As with every life-changing journey, there’s really no better time than now to start decluttering and organizing our lives. But if you can’t drop everything right this second to get decluttered and organized, that’s totally okay. Instead, try marking a date in your calendar that takes into account Gretchen Rubin’s strategy of the clean slate.
The strategy of the clean slate is simply taking advantage of the best time to start a new habit or stick to a resolution. According to Rubin, choosing to start a new habit (or resolution) when you’re in the middle of a transition helps to cement your determination to keep said habit.
The transition allows you to draw a clearer line between your old self (before tidying up) and new self (after tidying up). This delineation helps us to embrace a new identity and a new way of doing things, making it more likely for us to stick to a new habit.
Consider the following periods of transition listed below, so you can ride the wave of the clean slate yourself:
Settling into a new home
Whether it’s into a new office or a new house, moving out is one of the best times to start decluttering. Since packing and unpacking are part and parcel of moving into a new home, you can simply choose to chuck the items you don’t want to keep in your new space and organize the items you want to keep as you go. The moving process itself supplements the clean slate strategy, which helps us to actually follow through with our decluttering goals.
Stepping into a new role or job
Something about settling into the workforce, switching careers, getting married, and having kids makes want to step up. In fact, we often experience a boost in our willpower to make significant changes in the midst of these life transitions because we want to live up to these very roles. So take advantage of this willpower boost and make the next phase of your life, the phase where you finally live clutter-free.
Starting a new year
There’s a reason why New Year’s resolutions are a thing. New years are frequent yet weighty enough to mark the beginning of a new era (think #NewYearNewYou, if hashtags are still a thing). But you don’t have to wait until January 1st to take advantage of the clean slate strategy; birthdays, anniversaries, and new financial/school years can also act as clean slate markers. Remember, each year is a great opportunity to outdo yourself.
All that said, the strategy of the clean slate will help you to get work done but won’t do the actual work for you. So make sure to actually ride the wave of the clean slate when it comes to meet you. You can get started by penciling in that date.
