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Declutter The Brain With Kitti Andrews
Episode 345th July 2023 • Shining Brightly • Howard Brown
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Is your brain and home/workspace space a MESS? In Episode 34 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show, my guest Kitti Andrews shares the “do it now” strategy to get organized one small step at a time. She helps us get clear in our brains, set priorities and clean up the space around us which leads to clarity and greater productivity. Come listen, download, review and share! Keep shining always!

Mentioned Resources

Website: http://declutterthebrain.com 

Social Media links: 

https://www.facebook.com/kitti.andrews.21 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kitti-andrews-87644055/ 

https://www.instagram.com/kittiandrews_mckay/ 

https://twitter.com/kittiandrews 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLEvVsveSkzaUdmoKvke6g

Giveaway: Downloadable PDF: 7 Easy Steps To Conquer Your Physical & Mental Clutter https://www.declutterthebrain.com/declutter/ 

About the guest – Kitti Andrews, Your Thought Organizer

For over 20 years Kitti Andrews has been helping people to get unstuck and out of a state of overwhelm by getting their physical and mental surroundings under control by helping them to declutter their space and brain. Kitti has written, directed and performed over 800 online videos devoted to decluttering the five life pillars, which furnish the content for her daily newsletter. Her speaking career spans interviews on top podcasts and summits as well as Stanford and Harvard.  She has contributed articles that have garnered her front-page status in the Los Angeles Tribune Magazine as well as an upcoming interview in USA Today.


About the Host:

Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.

Website

Http://www.shiningbrightly.com

Social Media

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/howard.brown.36

LinkedIn - https://wwwlinkedin.com/in/howardsbrown

Instagram - @howard.brown.36


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Transcripts

Howard Brown:

Hello, welcome to the Shining Brightly Show. This

Howard Brown:

is Howard Brown, your Maestro of the mic. I got another good show

Howard Brown:

here today. I have to tell you if you've ever been disorganised

Howard Brown:

scattered, just overwhelmed, I said, this is the guest for you.

Howard Brown:

Kitti Andrews. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. How are you today?

Kitti Andrews:

Fantastic. Thank you so much for having me.

Howard Brown:

Well, we're gonna help a lot of people today, I

Howard Brown:

can tell you that. So let me just introduce kitty and tell

Howard Brown:

you a little bit more about her. So for over 20 years, Kitty

Howard Brown:

Andrews has been helping people to get unstuck get out of a

Howard Brown:

state of being overwhelmed getting their physical and

Howard Brown:

mental surroundings under control really important. By

Howard Brown:

helping them to declutter their space in their brain, we're

Howard Brown:

going to learn a little bit about decluttering it is written

Howard Brown:

and directed and performed over 800 online videos devoted

Howard Brown:

decluttering the five life pillars we're gonna learn about

Howard Brown:

that, which furnishing the content to her daily newsletter.

Howard Brown:

Her speaking career spans interviews on top podcast

Howard Brown:

summits, as well at Stanford University, Harvard, Harvard

Howard Brown:

University, and as we say, in Boston, Harvard, and she

Howard Brown:

contributed articles that have garnered front page status in

Howard Brown:

the Los Angeles Tribune magazine, as well as upcoming

Howard Brown:

interviews in USA Today. Oh, boy, this is amazing. City.

Howard Brown:

Welcome. Tell us a little bit more and share something that we

Howard Brown:

don't know about. Yeah.

Kitti Andrews:

Well, again, thank you for having me. And I

Kitti Andrews:

have just recently discovered that I like watching buildings

Kitti Andrews:

go up. I know right? You know, they say little boys have have a

Kitti Andrews:

fixation with with with toy dump trucks and all this kind of

Kitti Andrews:

stuff and cranes and all of that. Well, I'll tell you what,

Kitti Andrews:

I've just moved into a brand new apartment building and I was

Kitti Andrews:

warned that there's one going up right next door. And I have had

Kitti Andrews:

the privilege and I say privilege of watching this right

Kitti Andrews:

from the foundation, watching them for cement watching them

Kitti Andrews:

have to dry it and dry out the ground after a horrendous

Kitti Andrews:

rainstorm. There they've nailed yesterday in the pouring rain

Kitti Andrews:

again. It's easy. I am in Eastern Canada, it does rain a

Kitti Andrews:

lot. They they erected seven storeys worth of worth of

Kitti Andrews:

girders thinking, How do these people do that? It's just

Kitti Andrews:

absolutely fascinating. And it makes me realise everything

Kitti Andrews:

needs a foundation. And I think we'll be able to talk about that

Kitti Andrews:

today.

Howard Brown:

Oh, thanks for sharing that. Wow. Nope,

Howard Brown:

everything's great up in Nova Scotia land. So you are known as

Howard Brown:

the thought organiser, correct? I am indeed Yes. So we're

Howard Brown:

talking about clutter, right. And clutter can take many forms,

Howard Brown:

but it can hurt your business, your bottom line, and you

Howard Brown:

personally so take us deeper into that, about how we all get

Howard Brown:

cluttered or stuck.

Kitti Andrews:

Well, it's funny that you mentioned the sort of

Kitti Andrews:

the thought organiser thing because you know, a client once

Kitti Andrews:

said, Thank you for getting me organised and saying, you know,

Kitti Andrews:

I'm not an organiser, think Martha Stewart with the little

Kitti Andrews:

flowery box was right. And she said, No, you help people to

Kitti Andrews:

work and eyes, their thoughts? And what I find is that, well,

Kitti Andrews:

how does this relate to clutter is physical clutter and mental

Kitti Andrews:

clutter, I believe are so inextricably entwined. That it's

Kitti Andrews:

it's difficult you're one begets the other which begets the other

Kitti Andrews:

In other words, your physical clutter can be a clue to what's

Kitti Andrews:

going on between your ears. And it's just, it just ends up being

Kitti Andrews:

a vicious circle. Now how can that affect you is as as an

Kitti Andrews:

entrepreneur, for example, if your surroundings are cluttered,

Kitti Andrews:

then you will find that, that you're just plain and simple not

Kitti Andrews:

thinking as clearly. Why because of distractions. Plain and

Kitti Andrews:

simple. You just feel any and it's a you don't even realise

Kitti Andrews:

you're being distracted. But really you are my Oh, I gotta

Kitti Andrews:

get to that. Okay, back to the email. Yeah, I really should do

Kitti Andrews:

something about Yep, back to the schedule, whatever it is, that

Kitti Andrews:

is this landing is making sense

Howard Brown:

it is landing because we live in a very fast

Howard Brown:

moving world we're coming out of COVID where we all had to do

Howard Brown:

something different and we were restricted as to where we could

Howard Brown:

go out whether we're gonna get a shot and and then we'll also a

Howard Brown:

coupling that with this very fast moving digital world. So

Howard Brown:

right we've got email distraction, text distraction,

Howard Brown:

Facebook, LinkedIn, tick tock, oh, it goes on and on and on

Howard Brown:

YouTube. And what happens is, is that The shiny objects sort of

Howard Brown:

leads you off your priorities or off what you're supposed to be

Howard Brown:

doing. And we live on these little devices called cell

Howard Brown:

phones, or iPads or our computers. And it is really easy

Howard Brown:

to get sidetracked. And so I have to tell you, it's very easy

Howard Brown:

to get overwhelmed, and stuck to it nowadays. And so business

Howard Brown:

must be good for you, kitty.

Kitti Andrews:

Yes, yes, it is a nifty it's actually, a lot more

Kitti Andrews:

people have been asking me this year about digital decluttering.

Kitti Andrews:

As opposed as opposed to the physical they say, if I say if I

Kitti Andrews:

say to them, which is more damaging to you mental clutter,

Kitti Andrews:

physical clutter, though, say, oh, mental clutter, you know,

Kitti Andrews:

that noise that starts in your head, when you start to when you

Kitti Andrews:

wake up, you're starting to get ready for your day. And you

Kitti Andrews:

start to ask yourself, did I email that person? Did I write

Kitti Andrews:

down to room to do this to do that? The other thing, so the

Kitti Andrews:

more that you can eliminate things that you can eliminate,

Kitti Andrews:

like the physical clutter, or, or noises on your phone, I'd

Kitti Andrews:

like to speak into that for a moment, then the more you can

Kitti Andrews:

eliminate the stuff that you can control, then the rest of it.

Kitti Andrews:

Well, you might you might just have to deal with it. Right?

Howard Brown:

Well, the reason I say that is that there's there's

Howard Brown:

a lot of distraction, and setting up that discipline to

Howard Brown:

focus on the priorities of the hour, the day, the week, it gets

Howard Brown:

you off track. So you have a system to start building that

Howard Brown:

foundation, you call it the one system, please, please tell it

Howard Brown:

tell my audience about the one system.

Kitti Andrews:

I developed it partly, well, it's an ADHD or

Kitti Andrews:

St. We ADHD years cannot be kind of all over all over the place.

Kitti Andrews:

Well, we are. So we need something that is simple. Now

Kitti Andrews:

this one is the physical one, but it can be applied to any of

Kitti Andrews:

the five pillars of your life. And it goes like this one room

Kitti Andrews:

at a time, one area of that room at a time, one thing at a time.

Kitti Andrews:

And by one room at a time. I mean, it's counterproductive to

Kitti Andrews:

start in your office, do a little bit there and then get

Kitti Andrews:

bored and well go do some in the spare room. All right, do what

Kitti Andrews:

what happens is by the time you've come back to your office

Kitti Andrews:

correctly, you forget where you are, and it takes you 15 minutes

Kitti Andrews:

to get back into character and pick up that momentum again. And

Kitti Andrews:

then when one area of that room at a time means you're just

Kitti Andrews:

niching it down a little bit, you've decided on the room, and

Kitti Andrews:

now you've decided on an area and that can be difficult. But

Kitti Andrews:

once you have chosen, okay, that corner or this part of the desk

Kitti Andrews:

or whatever, a category, if you will, then it's easier again to

Kitti Andrews:

pick up that momentum and see your results which fuels your

Kitti Andrews:

confidence because many times people won't declutter because

Kitti Andrews:

they, they they just don't think they can or they've tried

Kitti Andrews:

before. And then it hasn't. It hasn't worked for them. So they

Kitti Andrews:

say, Well, I can't No, you want some confidence. And that spills

Kitti Andrews:

over into all the rest of your life into your dealings with

Kitti Andrews:

your clients, everything like that. And then one thing at a

Kitti Andrews:

time. One thing at a time. Now, that can be tedious. Yes, it can

Kitti Andrews:

be time consuming. Yes. But it's also the number one way to train

Kitti Andrews:

your brain never to get cluttered again. Can I give you

Kitti Andrews:

a quick example?

Howard Brown:

I would love that. Yeah, absolutely. All right,

Kitti Andrews:

my first client in Michigan seriously, yeah, she

Kitti Andrews:

she was what is an entrepreneur, she had a very large L shaped

Kitti Andrews:

desk. And it was not a word of a lie six, six inches of paper, if

Kitti Andrews:

you didn't know what covered desk was. And so our very first

Kitti Andrews:

call I said was okay, well, I guess we're going to start on

Kitti Andrews:

this pile of paper. Her mission was to clear everything off so

Kitti Andrews:

that her assistant could work in the office. And she said, she

Kitti Andrews:

looked at me and she said, You're out of your mind. We're

Kitti Andrews:

not going to go through this one sheet at a time. It's my first

Kitti Andrews:

client, Howard. I didn't know what else to do. So I'm

Kitti Andrews:

thinking, Oh, my God, I don't have another I don't know what

Kitti Andrews:

else to suggest other than one thing at a time. So she

Kitti Andrews:

relented, and I tell you five minutes into it. She started to

Kitti Andrews:

say, I don't need this. I don't need bank statements. My

Kitti Andrews:

accountant doesn't need statements. Why are we Why do I

Kitti Andrews:

even have this? And she started flying Thanks for flying through

Kitti Andrews:

it and saying, I can do this online. I can do this online.

Kitti Andrews:

But the kicker here's here's the real kicker was a couple of

Kitti Andrews:

weeks later, she reported that she, we did get through the desk

Kitti Andrews:

by way, nice. Two or three weeks, but during that time, she

Kitti Andrews:

she said, You know, I was in the store where Oh, the trade

Kitti Andrews:

magazines, sorry, I didn't give you the follow up on the she

Kitti Andrews:

needed trade magazines for her business. But we used to we

Kitti Andrews:

threw away six or eight of them that she hadn't read. She had

Kitti Andrews:

never read she had bought and never read. And she said maybe I

Kitti Andrews:

don't really need to buy as as many anymore. Next time she's in

Kitti Andrews:

the store. She goes to just automatically reach for that

Kitti Andrews:

trade magazine. And she said, Wait a minute, now I just threw

Kitti Andrews:

away 50 bucks worth? Do I really need this issue? It's like no.

Kitti Andrews:

Oh, what's up, puts it back eliminating clutter coming in?

Kitti Andrews:

retraining the brain? So it makes sense.

Howard Brown:

Yeah, that's she showed some discipline there.

Howard Brown:

That's great. So I'm seeing the physical. Give a hint to how

Howard Brown:

that works. In the digital world. When you've got a million

Howard Brown:

windows open your phone's ringing and email keeps coming.

Howard Brown:

never stopping and texts keep coming, never stopping all hours

Howard Brown:

of the day. How do we do? How do we apply it to that?

Kitti Andrews:

Now as to the tabs open Guilty as charged. The

Kitti Andrews:

first thing I will address though, is something that is

Kitti Andrews:

quite literally, you can't operate without it. And I

Kitti Andrews:

suggest to everyone does it put your phone on Do Not Disturb.

Kitti Andrews:

Plain and simple. I get complaints from people well, I

Kitti Andrews:

phoned you in and it goes straight to voicemail. Yes, it

Kitti Andrews:

does. Because every time a beep or bird or that comes on. I

Kitti Andrews:

completely lose focus on what I'm doing. What does that do?

Kitti Andrews:

That takes time to get back into as I said before it get back

Kitti Andrews:

into character get back into the email that I was doing whenever

Kitti Andrews:

I am very easily distracted. So it is on Do Not Disturb unless

Kitti Andrews:

I'm expecting a particular thing. Yes. And that that frees

Kitti Andrews:

up a lot of mental energy, which is so important. You know that

Kitti Andrews:

little bit the little battery icon of like your iPhone, at the

Kitti Andrews:

top of your brain gonna be there. Every time something's

Kitti Andrews:

going I should look at it squirrel brain, right? Yeah,

Kitti Andrews:

yeah. So that is the first thing now when it comes to tab I am. I

Kitti Andrews:

cannot put like many people who weren't born with a computer in

Kitti Andrews:

their mouth. Over the age of 40, you know, it's a it's like an

Kitti Andrews:

English as a second language. So it's not something that comes to

Kitti Andrews:

me automatically. But most people have a gazillion tabs

Kitti Andrews:

open. And what's gonna have to happen eventually is, number

Kitti Andrews:

one, try to discipline yourself that when you're done with that

Kitti Andrews:

tab, oh, but I might need it, I'll probably need to refer back

Kitti Andrews:

to it right? Yeah, bookmark it, okay, well, then that can turn

Kitti Andrews:

into a miasma can all turn into a miasma? At some point, you are

Kitti Andrews:

going to need to take an hour on a weekend and just go through a

Kitti Andrews:

bunch of these emails, or tabs or whatever. That's easier said

Kitti Andrews:

than done. Yes, I know. But if you can discipline yourself,

Kitti Andrews:

excuse me, along the way to doing that. But I was just

Kitti Andrews:

thinking about something just before we came on the air start

Kitti Andrews:

to unsubscribe to things, you know, they say sent was a

Kitti Andrews:

simplicity. And before you sit down before you download that

Kitti Andrews:

freebie or or what have you just really think about what's going

Kitti Andrews:

to be coming into your inbox and the quality of preventive

Kitti Andrews:

maintenance, if you will, and starting to actually look at

Kitti Andrews:

what's coming in and say, Do I need this and it's just the same

Kitti Andrews:

as physical clutter. Does it serve me now? Yes, when you

Kitti Andrews:

signed up, it probably served you very, very well. Thank you

Kitti Andrews:

very much, much. Now, maybe you've grown and changed and it

Kitti Andrews:

doesn't serve you as much well, but I might need it right. You

Kitti Andrews:

know, the the refrain goes. It takes it takes being really

Kitti Andrews:

thinking, really thinking and don't try to do that in the

Kitti Andrews:

middle of a workday.

Howard Brown:

Well, I like the fact that you're actually saying

Howard Brown:

schedule in your house cleaning but just Do you clean your house

Howard Brown:

or do the lawn or go to the gym, schedule it in schedule in a

Howard Brown:

time when you're going to house clean only and make some

Howard Brown:

decisions? Really, if I haven't looked at this thing and a week,

Howard Brown:

a day or a long, exit out, delete, unsubscribe. So I think

Howard Brown:

that's very important. That's a part of the discipline as well.

Howard Brown:

Now, you actually, you can use this that one system for other

Howard Brown:

things besides decluttering, what what are those? Wow,

Kitti Andrews:

it's all it's all about niching down things down

Kitti Andrews:

into categories, say, for example, you're just you're just

Kitti Andrews:

feeling overwhelmed, about about what, what has to be done.

Kitti Andrews:

That's your relationships. For example, if you're starting to

Kitti Andrews:

think I have to if you're starting to feel overwhelmed by

Kitti Andrews:

how many people you may have to please, in one day, whether they

Kitti Andrews:

be your mother in law, your partner, your your your family,

Kitti Andrews:

deal was one of them at a time, there's, there's a lot more to

Kitti Andrews:

do that I was really T is thinking about physical. But

Kitti Andrews:

when you think about my company name is declutter the brain. And

Kitti Andrews:

if you're feeling overwhelmed by all of these things that are

Kitti Andrews:

crashing into your brain, you have to finally say, Alright,

Kitti Andrews:

I'm going to pick one thing, and work on it with one category,

Kitti Andrews:

whether that's emails or texts, or whatever, and I'm going to

Kitti Andrews:

binge them, I'm going to do all of them at once, and try to set

Kitti Andrews:

yourself a time limit so that you don't get decision fatigue.

Kitti Andrews:

And then, if you're still feeling overwhelmed by there's

Kitti Andrews:

so much here that your analysis paralysis, you don't know where

Kitti Andrews:

to turn next. I like to think about who needs me first, The

Kitti Andrews:

Who, because so often in this world, where we're consumed with

Kitti Andrews:

the what, what needs to be done, when the something needs to be

Kitti Andrews:

done, but we forget about those people that are around us. Like,

Kitti Andrews:

say, for example, your assistant who has been waiting for you to

Kitti Andrews:

provide her with names of people that she's supposed to contact?

Kitti Andrews:

Does she need me? Does my partner need me right now? Does

Kitti Andrews:

my Does my child need me to feed, feed and feed them? Break

Kitti Andrews:

it down into the most simple thing in that particular

Kitti Andrews:

category? And then and then do that? And then move on to the

Kitti Andrews:

next thing in your health? All right, well, I want to lose 20

Kitti Andrews:

pounds. Okay, that's great. I'm overwhelmed. How am I going to

Kitti Andrews:

do that? Okay, well, I'll tell you what, I'm going to walk up

Kitti Andrews:

and down the hallway. I live in an apartment building. So let's

Kitti Andrews:

use that for an example. I'm going to walk walk up and down

Kitti Andrews:

the hallway every three hours. Once, I'm going to start small,

Kitti Andrews:

and then I'm going to build up, do you see what I mean about

Kitti Andrews:

just breaking it down to the easiest thing that you can do?

Howard Brown:

I do, it's setting priorities. And it's taking a

Howard Brown:

small bite, that first step making it potentially a baby

Howard Brown:

step before you're taking lots of either larger steps or many

Howard Brown:

more steps. So I think that's very important. But so, boy, I

Howard Brown:

just see myself where I cleaned out everything right? And then

Howard Brown:

it just starts filling back up again. And so how do I stay? You

Howard Brown:

know, stay organised stay unstuck.

Kitti Andrews:

Are we talking? Are we back? Are we well? Could

Kitti Andrews:

it and can I address that in physical terms? And then we can

Kitti Andrews:

we can? Yeah, for sure. Okay. Okay, because it's easier. Most

Kitti Andrews:

people come to me with their physical clutter that's not

Kitti Andrews:

realising at all, that there's something in behind it. There's

Kitti Andrews:

always a why why do have clutter of any of any kind, and

Kitti Andrews:

sometimes you can be needed as neat as a pen and still upstairs

Kitti Andrews:

and that's okay, too. But you've got you've got, oh, Lord. The

Kitti Andrews:

question was, I'm sorry. I went, Oh, well,

Howard Brown:

the question you will use wonderful physical, I

Howard Brown:

said, what happens you fall off the waggon. I mean, I was saying

Howard Brown:

I was using the example that my email box is cleaned out. Now.

Howard Brown:

It's just filled up again. And so how do you stay? How do you

Howard Brown:

how do you stay, you know, organised and that that was

Howard Brown:

really the question like you've started, you've made great

Howard Brown:

progress, and then all of a sudden you're disorganised

Howard Brown:

again.

Kitti Andrews:

Okay, from a physical point, I've got a

Kitti Andrews:

couple of I've got a couple of checks. And then remind me about

Kitti Andrews:

the digital if I don't, if I don't, if I don't address it,

Kitti Andrews:

okay, from a physical point of view, say for example, it's your

Kitti Andrews:

desk. And we're both entrepreneurs, so we can relate

Kitti Andrews:

to this. At the end of the day, Chad, I think your your, your

Kitti Andrews:

listeners will awake this too. At the end of the day, take five

Kitti Andrews:

minutes is probably going to take you three. But take five

Kitti Andrews:

minutes, no more, and just straighten up your desk. Makes a

Kitti Andrews:

world and sounds really, really simple, doesn't it? However, it

Kitti Andrews:

sounds overly simplistic, but you'd be amazed at how many

Kitti Andrews:

people don't do that. And they just oh, okay, well, alright,

Kitti Andrews:

that lifting is done. I'm gone. When you walk in, in the

Kitti Andrews:

morning, you want your brain is already fresh. Do you want to

Kitti Andrews:

sully for lack of a better word? So your brain with? Yeah. Okay,

Kitti Andrews:

this isn't looking very good. You want to walk in to something

Kitti Andrews:

that's nice. So how do you do that with regular maintenance,

Kitti Andrews:

just short and sweet, good at back and put your desk back the

Kitti Andrews:

way it's supposed to know tip number now to look so that you

Kitti Andrews:

feel good first thing in the morning, and you're not using up

Kitti Andrews:

that most important thing, mental energy going? You see the

Kitti Andrews:

little battery icon going down? Yeah, believe it or not at

Kitti Andrews:

worse. The next one is a wait is the waitress tip. I was a

Kitti Andrews:

waitress for many years, never walk from one room to another

Kitti Andrews:

empty handed. There's always something that you can carry,

Kitti Andrews:

whether it's the mornings coffee, or a shirt that's

Kitti Andrews:

supposed to go to another room, anything like that. That's just

Kitti Andrews:

like, never walk. If you find yourself with an empty hand, say

Kitti Andrews:

what are you doing? There's got to be something you can carry?

Kitti Andrews:

Because there always is. Now how does this translate? You're

Kitti Andrews:

going to ask to save, for example, mental decluttering.

Kitti Andrews:

Take a few minutes at the end of the day. And this is not easy,

Kitti Andrews:

because I tell you my brain is buzzing at the end of the day.

Kitti Andrews:

And so I almost forced myself to just stop and say, Wow, that was

Kitti Andrews:

a good productive day. I'm not quite sure what I got done. But

Kitti Andrews:

I know like it was productive because I feel good. All right,

Kitti Andrews:

let's examine this. What did I accomplish? Oh, well, Erin, ah,

Kitti Andrews:

I, I fixed my Calendly invitation so that they reflect

Kitti Andrews:

properly, whatever is important that you got done that day, give

Kitti Andrews:

yourself a little pat on the back a little yay, you. You

Kitti Andrews:

know, we we strive powered all the time we push and we push and

Kitti Andrews:

we push. But we don't give ourselves enough credit. What

Kitti Andrews:

does that do? Adds to the mental clutter of I gotta keep pushing,

Kitti Andrews:

I'll never be good enough. How much mental clutter like that is

Kitti Andrews:

there in the world.

Howard Brown:

I have to tell you, I have to give my mom a

Howard Brown:

little credit. So since I was little, and again, this happens,

Howard Brown:

I saw a talk with a military general, I make my bed every

Howard Brown:

day. So that's I start my day with doing something

Howard Brown:

constructive. Not not everyone does that. But I know everyone

Howard Brown:

in the military does that they make their bed every day. That's

Howard Brown:

the first constructive thing that you're doing because you go

Howard Brown:

back to that bed and it's made and then you undo it to get in.

Howard Brown:

And I like that at the end of the day to take the five minutes

Howard Brown:

of decluttering your desk making sure it's good when you kind of

Howard Brown:

come back to it. And then also giving yourself a pat on the

Howard Brown:

back for what you did accomplish that day and not for what you

Howard Brown:

didn't accomplish. So that's really important. So I would say

Howard Brown:

what are some more key ingredients to successful

Howard Brown:

decluttering?

Kitti Andrews:

Yeah, don't try to do. Don't try to do don't

Kitti Andrews:

pick the biggest project. Buy that for in the physical realm.

Kitti Andrews:

I mean, don't say okay, well, I'm going to declutter the

Kitti Andrews:

basement which has 30 years worth of Christmas decorations,

Kitti Andrews:

but that's okay. I can get through it in an afternoon. No,

Kitti Andrews:

no, no, don't do that to yourself. You're just setting

Kitti Andrews:

yourself up for failure and, and oh, well, I should do of course

Kitti Andrews:

I shouldn't try decluttering because I can't do it. Well, why

Kitti Andrews:

of course you can't. Because you pick the biggest room no matter

Kitti Andrews:

what you want to do is pick preferably the smallest room

Kitti Andrews:

within the smallest room maybe the spare bedroom that has that

Kitti Andrews:

has a closet Yanet just so that you can see, like we were

Kitti Andrews:

talking about a few minutes ago, you can see you can see those

Kitti Andrews:

milestones you can see the momentum happening, and give

Kitti Andrews:

yourself credit because it's it. Well, it is overwhelming. So

Kitti Andrews:

just don't take the biggest, the biggest project in the house and

Kitti Andrews:

give yourself time. cut yourself some slack. Well, I should be

Kitti Andrews:

able to get shirt out of your vocabulary. We all should. Don't

Kitti Andrews:

wait. Howard. Yeah,

Howard Brown:

I liked that, because you schedule it in. But

Howard Brown:

again, taking the biggest room could be overwhelming, take the

Howard Brown:

smaller rooms and start getting started. And that works well for

Howard Brown:

digital and your projects. You've got to chip away at them.

Howard Brown:

You can't You're not just like the your building next door to

Howard Brown:

you. It didn't get built in one day, they laid the foundation,

Howard Brown:

then they're starting to add the girders and then they'll add all

Howard Brown:

the the additional stuff that you need to make it safe. And

Howard Brown:

then the internal stuff, the electric, and all that in the

Howard Brown:

floor. So I like that analogy as well. What? So you do this? All

Howard Brown:

over zoom, you don't get it, you know, not going into people's

Howard Brown:

homes and doing this do you? Are you doing this all over zoom?

Kitti Andrews:

No, I do do it only only on Zoom. I know I did

Kitti Andrews:

use to go into people's houses. And then someone suggested I

Kitti Andrews:

look into it. And this was before when I looked it up? What

Kitti Andrews:

is virtual decluttering? Because my mentor suggested this and

Kitti Andrews:

there were I only saw I could only find three practitioners in

Kitti Andrews:

the whole world. This was back in 2017. And I watched watch one

Kitti Andrews:

of them a demo. Okay, well, let's try it what a realtor

Kitti Andrews:

friend of mine has described it as is a less intrusive, more

Kitti Andrews:

focused way to get rid of years of clutter. And the the key

Kitti Andrews:

there is the less intrusive because don't we always feel

Kitti Andrews:

like we should clean for the cleaning lady. You have somebody

Kitti Andrews:

in your home, you're embarrassed that you have that you have the

Kitti Andrews:

clutter note if she's seen it all he or she have seen it all.

Kitti Andrews:

But you're still you're one is still embarrassed. Whereas if

Kitti Andrews:

it's if it's on Zoom, then all we need to do is concentrate on

Kitti Andrews:

how many one room and one area of that room and we just laser

Kitti Andrews:

focus on that. Until it's until it's done. And then you get that

Kitti Andrews:

that swagger feeling and go okay, yeah, we can do it. Oh,

Kitti Andrews:

no, that we I can let her see that or yes, you can. Let's do

Kitti Andrews:

it. You got through this, didn't you? Okay, so we're gonna do the

Kitti Andrews:

next thing and the next thing. And people new people have

Kitti Andrews:

always always taken to it. The ones who don't are the ones who

Kitti Andrews:

want you to do the actual lifting and fair. Fair enough,

Kitti Andrews:

right?

Howard Brown:

I understand. So let me let me ask you, you have

Howard Brown:

for those that will see this on video. You have clear the

Howard Brown:

clutter calm the chaos. Is that is that your quote?

Kitti Andrews:

Yes. Yes. It's been my tagline since 2018.

Howard Brown:

I love it. So just for those are listening clear,

Howard Brown:

the clutter, calm the cast. So this is the part of the show get

Howard Brown:

you where I'm going to put on my glasses, my white glasses with

Howard Brown:

gold ran dangerous there because we're shining brightly on you

Howard Brown:

right now. I would love for people to tell them how to get a

Howard Brown:

hold of you. Also, I think you have some type of downloadable

Howard Brown:

that you can help as well explain what that is. And then

Howard Brown:

give some final comments and we're going to wrap up the show.

Kitti Andrews:

Sounds sounds good. Although I don't what I'm

Kitti Andrews:

having such a good time with you. I don't want to wrap up but

Kitti Andrews:

we have too easy to get hold of me the will give you the easiest

Kitti Andrews:

way. Go to declutter the brain.com you can book a quick

Kitti Andrews:

free call there and we'll see if you're a fit for one of my

Kitti Andrews:

family of custom design programmes. And yeah, because

Kitti Andrews:

not everyone is ready to declutter and I only work with

Kitti Andrews:

those who are truly ready and downloaded. You can also there

Kitti Andrews:

at declutter the brain.com Download my seven easy steps to

Kitti Andrews:

conquer your physical and mental clutter. It is meant to be a

Kitti Andrews:

grounding tool for your declutter journey and beyond

Kitti Andrews:

meaning you can use you can refer to it any time and and it

Kitti Andrews:

will serve you well.

Howard Brown:

So give me give me some final comments that you

Howard Brown:

want to share before I close the show.

Kitti Andrews:

The clutter did not whether it's physical or

Kitti Andrews:

mental, or relationship or health or your habits, the

Kitti Andrews:

clutter did not accumulate overnight. It will not go away

Kitti Andrews:

overnight. Take it one step at a time.

Howard Brown:

Oh yeah, that is such sage advice. I'm going to

Howard Brown:

add one more to that get started now, because it's just gonna get

Howard Brown:

you're gonna keep building if you don't get started. So I want

Howard Brown:

to thank you kitty for for being on my show. I appreciate that.

Howard Brown:

This is Howard brown. This is the Shining Brightly podcast.

Howard Brown:

You can reach me at shiningbrightly.com There's all

Howard Brown:

things about my book and the my speaking. Absolutely speaking on

Howard Brown:

lots of podcasts and lots of stages. There's also stuff about

Howard Brown:

free handouts on survivorship and mentorship and interfaith

Howard Brown:

relations. Lots of goodies there. I'm very interactive. So

Howard Brown:

please see me there. So again, thank you, Kitti for being on

Howard Brown:

the shining brightly show. You taught us some great lessons,

Howard Brown:

please contact Kitti at declutterthebrain.com Get her

Howard Brown:

giveaway. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Howard.

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