Organize Your Life with Clutter Coach Claire

Hi, everyone. I’m posting one of my early podcasts about dealing with not being able to get started. I’m doing that partly because I feel stressed out and uncreative and have zero ideas for what to write about today. And I’m posting this particular one because I think it’s helpful information for our current situation. I chose this podcast to replay because I know many people feel that they should be super productive now when they have all this extra time on their hands. But maybe you should...

Today I’m talking to Renee Green who is operations manager at a small software company. We’ll talk about the abrupt transition to working at home and how it’s going, and how things may go in the future. In particular, we’ll talk about the challenges of working remotely, especially when there’s been no advance preparation or experience. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I...

This is podcast 145 and it’s about creating stabilizing structure. I’ve talked about this before but today I’ll give it a different slant because many people during this pandemic quarantine time have lost their daily regular routines and schedules. This isn’t about being more productive but about not feeling adrift and unstable. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk...

This is podcast 144 and it’s about organizing to soothe your soul. If you’ve been feeling too distracted or worried, or busy with work that’s more tiring than usual because you’re doing it remotely, you probably haven’t started any projects. And that’s fine. But it occurred to me that some organizing tasks can be relaxing and take your mind off things for awhile. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management...

In this podcast I talk to two women, Melissa Kirk and Mimi Heft, who normally work at home to get some tips for the rest of us who are suddenly now doing that. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk about challenges and problems in those areas and give you great ideas on how to overcome them. I offer practical suggestions. I talk about why we humans behave the way we do...

This is podcast 142 and it’s an interview with Ryan Rawson, a self described divergent thinker, who is now working at home due to our current pandemic. We talked about the difficulties of divergent thinking and also the benefits of it, and how that affects having to work at home. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk about challenges and problems in those areas and...

This is podcast 141 and it’s called quarantine organizing. It’s a bonus episode I decided to record to give you all something to do while we are under quarantine. You’re stuck at home with all your stuff. You can’t get away from it now! Ha, ha! The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk about challenges and problems in those areas and give you great ideas on how to overcome...

This is podcast 140 and it’s called speak your clutter aloud. Whenever I start working with a client, the first thing we do is take a tour. This is partly for me to find out what’s going on, but it’s also for the client to become more aware of what’s going on. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk about challenges and problems in those areas and give you great ideas on...

This is Podcast 139 and it’s an interview with artist Kasey Smith who I met when she was the curator for the Oakland Figment art festival. Kasey creates site specific installations, performances, and art events with a focus on the ephemerality of the cityscape. She’s a busy artist and also works full time so we talked about fitting all that in. We talked about the challenges of working at home, staying focused and battling perfectionism. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time...

This is podcast 138 and, as promised, it’s my interview with Canadian social worker Elaine Birchall, who’s worked for 18 years helping hoarders. She has a book out called Conquer the Clutter. We talk about the three criteria of hoarding, the TV show Hoarders and the paths to becoming a hoarder. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk about challenges and problems in...

This is podcast 137 and it’s a follow up to one of my earliest podcasts, the emotional cost of clutter. Some people call themselves collectors. It’s true that collecting can be a smoke screen for hoarding. One difference is that people who collect like to show off their collections. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk about challenges and problems in those areas and...

This is podcast 136 and it’s about not being in the mood, dang it. On this podcast I talk about ways to have less clutter, use your time effectively and be organized with what I hope is a light touch rather than a rigid prescription. I talk about the benefits of habits, but without the regimentation of doing things like clockwork, or else. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each...

In this episode I talk to my friend Adam Davis who’s a musician, artist, husband and dad who teaches at a local gym and also gives guitar lessons. How does he juggle all that? We talk about making notes for lyrics on his iPhone, making time for art, using positive self talk to control destructive brain weasels and dealing with constant laundry. This is the first podcast in a series where I interview people I know. Regular folks instead of “experts.” Not that there’s anything wrong with...

This is podcast 134 and it’s about setting achievable goals. We live in a culture where we’re encouraged to set daring goals for ourselves. There’s even an acronym, BHAG, that stands for big, hairy, audacious goal. I approve of goal setting as a way to keep yourself motivated and to be able to tell whether you’ve gotten to the place you want to be so you can stop and acknowledge your progress. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination,...

Podcast 133: How to create good habits. I was inspired by reading a review of a new book called Good Habits, Bad Habits, by psychologist Wendy Wood. The author says what I already knew and have podcasted about before; that willpower has little to do with forming good habits, or being successful, or even having self control. The best way to form a good habit is to set up your environment to make success easy. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity,...

Podcast 132: Decision controls. So what the heck are decision controls, you may ask? I happened upon this phrase hearing about Dr. Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, a British fire fighter who’s also a doctor of behavioral neuroscience. She wanted to know if decisions made by fire fighters in the heat of the moment (yeah, I couldn’t resist) were as well informed as they could be, in order to be effective and also safe. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity,...

This is podcast 131: how to avoid multitasking. By now you’ve heard, if not from me, then from many others, that multitasking is a bad idea. That’s true. It’s not effective. It makes your work take longer, you’ll make more mistakes and it increases your chances of not finishing the main thing you need to do because you’ve gone down so many rabbit holes. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more....

This is Podcast 130 and it’s about the danger of all or nothing thinking. This kind of thinking can get you energized about an organizing project or even ongoing maintenance when you’re on the “all” side of the equation, but it has obvious drawbacks when you end up on the “nothing” side. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk about challenges and problems in those areas...

Podcast 129: Track others' work. Recently I consulted with someone about making sure to do’s got done at work. But not his to do’s, his assistant’s. He’s a pretty organized guy. He gets things done and so do others in his office. He trusts his assistant. But every once in a while something slips through the cracks. The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk about challenges...

Podcast #128 is about finding the hidden ways your time is being spent. These are things that are hiding in plain sight but we don’t notice them because they’re always there, or we discount how much time they take, or they are so habitual that we truly can’t see them. But it’s not about rooting them out. It’s about noticing them. * The Organize Your Life podcast is about time management, productivity, procrastination, decluttering, organizing, self management and more. In each episode I talk...