The first time I won a writing competition was on the back of a story I wrote after doing a deep clean and declutter of my entire house. Is this a coincidence? I don’t think it is. I think that our outsides truly are a reflection of our insides. And when our outsides are calm and organised, we feel better on the inside, and this translates into better work, better nutrition, and better creativity.
Creativity is stifled in a cluttered and chaotic environment, and unresolved mental clutter is another way in which we can end up sabotaging our abilities and potential. It sounds odd, but if you want to unleash your inner James Patterson, perhaps decluttering is the way to find him!
Decluttering Your Home
Have you ever procrastinated on writing because of the thousand-and-one things you need to do at home? Those things are never going away. If you want to get serious about writing, you have to create an environment that is conducive to concentration. A calm, tidy and uncluttered home is the perfect place to write, so it’s worth doing everything you can to get it and keep it that way.
Clutter – physical or mental – can weigh you down and disrupt the focus and flow required for distraction-free writing. When you declutter your home, you’re creating an environment where your mind can relax and do its best work.
Even if the only space that you can manage to keep completely clear is your writing desk (or your coffee table, bedroom, or wherever you do your writing), making sure this space is always calm and welcoming will give you a head start as soon as you sit down to write.
If you need help decluttering, take a look at my 5-day decluttering challenge, or if you’re really ready to commit, I have several decluttering courses to help organised your entire life. I have been through the whole process of decluttering and it has given me the space to write more often and to create better work.
Declutter Your Mind
Personally, I think the place to start to declutter your mind IS your home environment. When your physical surroundings are all in order it clears a whole lot of noise from your head about things you need to do/have forgotten to do/are stressed about having to do.
Being organised is the first step. Once you have done that, it’s time to start looking at your self-talk, your day-to-day attitude, and your rumination habits.
Meditation, journaling, and exercise can really help with negative emotions and are 100% worth building into your routine (like everything – including writing – routine and consistency really is the key to achieving all your goals).
I know (because I have been there) that it can feel totally overwhelming when you look at the mountain of clutter, admin, and responsibility in your life. Speak kindly to yourself and know that you can make a big change by being committed to small changes every day of the week.
Routine Is King
The way you live your days is the way you live your life.
Annie Dillard
Routine is the key to everything. Routine can help you declutter (by doing a little each week), stay decluttered (by doing a little each week), keep your house clean (by doing the same chores on the same day each week), and increase your writing output to hundreds of thousands of words a year (by writing or editing 1k words every weekday).
The key to routine is to do the same thing often enough that it becomes a habit. This is exactly how we get into bad habits (like going to bed without stacking the dishwasher, or not writing even when we have free time on our hands), and it’s the key to developing good habits. Keep repeating something small that you want to do and it will eventually become a habit.
Habits are easier to stick to than good intentions, by a factor of about a thousand (this is my opinion and not scientifically verified!).
Habit also works wonders when it comes to your writing routine. By committing to write or edit a certain amount each day, at the same time and place each day, you are creating a routine that will eventually turn into a habit. A cluttered and unscheduled approach to writing is always at risk of failing and leaving you back where you started, dreaming of the book you really are going to finish… one day.
For more help on daily writing see:
The 10 Step Guide To A Daily Writing Habit
How To Build A Daily Writing Habit And Stick To It
Done, Not Perfect
Emotional clutter such as negative self-talk and perfectionism will allow thoughts to creep into your mind like I can’t write, or I’m never going to be any good at this.
Decluttering negative self-talk is a challenge, but it can be done.
Perfectionism is so damaging and paralysing. I have suffered from it all my life and it has held me back in so many ways. In the fear of not being brilliant, we can fail to begin at all. The mantra I repeat to myself on a regular basis now is:
Done, not perfect.
I have said this so many times that finally my brain is starting to err on the side of believing it and it helps me get through those all too frequent moments when I feel it’s not good enough so I won’t even start. I write without criticism or editing when I begin a new story. All the tidying up can be done later when the words are actually on the page. Allow yourself to write work that you’d never let anyone else see, and remember: this is how almost all writers create their stories.
Don’t feel that you aren’t good enough when you write: done, not perfect.
Increase Creativity With Less Clutter
Did you know that children do not learn as well in a visually cluttered classroom?
Our brains need order and a lack of visual stimulation to work better. Clearing things away and organising your life might be the very step you are missing in your quest to become the writer you always wanted to be.
I know that the stereotypical writer is portrayed as creating in a messy office, books and papers and research everywhere. Were they making it harder for themselves by creating in this way? Would they perhaps have written their great work of genius a bit sooner and with a bit less stress if they had created a calm and clean environment both inside and outside of their heads?
I can’t answer that question, but I do know that my writing is 100% better when everything else in my life is under control.
Declutter And Uncover The Writer Inside You
Clearing up your environment, organising your life, and getting your mental clutter sorted out, will leave you completely free to move forward in life in a positive way on truly strong foundations. The sense of peace that comes with living in an ordered and tidy environment, and being up to date with life admin gives your creativity space to flourish. Now, instead of thinking about the 100 things you need to do by the end of the week, you can be thinking about the plot twists in your latest novel.
Rather than coming home and being exhausted at the end of the night because there is always too much stuff and too much to do, you can arrive home, stick to your routine, and know that you are on top of everything. And being in this position allows you to feel secure in the knowledge that there is always time, and space, to write. Within this space, you can create the work that you know you have inside of you.
Declutter your life, inside and out, and unleash your bestselling author into a world of calm and order!
