Episode #146 - Decluttering Distractions – Reclaim Your Time & Focus

Welcome to Organizing with Ease, where we simplify and organize our lives for the better. I'm Diana Moll, your host, ready to lead you on a journey towards a more organized and enriching life. Together, let's explore practical strategies, inspiring stories, and expert advice to simplify every aspect of our lives. Let's declutter our spaces, free our minds, and cultivate genuine happiness. Are you ready to embark on this journey with ease?

Let's get started. Hello, friends, and welcome back to Organizing with Ease. I'm your host, Deanna Moll. And today, we're tackling something that sneaks upon us all the time. You ready?

It's called distractions. If this is your first time tuning in, welcome. And for my returning listeners, I'm so happy you're here for another week of simplifying, organizing, and taking back control of your time. Before we dive in, let's take a quick moment to reflect on last week's episode, episode one forty five. If you join me, we talked about decluttering emotional clutter, how our sentimental attachments, guilt, and even mental to do lists can weigh us down.

And let me tell you, I personally know how tough this process can be. My parents' home, my childhood home, was filled with decades of memories. My mom and dad saved everything, and then some. When it came time to go through it all, I started slow, starting one box at a time, one closet at a time, one room at a time. At first, every item felt so important.

But over time, I I had to really ask myself, do I need to keep all of this to honor the memories? Would my children want to carry this with them as well to and their children and then some? What I learned was that you don't have to hold on to everything to cherish the past. Sometimes, keeping just few meaningful pieces or taking photos can be enough. Decluttering isn't about forgetting.

It's about making space for what truly matters. That brings us to this week's episode because clutter isn't always visible. Sometimes it's our time, commitments, and mental space that get cluttered, stealing our focus, draining our energy, and leaving us feeling overwhelmed. Why distractions are costing you more than you think. The average person loses this is a really big one.

You ready? One to one hours per week, two distractions. That's almost like a full day. Wow. So when you're distracted, it takes the average person twenty three minutes and fifteen seconds to actually refocus back on a task.

That's from the University of California. That's a lot. Like, that study and that fact, those are huge those are huge chunks of time that we that we actually have lost. Right? But you will never find time for anything.

If you want time, you must make it. By Charles Buxton. To take back control, we need to be as intentional about decluttering distractions as we are about decluttering physical spaces. So let me break it down into three key areas. We're going to talk about time clutter.

Where does your time really go? Do you have you thought about that? Like, just time keeps on ticking. Two, we're gonna go through a commitment clutter, saying yes to things that actually drain you. And mental clutter, the invisible weight that steals your focus.

Time clutter. Where does your time really go? So my own time drain story just to share with you, because I'm pretty sure that you're probably listening and you're probably going to say, oh, wow, that happens to you as well, Deanna. But have you ever had one of those days where you start out with a clear plan? But then by the end of the day, nothing on your list got done.

And that's how I've had, trust me, in the past. But between because why? Because of emails, social media, and those little distractions. You can lose so much time without realizing it. And then, of course, that's there's that overbooked calendar trap.

Right? Have you ever overscheduled yourself to the point where your week felt like a marathon? And then here in the three zero five, our traffic is just so crazy lately that you have to add an additional, like, thirty to forty five minutes to the regular time frame to get somewhere because of the traffic and because of the construction? So I had a client of mine who actually was juggling work, kids, and volunteering, and she told me it was I felt like I was constantly running and getting nowhere. So we reviewed her schedule and found out that she was actually spending ten hours plus a week, hours a week, on things that she didn't actually want to do.

So what did we do? We we fixed it by actually time blocking. We actually scheduled for her and tried to make it work for her, scheduling nonnegotiable breaks. We did batch tasks where we grouped similar tasks together to maximize the focus. And, we also incorporated the two minute rule.

If a task takes less than two minutes, you do it now. You do it immediately. No second guessing. No nothing to it. Two minutes, and you're done.

The social media time drain, which we all go down that rabbit hole. The average person spends 2.5 per day, probably even more. But if you take that two point five, that's about seventeen point five hours per week. A lot of times, you can probably double that or triple that. Right?

But what can you do about it? Well, again, set apps to time limits on your phone. Use the do not disturb mode to stay focused. Schedule social media breaks instead of mindless scrolling because we've all been down that rabbit hole. Remember, time is precious.

Don't waste time on things that don't align with your goals. But you're probably laughing and saying, but social media does align with my goals. But then you're gonna have to go back and revisit and rethink for yourself. Commitment clutter. Let go of what no longer serves you.

Here we go. Why this was so hard for me personally. So I have to say, I used to say yes to everything. Helping out, volunteering, any last minute projects. By saying yes to everything means saying no to the things that truly matter.

Think about that. So it happened to me. So saying yes because it was just, yes, of course I can do that. Yes, no problem. I could definitely do that as well.

I had a client of mine who was in three different networking groups, volunteered for everything, and realized it just wasn't they weren't enjoying half of it, because they felt guilty saying no. But once they cut back, felt lighter and much more in control. So the solution is to ask yourself, does this bring value or does it drain me? Why don't you think about replacing FOMO with JOMO? How about that?

The joy of missing out on the things that don't serve you. If you use the fresh start method, we can probably break it down even more. So, of course, it's find and sort. How we want to do that is you want to identify time wasting commitments, reduce and evaluate, let go of non essentials, Systemize and harmonize. You want to create boundaries and priorities.

Sustain and tidy. Check-in regularly to avoid over committing. Saying no is a full sentence. And remember, saying no to something means saying yes to something even better. Now we are going to get into mental clutter.

We're gonna clearing out that invisible load. So my own mental clutter, for the moment, as I've been sharing with you, and I know that you've been on this journey with me, and I cannot thank you so much for that. It's when I was in deep in my dive, in my kitchen remodel, my brain felt so cluttered. I had to make so many, like, decisions, like, hundred decisions to make, and it was really exhausting. Of course, we had the family, family input, but, you know, it's just really it's just exhausting for a kitchen project of things that you have to decide that you probably didn't have to make a decision on, but things have to get done and they need to be moved along.

Right? But I I I realized that I needed to simplify my my mental space just like I do with my physical space. So what I did was with my kitchen remodel, I still had to continue what I had done prior, and that's how I fixed it. I needed to continue with what I had done prior, which was I did my meal prep and my theme nights, but I simplified it because of my the current, you know, current kitchen situation. I then needed to automate my decisions even more so by picking out my outfits ahead of time, which I already had done.

But because of everything and because my house was such chaos and it's, you know, was I mean, it still is. But it's just to the point where I needed to automate those decisions for me, which made a game changer. And I also needed to create default habits. Because of my morning routine, it completely changed itself. But what I did do, I actually stay kept the same wake up routine daily.

So I try to keep up, you know, waking up at the same time, doing my morning routine, doing my, you know, my gratitude, my meditations. I did those more. I did that in the morning and then at night, and I continued that because clutter isn't just in your home. It's in your mind too. So pick one major distraction, any unnecessary commitment, a time wasting habit, or an obligation that that drains you, and take action to remove it.

That is the challenge of the week. Declutter one major distractions. So, what I'm gonna be doing, because the phone actually got a new update, and I realized that I can actually get my phone emails even more organized based on this new update. So I'm really excited. So I'm actually gonna be decluttering my emails, my inbox on my phone because of the fact that I want to actually streamline it even better with the unread emails versus the flagged ones, which is the most important ones, and that's what I'm gonna be doing.

I'm going to be setting up email filters to prioritize the important messages. And then there's also these options that I've come to realize, which I think is a game changer as well, is where you have an option on some of these newsletters that you receive, that I receive, that I don't really read, and it actually actually even gives you the prompt to unsubscribe. So I'm already taking advantage of that where I just unsubscribe right away. And then, of course, I do block the thirty minutes per day to clear out unnecessary digital clutter. I take time out.

It's super easy to do. Sometimes it's not even thirty minutes. I sometimes drew it, but, like, you know, between ten or fifteen, wherever I do have that time. So by the end of the day, I did use up my thirty minutes per day, which is actually working itself out really nicely. Because I don't know about you, but I definitely don't like to have when I open up my phone and I see my email, my little icon with a number that's higher than five.

So there you have it. That is going to be my challenge for the week. Next week, we're wrapping up February by talking about making room for what matters, clearing out the unnecessary so we can focus and you can focus on the next step in your journey, whether it's preparing for a new season, setting new goals, or simply maintaining what you've already decluttered. We'll dive into how to create space, physically, mentally, and emotionally, for what truly is important. If today's episode resonated with you, please send me a message.

I'd love to hear what distractions you're decluttering this week. Until next time, step by step, little by little, let's keep making progress. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe to Organizer with Ease podcast on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us grow and reach more listeners like you who are passionate about living their best lives. And remember, a new episode comes out every Thursday at 8AM.

So mark your calendar and join us. Until next week, take care and keep shining bright.