3 Aspects of Managing the Clutter-Tidiness Continuum

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Today’s post is by writer and creativity coach Anne Carley (@amcarley.bsky.social) who believes #becomingunstuck is an ongoing process.

When we feel in opposition to our surroundings, we suffer needlessly. When things are too chaotic, we sometimes push to reduce the chaos—cleaning, sorting, donating, pruning—while sometimes, paradoxically, we blunder toward denial, distraction, and further cluttering. One more aspect of the clutter–tidiness continuum is the recognition that your own preferences may change. For example, does the occasional tidying sweep of your desk cheer you up? Do you discover, while tidying, those notes and files that you knew had gone missing? Or do you enjoy piling things up for the duration of a project and then doing a massive celebratory cleanup at the end?

External objects aren’t the only things to consider. When a project itself is confusing to you, that can be a sign that it’s time to stop ignoring the skewed relationships and cluttered thinking that may have gotten you there. Following is a quick look at ways to unclutter stuff, people, and the words we write.

1. Uncluttering Stuff

It’s true that clearing objects can clear your head. But sometimes maintaining physical chaos is a way of exerting control over something—anything—when the rest of life can feel out of our hands. Not-clearing might not actually be about stuff at all, perhaps concealing a fear of death instead.

Note: Clutter can be entangled with responses to deep trauma. Trained trauma-informed experts know gentle and effective ways to work with these matters.

Oliver Burkeman reassures us that, once we accept that life’s too short for us to get it all done in one lifetime, we can relax and just choose one next step. Anne Lamott puts it this way: “I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.”

Chaos and order

Do you know how much chaos you thrive in? Where are you on the clutter-tidiness continuum? As Dahlia Lithwick so succinctly asked, are you a Chaos Muppet or an Order Muppet? This question, answered honestly, may help you as you shape your work environment to suit you and support your creativity. One person’s cluttered studio is another person’s warm and happy workplace. Know yourself. To me, one key to understanding your acceptable level of chaos is whether you can find the resources you need when you want them. If you can, then the ‘clutter’ may not be important.

Other people

You can enjoy a lot more latitude around the nature of your workspace if you can reserve it for yourself alone. If, instead, it’s in a shared space, whether with loved ones, housemates, studio mates, fellow coffee-drinkers, or your landlord, you’ve got some additional considerations to manage.

2. Uncluttering People

Speaking of people, is it possible you need to pull back from some relationships that are cluttering up your creative life? For me, even though there are ways to say no that I am theoretically comfortable with, I still hear this inner voice sometimes that tells me being polite, or just going along, is more important than standing up for what is important to me. Early childhood training, I guess. Can you relate?

Let’s say that you’ve known this person for years. They are routinely self-absorbed, critical of others, including you, and negative in their view of the world. On the other hand, they’ve been helpful to you in the past, in your career, and maybe even as a friend. Can you turn your back on them now? Maybe so. Is your obligation to maintain a relationship more important than your values, your wellbeing, and your meaningful creative work?

Where are you when it comes to people who crowd your psychic space? Are those relationships worthwhile for you now, in light of your creative priorities? Are they chaos agents at a time when you could use a little more order in your life?

3. Uncluttering Words

Another area where clutter can accumulate, besides with stuff and people, is in the written texts themselves. Are there places where the words don’t sing? Do saggy sentences get you down? Revise your work like a slightly impatient stranger would. Remove extra words/notes/figures/ideas. Don’t say the same thing two or three ways. Cut. Cut. Cut. Remove the cut material to compost if you like. You’re not murdering your darlings, just keeping them somewhere cozy, off to the side.

Here’s one example that can have a big impact: Search your writing for unintentionally included filter words that distance the reader from your meaning. A long manuscript of mine once dropped a few thousand words that way. What a great pleasure that was to lop them away, bit by bit.

When you unclutter your words, in effect you are challenging yourself to take creative risks from a place of strength. This means looking at yourself differently. Being bold. It’s a shock to see how different life is when it’s not governed by fear. The fear doesn’t go away. You can’t expect that to happen. Living with it though, on good terms, can really work.

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Uncluttering your stuff, the people in your life, and your words can streamline your entire process. You can take this challenge on gradually, one task at a time, and pace yourself according to your shifting moods and capabilities. Bottom line: When you reduce unwanted clutter you reduce daily stress, which opens up lovely new possibilities for your creative life.