Decluttering - the things

The more things a man can leave behind him, the richer he is. - Thoreau

Now I really want to know!

In terms of my creative nature, I am not a person who loves order in and of itself. It's not important to me for its own sake. I tend to just put things down somewhere when I'm completely or half finished and move on to the next idea.

Over the years, I have learnt that order makes my life easier. And lightness is something I absolutely love. Very much so. Order saves me searching and gives me beauty.

Some good habits make it easier for me to keep things tidy.

• Put things away immediately after use
• Answer emails immediately and completely
• A little tidy-up walk through the flat in the evening
• For every new item that comes in, sort out two old ones

New Quadro

Many of my best tips and tricks for getting a grip on the constant threat of chaos and keeping it under control are described in my new Quadro:

Tidy up. Giving structure to tasks and things.

Simply clear out

Clearly, tidying up is easier when you have little.

Before I moved to the ship, I sold a lot of books and organised two giveaway parties with hundreds of items. After the move, I realised that I still didn't have enough space. So I used up and disposed of 600 more items over the next few months. The difference was hardly noticeable.

I feel the burden: there is still too much. Airmail envelopes and homemade wrapping paper from my youth! Sea buckthorn liqueur and African spices, brochures, flyers and cards. The average person owns around 10,000 items. With an office and shipbuilding workshop, it's probably 30,000.

I decided on 20 September:

By the end of the year, there should be 2,000 fewer items. If I dispose of 10 things a day and 50 at weekends, I can manage that.

From the inside out

The problem:

High-speed disposal only works if I throw a lot of things away. Giving things away or selling them takes more time than I want to spend on them.

AUTSCH: There was a big knot inside. 

My upbringing gave me the message: "You're bad and irresponsible if you just throw things away that someone else might still need."

So I coached myself. I recognised the old messages and the inner stress associated with them. I then de-stressed myself using effective coaching methods because I didn't want to clear out my inner stress, but rather to do so without it.

 The result

In the first 20 days of the experiment, I easily disposed of 272 items. I'm keeping a list, of course, because I want to control this somehow. And also because success motivates me a lot.

Almost everyone has blockages. This can be in the area of tidying up or other things that they actually want to do but then somehow don't: saying no, approaching people, daring to do something new, etc.

It makes sense not to force yourself to do something you don't really want to do. Instead, start by releasing the blockage: Through dialogue, prayer or good coaching - an hour is often enough to track down old patterns and release them.

This can be liberating and give you the strength to finally tackle things that you have been putting off for a long time.

I love to release my own blockages and to support other people in releasing their blockages.

This is my vocation and profession - if you want to be coached by me live in Berlin or by phone, you can find information on my website www.kerstinhack.de.

If you don't have enough time or capacity for this, I recommend the Quadro Release blockages. Self-coaching with Wingwave.

Here, my colleague Christoph Schalk and I explain one of the most efficient techniques for releasing old blockages. I usually suggest that people treat themselves to a coaching session to practise this under supervision and then continue working with the Quadro on their own.

Free ebook: Tidy up for good

If you don't have any blockages and want to start tidying up right away: here is a free ebook with the best tricks for tidying up. You can also forward this to friends.

Remember