivation and providing encouragement over at 365 Days of Decluttering. You can follow her on Twitter at Twitter.com/TCOYou.
