The Time-Clutter Continuum

Do ever find yourself making wishful statements like--

Someday I'm going to get this place organized.

or the ever hopeful

One of these days I'm going to straighten up that garage.

or even the pessimistic--

No point in cleaning that out till the kids leave home.

If you've ever uttered one of these phrases, chances are pretty good you're living in a time-clutter continuum. You see, people who live in a time-clutter continuum are slightly out of phase with the rest of the world. A small variance in their personal time line makes them perceive clutter as a time-related problem. In their minds, the amount of clutter they live in is always greater than the amount of time they have to organize it.

Now, to those of us who are not affected by the phase variance, it appears to be a straightforward case of procrastination. In order to compensate for the difference in time lines, a slipstream of constant reminders to the affected individual is the most effective solution. No, it's not nagging. A clutterer needs to have someone pushing, tracking, and energizing them. This is what keeps the clutterer on course for an eventual epiphany. Your constant barrage of nagging reminders will eventually register as an anomaly that must be investigated.

It's impossible to predict when it will happen, but just as sonic boom precedes an object breaking the sound barrier, a crisis will surely precede the epiphany. It may be a missed deadline at work due to lost paperwork. It may be a child left stranded somewhere because of an unread note. Whatever the cause, be prepared for the fallout. The clutterer's lack of organizational skills combined with your barrage of reminders has to pay off. Someday when you're least expecting it, the time-clutter continuum will close.

© 2007, Meredith Grimaldi. Bust-Clutter.com is a portal for products and information about the organization of clutter. Visit the blog at Bust-Clutter.com/blog [http://bust-clutter.com/blog]