How to Cut the Clutter and Organize Your Home, the Kaizen Way ...
Cleaning, organizing and decluttering our home is not an easy task (especially for the single guy who is tacitly expected to have a messy house!). But keep in mind that there is some truth to the old adage that a messy environment is a direct reflection of a messy mind.
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Things You'll Need:
- An open mind
- A willingness to step out of your comfort zone
- Step 1
Certainly, I can go on and on about all the tips and tricks to thoroughly clean your house but I'm sure we've all heard this from our mothers, spouses, or significant others. However, I think it's more important that we understand that cleaning up after ourselves and cleaning up the way we think are two related issues.
- Step 2
In "The Kaizen Way: One Small Step Can Change Your Life", the author, Robert Maurer makes the point that we as human beings still act on a "flight or fight" response to life. The things that we do in a repetitive or habitual manner, we're doing in order to keep our world consistent and non-threatening. So for instance, that pile of dirty laundry that's growing ominously in the corner, we can't bring ourselves to wash it because it reminds us of all the other chores we need to do. So one small obstacle causes a cascade of messiness!
- Step 3
Maurer solution is a Japanese technique called Kaizen. Kaizen is a production method perfected by Toyota Corporation that raised the Japanese automotive industry from obscurity to world domination. The Kaizen method is to break down a task to ridiculously small steps. The smaller steps in a sense "sneaks behind" our internal fears that we're doing something outside of our "comfort zone." With Kaizen, all success and failures are noted and treated without judgment. In fact, the mistakes are treated as fuel for further progress.
- Step 4
As an experiment, try this Kaizen move tomorrow morning. As you finish washing your face and then brushing your teeth, you'll notice that a certain about amount of water has splashed onto the wash basin counter. Try using a
toilet paper to dry the counter. As you're drying, put some pressure to clean the counter as well.
- Step 5
Now with the wet toilet paper, mop up the floor as well taking up the dirt along the way. Then dispose of the toilet paper because you now have a clean spot on your floor! You don't need to do a lot in the beginning, just enough to get you started on this course. The next morning, you could try and scrub up an even a larger square area.
- Step 6
All this may seem strange to you in the beginning but these teeny-tiny steps are essential to allowing you to step beyond your comfort zone. These steps can be applied creatively to other situations such as cleaning your kitchen. With my bedroom, I make myself throw something out everyday (but in order to throw somethings out, I have to put other things away so everything works together!) For me personally, I'm always surprised that it doesn't take any more time out of my day and that I don't pay a maid for my bathroom and kitchen to be clean!
- Step 7
These small safe steps are the working basis for developing good habits as opposed to habits that just come upon you by default. It's these small steps which will build the foundation for deep and lasting change.
