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Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast
Perfection is a Trap: Save Time and Energy with These Simple Shortcuts | Clutterbug Podcast # 302
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Cass
Average is sustainable and perfection is a trap. I mean, I guess I don't love the word average because it feels like mediocre. And nobody wants to just be average. Everyone wants to be kind of extraordinary. I think the issue is that people try to be extraordinary in places, in areas that it doesn't matter, you know, and then you end up putting so much effort and energy into this that there's nothing left for the really cool stuff. So I think let's embrace mediocrity. Let's be average in the stuff that doesn't push the needle forward. So we've got something left in the tank for the things that can make us feel like we're living this really extraordinary life. See students run the world for a reason. Do you know what I'm saying? It is true. See students run the world. I read this once and it was like this incredible light bulb moment because I was like, that is so true. I think of all the people who are the most successful, who are living, like, these lives that I'm like, I would want to be like you. And they were just, like, average in school. And the people who were straight A's, you know, you were like, you're a genius. You're such a hard worker. They're like, you know, just kind of. I'm not going to say peeking, but I feel like they've kind of flatlined in life and are struggling to push forward and get ahead and really stand out in the areas that they want to. And I just find. Find that super fascinating. So, yeah, we can say, like, average, but yes, C student in the areas, again, that don't really matter. If you listen to last week's podcast, at the end, I mentioned my most exciting news, which is I got a book deal. I sold my book proposal to Harper Collins. Say what? They will be publishing as soon as I finish writing my book called Do It Shitty. Now, we might change the title, but the concept of Do It Shitty is embracing shortcuts, literally allowing yourself to not be great. It's about progress over perfection when it comes to 99% of the things we do in life. And the reason is we only have so much time in the day. And when we dedicate a lot of time to things that are, like, nitpicky or not actually pushing the needle forward or we have nothing left for the things that matter. And we feel like we're working but never getting ahead. And I really want you to get ahead. The whole concept of this book came because, I mean, I don't want to get braggy, because that's gross. But let's start the other side. I've been a loser my whole life. I am a high school dropout. I never. I don't think I've ever got an A in anything, ever. Despite trying, I. I just really wasn't great. I have no skills, zero talents, just a person, you know, average, below average, even across the board. And yet I've been able to have success financially in my business, in my personal life, literally across the board. I'm like, ooh, I'm excelling in this area for some insane reason. How cool is that? But it's not like I'm working hard and it isn't like I'm, you know, again, having special talents or skills. So what was really came down to these shortcuts? I had more time in my day than the person who was doing everything their best so that I could do these little shitty tasks and really push the needle forward. I keep saying push the needle forward. I promise I'm going to stop saying that and try to come up with something better. But the point is, I was like, I gotta write a book about this. Because if this loser over here can do it, imagine if those straight A students, imagine if those perfectionists, the people who really do have skills. You, my friend, you with your big fat brain and your amazing talents, what could you do if you took some of the pressure off yourself? What could you do if you had more time in your day? What could you do with your life if you focused all that energy on the things that are truly important? But first, before we jump into all the ways that you are going to be exceptional by being more mediocre, I really want you to take action on something today. And this is going to be kind of weird, but this. I'm really passionate about this today because it happened yesterday. I was doing a makeover. You're going to see this in January. It is incredible. I was at someone's home doing, you know, the organization and setting things up. And just like always, there is, like, stuff on the floor. This happens during the decluttering and organizing process. Like, there's papers and there's dust and there's things getting stirred up and there's like, little crumbs and bits. But I will say something. Every single home, without fail, there's one exception. And I've done hundreds of homes. I've had to be a vacuum cleaner. Cleaner every freaking time. So I go to someone's home and I'm like, okay, well, I got to vacuum the Floor now. And their vacuum is always a pos because it's so clogged. And it's because people aren't cleaning their vacuums. All right, you're not cleaning your vacuum, and so it's not doing a great job. So even when you're vacuuming, you're not actually getting a deep down clean. And so here's what I want you to do while you're listening to this. Also, after this, I want you to tackle something else because this will be five minutes. And friends, it's going to be a long podcast, so buckle up, but take a second and like, unclog your vacuum. Get the hair off the beater brusher. Pull that beater bar brusher right off. If you can get the hair out of the gears, it's there, Trust me. Unclog that thing. It's the nozzle. Hold it up to the light. You know there's crap in there. Get it out. Your floors will thank you, and it's an important thing. So while right now be a vacuum cleaner cleaner for five minutes, just trust, just trust it'll change your life. And then when you're done that, let's tackle something that's really bothering you right now. Just think before you touch your vacuum. What is one area of your home that you just like, oh, you wish was. Poof. Disappeared. When it comes to messing clutter before Christmas, first thing that pops into your head, that's what I want you to tackle. Is it the clothes on the floor? Right now I have like eight loads of laundry I need to put away. So that's what I'm thinking about. Maybe it's the kitchen counter. Maybe it's whatever. This is where I want you to spend time in today's podcast. It's about progress, not perfection. You're not going to be done, and that's okay. How can you make it better? By embracing, like, just good enough, good enough to move on. Fill a trash bag, find some things to go. Stack some stuff even neater in a corner. I don't care. Buckle up, listen to this podcast, and let's get shit done. I think perfection blocks momentum because the difference between good and great is vast when it comes to your time. So, like, to do something to a level that we expect or we assume it needs to be done is incredibly time consuming. So you're spending a lot, whether it's folding laundry or doing a big project, whatever it is, the more you get into the weeds with the details and the more you, like, get really micro and get like, ah, the longer it takes. And unfortunately, we all only have 24 hours in our day, and we gotta sleep for at least eight of those. So we're just eating away our precious living time by doing things in this really insanely detailed, perfectionist manner, whether it's wrapping your hose, putting away your dishes. All of it. All of it. We're just. It's overkill. Just saying 24 hours in a day does remind me of that saying, like, there'll be, like, a celebrity. They're like, we all have the same 24 hours in a day, like Beyonce and you. And look what she's doing. And that's kind of BS because she's a billionaire. She has chefs and she has cleaners and she has nannies, and she. All she has to do is, like, one thing. Be Beyonce. She doesn't have to do anything else. We're over here just having to do all the daily schlub stuff. But I will say you and I have the same amount of 24 hours in a day. You know what I'm saying? I don't got staff or nothing. We're doing the same. We're. We have the same hours in the day. And are you maximizing yours? And I think when I talk about doing it shitty and, like, taking shortcuts and not worrying about the stuff that doesn't matter, there's this perception that it means you don't have to do it at all. And I know. I. I mean, I've talked to clients. They're like, I'm already doing it shitty. Look at my house. And it's, like, full of crap everywhere. And the. The dish. The sink is full of dirty dishes and everything. Like. Yeah, well, I mean, technically, you're kind of doing it shitty, but no, you're forgetting the. The do it part. You're just, like, avoiding. The concept is like, we still. We still want to have our cake and eat it, too. We still want to get this stuff done. In fact, I would even go a step further and say, it is important. I. It's important we stay on top of things, because I have seen firsthand over and over again. But I'm just going to use my own life as an example. When my environment was chaotic and out of control, I couldn't do anything else. I had to find the keys. I was just managing the mess. Plus, I was so defeated living in a messy space. I had no confidence. I had no motivation to work on a business or, you know, relationships or even shower sometimes. So I do think your home is important. And I think it's the catalyst for. For the rest of your life, and it should be a priority. But that doesn't mean we have to do it perfectly. It just has to be done. And I'm. I'm definitely not just talking about your home. I just, I. I always go there because, well, it's the thing I know the best. And also it's the easiest example and the easiest place to get started to, like, put this into practice to try, because everybody has to wash dishes. Everybody has to do laundry, unfortunately. And this is where you can see this concept, like, immediately in a really simple, short, fast way. Do you know what I mean? These are like the kind of shortcuts that are really easy to describe. But there's also. You can take this principle to your finances, and you can take the same to, like, your relationship with your spouse or your kids or how you're earning money, your career. It's the same, like, what. Where can we get it done? It's like the Gitmo, right? Like, good enough to move on. Where can we apply that principle? And where do we have to, like, okay, well, this requires more energy and more time and more dedication and maybe even a little perfection. So an in home example of just embracing, like, average mediocrity. Let's talk about the kitchen. It's tossing everything in the dishwasher. Every. Everything. Okay? Your pots and pans can go in there. It's like, meh. If it's. Oh, well, what if this melts? I hope it melts, because if it melts, it shouldn't live in your home. It is weak, okay? It is weak and it needs to go. We. We need to, like, we can't babysit our crap, okay? You have too much to do to, like, helicopter parent your glasses, your plastic glasses. If they're melting, they don't deserve to be in your home. And so if you could just take the shortcut of, like, everything goes in the dishwasher. And I'm going to, like, I'm going to skip rinsing. I'm going to scrape the bits. But like, yeah, dishwasher is made for dishwashing. You've immediately saved, you know, five to ten minutes a day. Five to ten minutes a day or more, and that adds up. And. And when you're done the dishwasher and you're opening it and it's like, oh, this. This is kind of still a little bit damp. Shake that shit off and throw it in the cabinet. It'll dry inside the cabinet. I don't know. Why people think they can't put their pots and pans in the dishwasher. They can 100% go in the dishwasher. I think, I think if you've like burnt something on and you're like, oh, that's gonna have to soak or I'm gonna have to scrub it first. Yeah, the dishwasher's not gonna do a super fab job. But if you're like done eating and it's still like not hardened on yet, your dishwasher can handle it, man. The mashed potato pot, the frying pan, give it a try. Maybe you're still skeptical and you're like, I don't think it can do it. What have you have to lose? The dishwasher is just spraying water. It's not going to damage your pots and pans. You are scouring it with a sponge. I dishwasher is gentler than that. I have heard that in the UK it's common to like hand wash dishes because they don't always have dishwashers. They have small kitchens and they'll still be soapy and then they just put them straight in the drying rack and then put them away. Let's not be maniacs here because you have to rinse the soap off. You have to rinse the freaking soap off. But, but like, why do you have to have everything just like drip dry on the counter forever? Why can't you like quick dry and toss it away? Let's complete the cycle here. There is also this fear, like if I put my plates in the in the cupboard or I put my glasses in the cupboard and they're not totally, totally dry, what's going to happen? What's the difference between it sitting on a counter or sitting in a cabinet? I just got to ask. Let's go back to the UK for just a quick second. Heidi, my producer, who's you can't see, but she's here. She's just camera shy. Her fiance is from the UK and she lives there and they like go back and forth between the us. Anyways, she has seen this phenomenon of the not rinsing the soap off. So she is curious for my over the pond listeners, is this normal or is her fiance just a little off their rocker? Let me know in the comments below. Are we rinsing the soap off? I know the answer is yes, we are. And this is just a one time thing, but let me know in the comments. But then when you fill a pot, you take your mashed potato pot that has soap film and then you fill it with water to boil the potatoes. Now you've got soapy potatoes. We're moving on. We're moving on. Okay, let's talk about other ways we can embrace being average and kind of sucking a little bit. So, yeah, you can do some chores inside your house. Sucky. But how do we, like, take this same thing outside of the world? I'm gonna. I'm just being put on the spot here. The first thing that comes to mind is just jumping into a situation and figuring it out as you're flailing. So here's an example. The whole firefighting thing. I was, like, watching Chicago Fire. I was like, that would be cool. I saw that. I. I was like, I'm gonna see if you could do of be a volunteer firefighter. I googled it. They happen to be hiring. I haven't wrote a resume in, ever, no question mark, since my, like, teen years. So I just opened Canva, wrote some stuff in, and Joe's like, you better do a cover letter. You better, like, try. And. And. And I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna, like, go for it. And then I got the interview, and I was like, I'm just gonna go for it. And then the physical test came up, and everybody told me, you better work out. You better join a gym. You have three weeks to get buff. You don't want to fail this. And I was like, I'm just gonna see what happens, and I'm gonna give it a. A sea effort, you know, because my point is, friends, the crazy thing is I ended up getting the job, and now I. I definitely. I don't want you to be like, oh, it's life and death. You're not taking it seriously. I am taking it seriously. And I. This is one area of my life that I actually, like, really do put in effort. But what is really fascinating is I got this job, and I've talked to so many people, my neighbors and other people in my community who are fit and smarter than me and so much cooler in every way. And they are like, I would love to do that. But I didn't apply because I didn't think I was good enough to get the job. There is something to be said for showing up as you are and not having to, like, be perfect first before you try. I know there is something in your life that you wish you could do. Start a book club or start volunteering or write a book or join that pilates class, get that gym membership. But there's something inside of you that is, like, not Yet I still have to do XYZ first. And the. The cool thing about embracing your average self is knowing that good enough, you're good enough right now is good enough for anything you want to try in your life. You don't have to be better before you take the first step. I once joined a Zumba class, and it was so cool because I'm like, oh, I like to dance. And it's exercise. This is going to be great. And I go there, and I did feel, like, this nervousness of, like, I have two left feet. And then I see all these. It was just like a wave of soccer moms in there. And they are, like, on point. They are. There's this perfection. They are given it their all with every little dance move in there, but none of them were smiling. And then I look over at this little group in the back, and they're flailing and they're not, and they're smiling. And I'm like, that's my people over there. The sucky dancers in the back. That's my peeps back there. Because there is this pressure, like, even a Zumba class, that, like, I have to be perfect. I have to get every step, and that can stop people from going first of all. And even when you are going, you're so in your head that you're not enjoying it because you're so worried about having every dance step perfect that you're leaving there. And yeah, you've exercised, but you miss the big part, which is the fun. You may have heard the 80% rule, which is 80% done is better than a hundred percent not done. That's. I'm. I'm butchering this. 80% is better than perfect because perfect means you're never going to actually finish it. It's something along the lines. Anyways, the point is, I hear this 80%. I'm like, 80%? That's still an A. 80% is still a lot of effort, friend. Can we drop it down to 50%? Even better. Like, let's not even worry about numbers. Can we just say done? Done. Ish. Can we just go for like, done is better than perfect. Good enough to move on. At least we're finished. Because I also think there's this other epidemic that happens with perfectionism is that we start something. And I see this over and over again, whether it is the dishes or anything in your life. We start and then we get to, like, 80% done, and we're like, ooh, I'm just going to leave the rest to later. I'm going to let those pots soak. I'm going to finish putting away the rest of that load later. Like, why do we start something and not finish it? I do think a big part of that is perfection. Because if we get all the way done and it isn't like, perfect, then we feel like we failed. But if we tell ourselves we're going to finish it later, it's like that little, like, easing of our soul of, like, yeah, well, I will make it perfect later. It's this constant lie we tell ourselves that, like, I'm going to be better tomorrow, I'm going to have more time tomorrow. Things are going to work out tomorrow. And so when we can flip the narrative and say, I just got to get it done as fast as possible. Done as fast as possible is the goal. It allows us to do things at like, 50% capacity and move on to the next thing and have 50% of our energy left stored to do something else. Okay, let's talk about parenting. Because raising tiny humans feels like something epically. It is. It's so important, and it feels like something we should give 100% to. We should be perfect parents. We should try our absolute best to make sure that they are loved at all times and, and just getting all the things they need. Right? This is, this is the narrative. But here's something for you. A pediatrician, Dr. D.W. winnicott, actually said, good enough. Parenting is all children need. And I think I've seen this in my, in my. I know I've seen this. I'm gonna story time for a second. Izzy was born. I was 26 years old, and I was determined to be the most perfectest parent. She was my whole entire world. And I did the flashcards, I taught sign language. I dedicated my life to making sure that all of her needs were met. And I was always available for her emotionally. And when she was getting sick at daycare, I was like, that's it. I'm going to be a stay at home mom. And I like, I'm going to stay home with her constantly. And I was running a daycare so I could still earn money. But she had peers because they know kids need socialization. I took her to every dance class. I got her a tutor when she was struggling in school. My second daughter, Abby came along and again, trying my giving it my all, but just maybe like, not quite as much because I was really kind of tired by the time Milo came along. I was like, kid, there's some fishy crackers. Good luck. Okay, Good luck. My Friend. And I'm. I know every child is different, but I will say this. Isabelle grew up to be a child that was very dependent on me because I was always there for her. I helicoptered her a little bit and had a lot of separation anxiety. She still to this day, she's 19, has a lot of like anxiety. She's always looking like, what do you think, mom? And there's not a lot of independence there. I didn't allow her to fail and dust herself off and try again. I cushioned every land. I softened every blow because I thought that's what perfect parents did. I didn't let her feel heartache and sorrow and, and, and suffer. I protected her because that's what good parents do. That's what perfect parents do. But the truth is the world is never perfect. And you can't build resilience if you don't ever have adversity. And so allowing kids to figure out things on their own in, in, I mean you're not just leaving for vacation and leaving your two year old home to fend for themselves. That's not what I'm talking about. But a little bit of like mediocrity isn't a bad thing. And I, and I know you may disagree with me, but I'm just going to say what I'm going to say. I think we can do too much in every area, even too much love and devotion as a parent. I think we need balance. I think we need to take shortcuts and I think we need to show our children that it's okay for them to do the same thing. That they're going to sometimes have to dust their own selves off and get up and try again. We're always there supporting them, but we're not always perfect. Let's throw some more statistics at you. This one's kind of made up, but I've heard it a bunch of times, so maybe it's real. It's kind of fun. We talked about the attachment style and how all of us are striving for secure attachment when it comes to our relationships. Apparently you only have to be a perfect parent 30% of the time for kids to still have secure attachment. And I don't even know if it's like perfect 30% of the time. I feel like you only have to like try, try your best 30% of the time. Secure attachment requires like rupture and repair need. You need to be able to like stumble and fall and get back up in order to have secure attachment style, not perfection that leads to like anxious, right? That, that does, that leads to this like anxious attachment style. So there is no one that requires you to be perfect ever. Not even the tiny humans that are dependent on you for their life. You don't even have to be perfect for them. I have to take a second to thank today's podcast sponsor, Aura Frames. If you're a last minute shopper like me, don't worry, I have you covered. The best gift I've ever given or received was an Aura digital picture frame. This is a beautiful digital picture frame that you can preload with photos for your friends and family. So when they open the gift, it's already filled with memories. But my favorite part of this frame is that it comes with an app that you can share with other family and friends and they can upload to the photo frame from anywhere in the world instantly. And when we are out on vacation or we have a great new shot of our family, I can instantly send that and share it with everyone's frame. This is such a beautiful gift. And right now you for a limited time only can save by going to auraframes.com to get 35 off their best selling Carva mat frame. It's named number one by Wirecutter by using the promo code Clutterbug at checkout. I'm gonna give you another example, okay. Because I, and I am, I'm not a perfect parent. I don't have secure attachment style. Okay. I have the disorganized one where I'm like, love me, love me, love me, get away, whatever that is. That isn't great. So I, I'm, I'm not a perfect parent. And I have to remind myself. I also, like, I didn't get a lot of physical comfort as a kid. I wasn't hugged. I still don't get hugs touching. So I have to like, you should probably touch your children, give them a hug. When they were babies, it was easy, but now they're teens. I'm just like, yeah, no, I need to like, should I set a timer in my phone to hug them? The point is, my point is I'm not a perfect mother. But I was realizing I wasn't spending enough time with my 13 year old son, Milo. And every time we'll eat dinner together every night as a family, I'll be like, hey, how was your day? Buddy's like, fine. Like, what'd you learn? Nothing. School sucks, you know? And I'm like, hey, want to hang out? He's like, no, you know it. And I'm like, How? Anyways, every single night, we play Fortnite together. We sit, we play video games. We aren't even in the same room, okay? Because he has his gaming room upstairs, and I lay in my bed. But we put our voice chat on, and he's like, oh, man, I got a math test. I'm super nervous about it. Like, while we're shooting other people, I'm like, pew, pew. In his head, Milo, hey. Huh? Hey, what do you want for Christmas, buddy? And we're, like, talking while we're playing this video game. And our relationship has drastically improved in this shitty way. Me trying to force connection, not working. Me doing it in this, like, organic, crappy parenting way. Yeah, kids, get your kids off screens and spend time with them. I'm spending time with my kid on a screen, not even in the same room. And I'll tell you what, we are closer than ever. So sometimes these shitty shortcuts are actually such a blessing. I want to talk about finances for just a second because this is, like, one area that I've always really, really sucked at. I'm impulsive. I have adhd, and also I have dyscalculia. So I suck with numbers. Trying to budget. That's a. Heck, no. When I first started trying to get my finances under control, I read all the books. I listened to all the audiobooks. Everyone's like, track your spending. Write down everything you. You don't have to be extra like that. Joe has a notebook still where he calculates. He, like, balances his budget. If you're enjoying that, go for it. If it's something you do as a hobby, cuckoo cool. If you're. If you think that's what you're supposed to do in order to get a handle on your finances, I'm here to tell you it's overkill and it's unnecessary. So let's talk about some micro wins that you can do. First and foremost, pay yourself first. Set up a system in the bank. When you get your paycheck, whatever day, like, money gets deposited, take 5 or 10%, take $20, I don't care. Let's be real crappy. And auto send that to a savings account. That's it. It's one thing you could do that right now. And what I love about this is you never have to do it again. It's baked in. You never even have to think about it again. And that's a. It's like a little crappy, mediocre way that before you know it, you're like, oh, I'm Am I saving money? Cool, cool, cool. That's awesome. Second thing you can do, your bank most definitely has an app program that'll track your spending for you. Mine does. It's like, lady, you're spending this much on beauty products every month. And I'm like, whoa, that's crazy pants. I didn't have to do the math. It did the math for me. So then I went on a 30 day, no beauty product diet. That's a lot easier than me trying to like have self discipline every day and worry about balancing the budget. What if you did this little crappy thing you did? We don't even have to do a whole week. We do a three day, no spend. Three day, no spend every month or for three days you're not allowed to spend one dang nickel. If that feels easy, move it to seven days. Seven days out of every month. If you're like, I'm not spending money for this week will have a dramatic impact on your finances. It's bonkers. You'll have to eat those old frozen hot dogs out of your freezer probably. But it's okay. You're going to get creative. You're going to use up stuff that you have and you're going to feel really proud of yourself because it's like just hard enough to be eee, but you don't have to be perfect. It's easy enough that it feels kind of effortless to do. That is a mediocre way to start getting your finances under control. These little micro wins, they don't feel like a lot. It's like, but I'm in debt up to my eyeballs. What is $20 a paycheck gonna do? But, but these micro wins are steps which build a ladder to get you to where you need. This is exactly how I went from busted broke to financial freedom. And it did not happen overnight, let me tell you that. But I will say like, we were broke, broke in the beginning. And anytime I would like, oh, I really feel like a coffee. Ooh, that's $4. Okay, $4. I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna transfer $4 into my savings account. It's a little step. And before I knew it, that savings account, I kid you not, was a thousand dollars. Then it was $5,000. Then I was like, that's big girl money. I think I'm gonna buy, I think I'm gonna buy an index linked stock or something with that. Am I gonna do, how do I do that? I don't know, I'm just Gonna do it shitty. And I'm just gonna do boop. There. Oh, oh, oh, am I making money? And then I just start again. And then like, literally before you know it, you're just like, continually. And you're like, am I a financial genius? I think I might be. The whole concept of embracing mediocrity and, like, doing things shitty or doing things average, it can actually. I guess it's like, it's hard to explain because your idea of perfection and my idea of perfection is very, very different. And my idea of doing things, like, average in yours, like, it's all relative to your level of perfectionism that you're struggling with right now, honestly. So I want you to think in your own life about, let's just do putting away laundry. Your way of it should be like, your ideal of perfection. I want you to think about how you could step that down a little bit. I want you to, like, in your mind, envision, like, what would be a tiny step down that I could do. And then I also want to flip the narrative completely, and I want you to think of it as a different way. What's the worst way you could get the laundry done, but it still be done? What's like, the absolute. Like, if you were trying on purpose to put laundry away terribly, what would that look like? And then what would it look like, you know, perfectly put away? And then is there somewhere in the middle? And I think it's that somewhere in the middle, in the middle that we're really striving for. Maybe I. I mean, I'm going absolute worst. But if I'm thinking of, like, putting away luxury, the absolute worst, I'm not even sorting it by person. I just have, like, a garbage bag that's labeled clean clothes. And you dig, it's a free for all. Perfect would be everything is Marie Kondo folded, and it's all lined up and it's in rainbow colors. And you're like, oh, do I want satin underwear or do I want granny panties today? And they are all different. Like, that's not so right. But a lot of people do that. But I'm not also going to, like, dig through a trash bag just because it's clean. So can I go somewhere in the middle? At least all the underwear are together. They're not sorted, they're not folded. But it's like, you know, they're mine and they're in my own place. That's that happy medium mediocrity that I kind of settle on. That's the c. Let's Take the same approach to working out. What is it? What does it look like to like, fitness? Perfection. Getting up every day at five and going for a run. That, I mean, that looks like super. What does it look like to do? Absolute mediocrity. Getting out of bed and just touch my toes three times. That's pretty much where I am. I'm like, oh, I should do something physical. I'm just gonna bend a little bit today. That's probably not gonna do anything. What about aiming somewhere in the middle? What if we are just walking for eight minutes? Because ten feels like too much. Eight minutes a day. I can do eight minutes a day. What if we even take it to the next level? You got to just do something for eight minutes a day where you raise your heart rate, jumping jacks, some burpees. Not burpees. Those are nightmares, you know, crunches, something. Eight minutes. Crazy pants. Here you're. You might be thinking, yeah, the, the, the 5K run is going to get you a lot further, but I, I disagree. And here's why. Because if you are a person who actually be. Can be consistent getting up every day and running for, for 5K, you already are nailing this. This isn't like you have the self discipline. What about the rest of us who are struggling? We can't go from zero to perfection. We need to build that, that ladder. And so giving ourselves permission to be crappy builds consistency and it builds habits that are ingrained that we don't need to force ourselves to do. And it builds confidence. And so before you know it, you're going to add another eight minutes a day. And then maybe you're like, actually, I can go to 10 and maybe I can go to 30 minutes. And then without. You feel like the byproduct of these little shitty consistent steps that we're taking. This like ladder that we're going is that we're actually getting better at things. We are leveling up, we are developing skills, we are gaining knowledge and we never have to put in more effort. It still feels lazy. It still feels like a shortcut. It still feels like we're like, ah, I'm doing a crappy job. But we're good at things. Now the outside people are looking at us and they're like, you work out every day. You're looking toned, you're. And you're like, what are you talking about, man? I'm sucking all day. Or they're looking at you and like, you, you've saved so much money, like you're doing really well. Financially. Look at you. And you're like, what are you talking about, man? I don't even balance a budget. I couldn't even tell you. You know what I mean? This one more example. Okay, one more example. My daughter Abby got a ukulele. She really loved Grace Vanderwaal. She watched the show. Anyways, she's like, I want to be a musician. We got her a ukulele for Christmas, and we wanted to sign her up for lessons because our brain is. If you want to play an instrument, you have to learn chords, and you have to learn. And you need to practice every day for an hour. And what? My kids used to do piano lessons, and the instructor said, if they don't practice an hour a day, they'll never get it. And I had to force my kids with a timer and bribe them with candy, and it was a freaking nightmare. Guess what? Neither of them played piano, and they hated it. With Abby, she's like, I'm just gonna learn a shitty song. She did not say shitty because she was a child, but she looked on YouTube and she played a rip chord. That was the first song she learned. And she's like, meh. And then the next day, she's like, I'm gonna learn another crappy song, and I'm gonna. And we never. She never did it perfectly. She never learned chords. She never pushed herself. It was always fun. Now that kid can play any song by ear. She. She's, like, insane. She also taught herself guitar because the to go from ukulele to guitar wasn't that big. It was one more step on the rung. She taught herself. Then after that, she's like, I think I want to play piano, too. Taught herself piano again because she's now, like, musically inclined from doing it shitty. She actually became proficient and really skilled and talented without the forcing, to practice constantly without the, like, the perfection. Right? And this is it, friends. It's. It's every area. When we do it, when we make it easy, we actually still get the same results, but without the immense amount of time and effort and, like, grind that comes with achieving goals. I want your takeaway from today's podcast to be that 50% effort is better than 0% done. I really want you to try to suck at things, okay? This week, this is your homework. But to get something all the way done, like, suck at it all the way to done and see what happens. I have to take a second to thank today's podcast sponsor, Cozy Earth. Years ago, I switched to Cozy Earth Sheets, and there's no going back. Not only are they so soft, but they're temperature regulating. They come with a 100 night sleep trial and a 10 year warranty. But recently I've also started buying their pajamas and I've gifted my mom a set of the cozy Earth bamboo pajama set. They are incredible. It feels like luxury. I have their new bubble cuddle blanket. I'm telling you, you can't go wrong give the gift of everyday luxury. This holiday season, head to cozyearth.com and use my code clutterbug for up to 40 off. Just be sure to place your order by December 12th for guaranteed Christmas delivery. Again, that's cozyearth.comand use my code clutterbug for 40 off. Now it's time for my favorite part of the podcast. Talk to Cass. And first up we have a story from Aiden.
- [39:50]
Aiden
Hi Cass, my name is Aiden. I just finished listening to your latest podcast about the flow following finding your flow and following your flow and I just thought I would share with you some of the things that I have started doing shittily to make my life easier. One of the first things I started doing shitty before I even found your podcast was when I moved out of my parents house. I stopped using a top sheet. I am very much a person who rolls around in their sleep and I was forever getting tangled in that top shelter sheet and it was a nightmare to make my bed and I hated it. So once I moved out and realized that I don't have to use this if I don't want to, I completely stopped and now I save money by only buying the fitted sheet instead of the entire sheet set for something that I don't need and don't use and end up throwing away anyway. Another thing that I do shitty that I started doing once I started listening to your podcast was not folding my clothes when I put them away. My co workers and I are pretty close and we talk about a lot of things because we do a lot of putsy stuff and it was brought up one day that I do not fold my clothes and I just shove them in my dresser and everyone was like shocked. But I'm like it actually doesn't matter if my T shirts are wrinkled or if my jeans are wrinkled. You guys can't tell anyway or and you know who's looking in my underwear drawer. No one wants to see that. No one's looking for that. So I kind of opened their eyes a little bit with that one. And then another thing that I do shitty. The final thing that I'M going to share is I am a big crafter. I do a lot of different crafts, including quilting. So I have, I wouldn't call it an extensive collection of fabric. My mom's definitely outnumbers mine for sure. But instead of following my mom's example, who folds every single piece of her fabric stash carefully and neatly and stacks it in these drawers in this dresser, I have mine in those calyx cubes with the little pull out bin and I just stuff it in there because when I'm quilting, I have to pull it out and iron it anyway. So what does it matter if I'm stuffing it in a cube and if I have to iron it anyway? So I just wanted to share some of the things that I do shitty and I would love to hear from you and from other listeners other things that I could do shitty or store shitty and stuff like that. Thank you for all that you do, Cass. You are a huge inspiration to me. I listen to you every day. Drives my husband crazy, but I don't really care. So thank you again for everything and take care of Aiden.
- [43:49]
Cass
This was, this was a light bulb moment for me and I am so excited when you said no top sheet. I got really excited because same girl, same I. Top sheets need to die in a hole and my kids don't use top sheets. We just get tangled in them. What are they for? And everyone's like, well then you have to wash. Stop it. No top sheets suck. I am writing this down. This is going in the book. But here's the thing. I want my more Aiden. I want all my listeners listen. You are listening right now. What do you do shitty? Give examples. Go to clutterbug.com. talk to Cass. Record some things that you do shitty. I'm gonna steal your ideas and I'm gonna make a best selling book out of them. So love you guys. You're doing me a solid because I totally didn't even think of top sheet. It's just something I never used. But yes, Aiden, I don't use a top sheet either. I want more. Now we have a question from Kaya.
- [44:50]
Kaya
Hi Cas, this is Kaya from Germany. I have a little numbers question for you today. What are your top five countries for listeners and are there any countries you didn't expect to have listeners from? And what's the age range of your audience? I guess you can see some of that in your YouTube analytics and it would be really fun if you shared a bit of it. I also have another numbers question about the decluttering types, I love them. And you mentioned recently in another podcast that I think over 8 million people have taken the test. So now I'm super curious. How do the results break down? What the most common decluttering type and what's the least common and so on. Maybe you could share some of those results with us. And of course sending you lots of love from Germany, from all your fans across the sea. I just love your content. I really appreciate the chance to send you a message and yeah, keep up the amazing work. Bye.
- [45:54]
Cass
Bye. I'm gonna guess you are a cricket or a bee. I love it because your brain works in details and you're like give me the numbers. I'm analyt. Haha, you're cricket Or B, I don't know which one, but it's one of those. Super cool question. So most of my followers actually come from the US and then followed by the uk, Australia, Canada, Spain. The most surprising country was India. There's a lot of people from India who actually watch Clutterbug too. And Germany's up there, my friend. It's up there. Which is also super, super fascinating. Most of my listeners are women. I always say I have two men, but that's because it's like.05% men and like 99.5% women, which is so. I mean, yeah, okay. And then most women are middle aged. So 35 to 65. We're just like, we're almost to the point I think where we're just like, we stop given an F at this point. We're just like, we're so tired from trying so hard and we just, can life just be easier? And we just want a clean house and we want our life to be. We want all the good stuff, but we want to stop busting our butt to get it. And I think if that's where you are, you are in the right place because I'm going to help you have your house look like Martha freaking Stewart lives there. And we're going to bake some cookies we bought at the store and pretended we made. And we're going to look amazing and we're going to have this amazing, incredible life and we're going to have financial success, but we're all still going to be lazy losers. Yeah. Yep, that's knuckle. Let's fist bump. Now let's hear from Karina.
- [47:37]
Karina
Hi, Cass. I just want to say how incredibly thankful I am for your channel and all that you do. My husband and I are both butterflies and so when we bought Our house getting things organized was an absolute disaster up until I was like, hey, we need some systems that act actually work for us. And we're slowly starting to implement those things. And it's just been an incredible change. So thank you. One question I have is what do I do with all of his hats? How do we make something functional for that? We always have hats laying around the house in random places. Sometimes he has them in the bedroom, in the bathroom, by the door where we go to leave. And so trying to find something functional has been interesting. So if you have any thoughts on what to do with all of his hats, that would be great.
- [48:35]
Emily
Thanks.
- [48:36]
Cass
Oh, this was a good question. Hats are a struggle and they make a lot of like, hat organizers with little clips. No butterfly in the world is going to be like, let me just take my hat off and do this little clippy thing. And they hang like in a closet. No, no, no. So two things that I would recommend is have, first of all, three things have multiple hat stations because ideally they'd all be kept at the door. But he's probably wearing hats in the house. And then when he's going to bed at night, he's going to take his hat off. He's not going all the way back to the entrance. So in the bedroom is a good spot. And having just a big old basket. That's the hat basket. Super great. Or a wall of hooks. What we have in our house is literally like a floating shelf at the back door above our. Where our shoe organizers and my family just sets their hats up there. And it is, it is full. It is too many. And that's okay. And Joe's like, I need them. They're for all the occasions. I have my really sweaty hat, I have my grass cutting hat. I have my what if it's, you know, really dirty grass cutting hat. I don't ask questions, I just give a shelf. So a shelf and a basket and you're winning. But I also, this reminds me because you mentioned that you're both butterflies. I forgot to answer what the most common organizing types are. So drum roll please. The mostest common results that we get is actually ladybug. So most people are ladybugs followed by bee, then butterfly, and like, surprisingly not a lot of crickets, which is, I mean, I guess they're not coming to Clutterbug if they're cricket because they probably are uber organized and they're like checking out Marie Kondo or something else for organizing porn. But it did surprise me that ladybug was the number one. Now it's time to hear from Vicki.
- [50:27]
Vicki
Hi, Cass. This is Vicki. I have a lot of extenuating circumstances for why I'm in the mess I'm in. I just wanted you to know that I hear you. I understand how much money I am losing with my nine, count them, nine storage units costing me nearly $1,000 a month. I really want to get that cut down. I'm 71 years old. I cannot physically do all that labor by myself. I have been paralyzed and unable to do much of anything. I know I have a lot of stuff from two separate houses that I can't fit into this space I'm living in right now. My life is still in limbo. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I am a total mess, and I really need your help. Any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated. I am ashamed of myself. I understand how much money I am losing every month, but I just can't seem to do anything about it. Please help. Thanks.
- [52:13]
Kaya
Okay.
- [52:13]
Cass
Vicki. I want to help. So, Vicki, listen. We are actually doing, like, a Storage Wars YouTube video. And. And even if we don't. Vicki, listen. No, I. I really want to help you. So reach out to me, because I do have an idea for you. Here's what I'm going to say. You are living without the stuff in the storage lockers right now. I would really love to see local auction houses take these off your hands, sell everything inside like their own little Storage wars, and then give you half the money. Not only will you walk away with you not being burdened with the things, not only will you walk away with an extra $12,000 a year in your pocket because you won't need to pay the storage fees, but all the things that have been sold will also be extra money in your. In. In your pocket. $12,000 a year, Vicki. You could go on multiple cruises. Babes. You are amazing. You are. I already know you're a cool cat. I want to see you enjoy every freaking day of your life. And the stuff in that storage locker is your ticket to that, okay? So I want to help you. I want to help you find people who can sell these things that are in these storage lockers for you. And I want you to stop seeing them as potential. What if I should do and see it as money? Because that's. We're going to trade that stuff for money in your bank so you can travel the freaking world and live your bestest life. Unless you hate traveling. Then we're going to do Something else awesome with the money, Vicki, but the point is, it's time to trade it for the life you've been craving. Last but not least, we have a dinosaur from Emily.
- [54:04]
Emily
Hi, Cass. My name is Emily. I'm from Michigan. I started watching your videos and listening to your podcast when you did the collab with Jessica from how to ADHD. I did your 30 day decluttering challenge, and that was very helpful. I got my brain in the habit of just doing a little bit each day, decluttering, and I ended up decluttering my kitchen for six hours, which was longer than five minutes, but much needed. And I have had a clean kitchen since. I had never been able to sustain that before. So thank you. Your tips with a basket to collect the paper clutter, and just the mantra of I deserve a clean kitchen. And doing the dishes every night just so waking up to a clean kitchen, that has really been helpful. So thank you. I wanted to share one thing I found in the cabinet above the fridge, and that was a very giant, very bloated can of peaches that was probably about 5 years old. And I didn't know what to do because it looked like it was going to explode. And so I looked it up online and it was like, oh, botulism, it could be contaminated. Said, do not pass go. Do not collect $200. You know, put it in a Ziploc bag and put that bag in another Ziploc bag and throw it out. So I did that. And I had just recently watched an episode of emergency firefighting paramedic show from the 70s, and it had basically, there was a botulism epidemic on there with some beef stroganoff. And it was this huge deal and very scary. And so I was like, oh, no, don't want that. So I was very happy to get that out of my house. One other thing I wanted to share was I work at a library. And I had this epiphany a few years back and I was like, why do I keep so many books at my house when there's. I can get almost any book I want through the library at any time. So I just wanted to share that advice with people not to be afraid to declutter their books because usually you're going to be able to get that book at your library. And that's what libraries are for. They store books for the community. So just wanted to share that and just to say thank you, Cass, for all you do, including firefighting. And thank you for just, like the reminder that we can do a little bit each day. It doesn't have to be this huge project because I think that was what was stopping me for so long from decluttering. So thank you.
- [57:07]
Cass
I love that, Emily. Oh, thank you. And thank you for the library message, because you're so right. There has been. I remember when Brene Brown's book came out and I was like, oh, it's so expensive. It was in hard copy. I reached out to my library, requested that they order a copy, and they did. And then. Right.
- [57:23]
Kaya
So they'll.
- [57:24]
Cass
Even your library will, like, they have money to get new books. You can put in a request for a book that's like a new release and sign up to be one of the first people to, like, take it out. So very good message. Thank you so much, Emily. That was. That was just so good. Also, when you were describing your can. My brain. This is what my brain. Please say she's not going to open it to try to wash out and recycle it. Right? Because could you imagine you, like, try to open this can and just like, botulism explodes from the pressure. Now you've got botulism peaches all over your ceiling and walls. You just threw it in the trash, man. You just throw it in the trash. The earth will be okay. It won't be okay, but one can of recycling will not fix it. Okay, Just saying it is. It's okay to sometimes be like, sorry, I'm gonna do better in the future than opening a literal can. An exploding can of botulism. Good job, Emily. Okay, that is all. I hope your vacuum is sparkly, clean and working a lot better and that you just got something done that you're super proud of. Let me know if you do something shitty. Seriously, you'll be doing me a huge favor. Go to clutterbug.comtop to cast and record some things that you do. Shitty little shitty shortcuts that I can totally put in my book. Steal your ideas. And thank you very much for that. And also, I want you to practice. Yeah. Practice this week doing that 50%, like, getting something done on purpose kind of bad. Just. It's exposure therapy. Let's dip our toes in the shitty water and just see what happens. Like, what is the worst that could happen if you do something badly, but get it done. I'm excited to hear how it goes. And I'll see you guys back here next week for more ramblings with Cass.