Work-at-home Declutter: Micro-Habits That Boost Productivity

Eliminate Distracting Mess & Organize To Enhance Clear Thinking & Enable Greater Focus On Taking Action

Do you need a work-at-home declutter? There’s something about creative go-getters: they usually have a messy life in more ways than one when you start looking closely at it.

Those who know how to tame this disorganization flaw of theirs can find success, while the ones who keep living in chaos flounder.

When you’re a creative entrepreneur, you often have so many ideas floating around in your head at once that it becomes unmanageable.

Your physical surroundings may match your mindset, too.

It’s not that you’re living in filth, but that you have plans for things lying around – or you’ll address them later when there’s a better time.

You hoard ideas similarly in your mind, always planning to focus on things when the time is right.

If you find yourself attracted to new strategies and plans? 

You must pause in your pursuit of online success and build a system that allows you to sift through the noise and focus on the task strategically.

Micro-habits for work-at-home are where you learn how to use bite-sized systems to keep clutter at bay. 

These are mental and physical, so you can forge ahead and implement your best concepts without hindrance.

Need a Work-at-Home Declutter? Three Kinds of Clutter That Impede Your Productivity

There are three kinds of clutter that you might be dealing with that will directly impact whether or not you get things done in your online business. 

You can instantly feel some emotion arise when you think of your life being disheveled.

If you wake up to a messy house, it makes you uncomfortable and overwhelmed before your day starts. 

This kind of physical clutter can haunt you. It calls your name as you sit trying to work, surrounded by a lengthy to-do list that never seems to end.

Work -at-home Declutter – Physical clutter is easy to micro-manage 

But left untamed, it will impact your ability to concentrate. It is even more true if you have a family you’re living with and work from home while others are away at their office and school for the day.

As an online entrepreneur, unfortunately, there’s some misconception that because you’re home, you have all the time in the world to do all the housework, the errands, and your workload, too.

Some people have more help than others, with chores equally split among the household. But it may be overwhelming if you don’t or take on the lion’s share of the tasks.

Physical clutter also causes you to stumble with your decision-making process. 

When your attention covers both work and household, it doesn’t allow you to fully concentrate on what’s in your best interest.

You might even fail to pursue the best option in work for you based on the sheer overwhelm you feel about the physical clutter surrounding you. 

It has nothing to do with the business but is too much to handle.

And, of course, dealing with too much physical clutter also ruins your time management and productivity. 

When household tasks consume you, it is hard to put in a full or even part-time workload because you have dishes to do, laundry to take care of, sweeping or mopping, and more.

Even if it’s just your desk cluttered, it can negatively impact your time management and productivity until you sort it out. You have to eliminate physical clutter so that you can complete your daily tasks with ease.

When you work at home mental clutter is another impediment to your success

This chaos mulling around in your head focuses on how stressed you feel, how nervous you are, etc. 

It causes you to put off tasks out of fear of failure or worry that you’re making the wrong decisions.

When mental clutter is allowed to percolate in your head, it diminishes your creativity. You’re your worst critic. 

You make safe decisions because you don’t believe in yourself enough to take calculated risks.

Then there’s emotional clutter when you work-at-home

It is similar to mental clutter, but instead of a feeling (like feeling stressed), you put a label on yourself. 

You’re embarrassed, ashamed, feel guilt, and other emotional triggers that can impact your ability to succeed.

Sometimes, this is rooted in your relationships and spills over into your work life. 

You may have been raised by (and are still dealing with) a toxic parent who put you down, or you could be married to (or in a relationship with) someone who isn’t supportive of your efforts.

This emotional burden can cause you to be too cautious, inhibiting your ability to thrive as an online niche leader. 

These individuals have to project confidence and assuredness to their audience if they want them to feel comfortable buying products from them.

Develop a Daily Work-at-Home Micro Declutter Habit

It only takes a little effort each day to make you feel accomplished and productive with your business goals. 

You don’t have to plan to spend hours cleaning your physical and mental space each day.

More important is consistency in doing a work-at-home declutter

Developing a micro daily habit, where you’re clearing out the negativity and decluttering your space, gives you ongoing, incremental progress that feels good and changes things for the better.

These need to be small tasks you can easily manage in a few minutes.

For example, instead of saying you’ll clean your entire work area, plan to clear one pile of papers, one drawer, one place on your desk, etc.

You can set the alarm for 5 minutes and see how much decluttering you can do in your space –your office, the kitchen, living room, or bedroom.

In those five minutes, you can get more done than you would if you just sat there feeling overwhelmed, planning to do a deep clean someday.

You can do the same for your headspace, too. Your mind needs good decluttering throughout the day.

You can take 5-10 minutes to sit back, close your eyes, breathe deep and wash away the uncertainty, the insecurities you have, the overwhelm, and more.

Replace the negative thoughts with empowering ones, with peaceful assurance and faith that you have what it takes.

By doing this routinely throughout the day, you’ll notice significant changes in how you automatically think.

If you leave negative clutter in your mind, it will thrive like a petri dish full of bacteria – and you don’t want to allow that to take over. 

You have to cleanse and refresh your mental palate.

Envision success 

You might spend 5 minutes working on your vision board or planning goals for your business and personal life.

Out with the old, in with the new! Picture yourself successful, not overwhelmed and unsure of what’s to come.

It would be best if you sprinkled daily micro habits throughout your day. You might have things like:

• 5 minutes to declutter your bedroom so that later on, you can drift off to sleep in a clean room
• 5 minutes to deep breathe and calm your mind for the day ahead
• 5 minutes to declutter your workspace (digital or physical) so you feel organized
• 5 minutes to declutter the kitchen, where many families make the most mess
• 5 minutes to stop and work on your goals, vision board, and plans
• 5 minutes to gather and start some laundry or hang and fold what’s in the dryer
• 5 minutes to work through some emotional clutter and focus on a resolution
• 5 minutes to tidy up the living room or other rooms that need your attention

Use 5 minutes out of every hour for an entire 8-hour workday. And you can get a lot done in that amount of time. 

Plus, it’s good for you to get out of your work chair and walk around being active, too.

Micro Declutter Habits Get You Unstuck in Many Ways

You might think that these work-at-home declutter habits will only help with work productivity, but this lifestyle helps in many other ways. You’ll notice your entire mood begins to shift.

Instead of walking around with the burden of stress and overwhelm, you’ll begin to feel lighter and more capable.

Your focus will sharpen when you work on things or spend time with your loved ones.

Your increased focus is because you’ve lightened the stress you feel.

You’ve proven you can get things done and won’t be distracted by all that weight anymore.

So when you spend time with your kids, you’ll be able to laugh and listen to their needs rather than appear irritable and worried.

When you work, you won’t think about how, after your tasks, you still have to clean the house or maybe even get into an argument with your loved ones about the state of your home.

Clutter leads to cognitive overload – and that’s both mental and physical clutter.

Your brain can’t handle it, so it begins to try to find solace by avoiding things, which is never a good state to be in as an online entrepreneur.

You will feel super motivated, and the speed you get things done will improve. 

Your energy level will boost, propelling you forward with your tasks.

Once you start implementing a daily micro habit of organizing your life, you’ll notice you inherently feel a greater sense of self-esteem and that you see your accomplishments rather than your failures.

Being free from the chains of mental and physical clutter will allow you to unleash your creativity, and you’ll be able to find the answers to problems or struggles you’re stuck with.

Prioritize Your Work-at-Home Declutter Micro Habits

It should always be a priority to keep your workspace organized.

It doesn’t matter if you have an entire home office if you’re like many people who only have a corner of a room to work in or even work on a laptop from your favorite chair in the living room!

You can be orderly and tidy in that room so that you can focus on your work tasks.

It not only helps you focus, but it makes you more efficient and creative, too.

You’ll be able to get into a workflow that leads to better productivity.

If you surround yourself with clutter, your mind will get distracted periodically, pulling you out of creative mode. You can organize your research books, notepads, laptop area, and more.

It’s not enough to declutter, either.

Create a working environment you love

You want to create a peaceful area to inspire you to be creative and motivated while working. First and foremost, your space needs to be clean, which we’ve addressed.

But then spiff it up and incorporate things that boost your creativity. Ensure the lighting is just right – not too bright or too dark – so you feel calm and comfortable in the space.

It would help if you surrounded yourself with inspiring or motivating décor, whether it’s a vision board you created, artwork by your children, or positive affirmation posters that contribute to your success mindset.

Everything should be comfortable, too.

You don’t want to work in a chair or seat that causes strain on your body. Look for ergonomic chairs that will help your body be less strained.

Organize & Declutter Your Digital Workspace

It’s not just the physical surrounding that can impede or help with your productivity and success, either.

It’s what you do with your digital files, too. Many areas for online entrepreneurs can overwhelm you online.

The first thing you’ll want to keep up with in a work-at-home declutter is a micro-management way for your email inbox.

Don’t let this get out of control.

Gmail allows you to segment your incoming emails, so you can prioritize them and handle them in a way where you won’t be overwhelmed.

Second, organize your files.

Whether working from a laptop or PC, you don’t want your files to spread everywhere.

Have a designated place for the products and files you download

For example, you might have a specific folder for the products you buy, one for the private label rights (PLR) content you purchase, one for templates you want to use, and so on.

You might even have subfolders, such as a file for products you buy that teach traffic generation, another folder for files about course creation, and so on.

This way, you’re not scrambling to find what you need and wasting time.

Make sure the file names are easy to recognize and understand. 

And enlist the help of a continual backup system like Carbonite to save your files constantly in case of a disaster with your computer system.

Being cluttered with your online items, including bookmarks to your social media profiles, blogs, forums, and so on, can lead to further chaos and confusion.

When you work-at-home you need to declutter your saved files and have your links organized to quickly navigate to where you need to go immediately.

Set up a routine for micro-managing everything

For example, you can quickly check in on email three times daily – morning, afternoon, and evening before work ends.

You can have a similar system for managing your social media accounts.

The key is to get in and get out quickly. Respond to private messages, engage with your followers, share new content, and exit.

Don’t stick around scrolling and wasting time when you’re supposed to be working.

That will only lead to more stress when you fail to get items crossed off your to-do list because you were too busy engaging in worthless content on Facebook or elsewhere.

Maintain Work-at-Home Declutter Micro Habits to Impact Your Life Positively

Implementing this strategy is very helpful, and many people can initiate it.

But some let their system fall to the wayside once they activate it and follow it for a few days.

Keeping up with this system will strengthen your productivity, alleviate stress, and improve your relationship with loved ones.

It offers only positive benefits to your mindset and business success.

With stress levels diminished significantly, you’ll project an air of confidence that will appeal to customers and prospective colleagues online who want to promote strong leaders in their niche.

Find a system that works best for you and use tools that can help 

For instance, password tools like RoboForm help you log in quickly to places you frequent online, backup tools that free you from the stress of a possible computer malfunction, and so on.

Develop a sound time work-at-home declutter system for yourself

You may not want to do 5 minutes every hour but 10 minutes instead, or three 30-minute sessions.

Whatever works best for you is what you should adopt into your work and home life.

Learn how to manage your time and divide it between administrative work, creative endeavors, project completion, networking, etc.

You have to have systems in place to guide you through the day so that you’re not scattered everywhere, which can lead to missed steps and increased overwhelm.

By embracing a system of micro-organization habits, you’ll find that these tiny changes impact your business and personal life.

You’ll empower yourself in many ways and, ultimately, be a better leader for those turning to you for advice.