Common Characteristics of A Clutter Clearer
If I ask you to close your eyes and point to your past, present and future, where would you point?
Do it now, take as long as you need to, and when you’ve pointed come back and carry-on reading.
It may seem a strange thing to do, but where you pointed to may help explain why you never seem to have time to do your Clutter Clearing and why you struggle to focus on and finish your Clutter Clearing.
Most (but not all) clutterholics and hoarders will have pointed behind them for the past, in front of them for the future, and to themselves or to the side of them for the present. That’s because most of us are what’s called IN TIME people.
To us, time is like a piece of string laid out in a straight line on the floor. We’re standing on the present with the past behind us and the future in front of us.
The only problem is, there are multiple versions of us standing on this piece of string. There are younger versions of us behind us, and older versions of us in front of us.
It’s as if we’re in a queue with ourself, and to see beyond the present we have to step out of the queue to look ahead to the future or back to the past.
It turns out not all people see time the same way as us. Not all people are standing on their time string, living in the here and now.
Ask an event planner, personal assistant, lawyer, project manager, housekeeper, interior designer and they will probably point to the left in front of them for the past, directly in front of them for the present and to the right in front for the future. These people are what’s called THROUGH TIME people.
To them time is like a wall chart planner in front of them. They can see the past, present and future at once because it’s all there in front of them.
If you live with others, or have unsupportive friends or family, do this exercise with them. Ask them to point to the past, present and future. You may discover you’re living with people who literally see time differently to you and that might help explain some of the frustrations and conflicts you have with them, especially about the clutter. It’s because we have different concepts of time.
Both IN TIME people and THROUGH TIME people have qualities that are helpful for our Clutter Clearing and qualities that are a hinderance. To succeed with our Clutter Clearing we need to let go of FEW of our default IN TIME characteristics and embrace some of the THROUGH TIME characteristics that don’t come naturally to us.
Find out more about the Clutter Clearing 7 Step Journey here: https://www.clutterclearing.net/7-step-journey/
