The Year of the Nagglies

According to the Chinese, last year was the Year of the Dragon, and this year will be the Year of the Snake. At my house, I’m declaring it the year of a different critter –  the nagglie. Nagglies are all those pesky loose ends that zap your energy and your creativity. They’re those undone tasks that have been nagging at you for way too long, taking up valuable head space in the process. Sometimes nagglies are merely physical clutter, sometimes emotional or mental clutter – sometimes the culprits are a combination of all three.
You can recognize a nagglie by how much it generates self-criticism. Why haven’t you written that letter you owe your Aunt Genevieve, fixed the venetian blind that’s stuck in the up position, or taken those too-long pants to the tailor?
Nagglies can be ignored but they’re never out of the picture until you deal with them—the books you can’t remember to return to a friend, that stuff in the bag in your closet that you need to take to Goodwill, the shirt that needs a button–they’re all nagglies.  Nagglies taunt you, and pull you down in subtle ways. The longer you put them off, the more they trigger your inner critic. The worst part is that nagglies are arch enemies of your creativity because they distract you from your creative and personal goals.  That’s what emotional clutter does for you.
Cleaning alone will not exorcise the nagglies. In fact I could make a good argument that you should tackle the nagglie infestation before you clean. But how?

Inventory Your Nagglies and Your Emotional Clutter

Go from room to room in your house listing the nagglies. Don’t forget your office and even your car. Nagglies will be easy to identify if you ask yourself how long a particular task has been waiting to be done and how many times over the last two weeks you’ve said to yourself, “I’ve just got to take care of that, finish that, etc.”

Build Momentum by Taking Care of One or Two Clutter Nagglies

Choose either the nagglie that’s bothered you the most or one you can take care of easily and quickly. Then just do it! You’ll jumpstart the process of ridding yourself of your nagglies if you feel a sense of accomplishment. Tackling the next one may not seem quite so daunting, and before you know it, you’ll be on a roll. You might try taking care of all the nagglies in one room before going on to the next–this worked for me!

Build in Some Rewards When You Clear Clutter

OK, it’s a silly game, right? But just as kids can be coerced with rewards, so can you. Find a way to treat yourself as you make progress in the war against your nagglies.

Enlist Help With Your Decreasing Your Clutter

When are you going to make time to sort out those tax records? Find a trusted friend with the same issue, tackle your respective sorting together, then do lunch or happy hour. Are you really going to repaint that dingy wall yourself? I thought so. Hire a painter. Especially if it’s a really bothersome nagglie, it’s well worth a little monetary investment to free up your time and energy.

Just Say No to Low Hanging Clutter 

Some nagglies are not worth the effort. I had a rickety table that needed refinishing in my garage for over a year. Every day I walked past it, sighed, and promised myself one more time that I would get to it. Finally I abandoned the project, took it to the thrift store, and it is now someone else’s nagglie. Gold star for me.  Emotional clutter reduced!
I’ve still got some nagglies to wrestle to the mat, but I have a tail wind now. Do a personal assessment and give some thought to whether nagglies that are bogging you down and distracting you from your creative goals.  Getting rid of them might just be the jump start you need to move forward.