De-cluttering Advice From Katie Couric

Recently, I read a Woman’s Day article where Katie Couric admitted that her nickname in college was “Pig-Pen” because of her messy dorm room. I’ve admired her forever, so I was shocked to discover that someone I would have bet money was a list producer would admit to being so disorganized!

It’s pretty cool that Katie admitted to still battling her “hoarder ways” and it helped me realize that my list making is actually a tool I use to prevent getting burnt out from balancing too many things on my plate. Sometimes, we all need tips and hacks to keep us on track, so here are a few tips on de-cluttering from Katie and me!

Katie’s Tips:

1. Set simple goals. For Katie, this was as simple as remembering to always put dishes in the dishwasher, instead of the sink, after using them. I always say that it’s important to focus on all of the steps it will take to achieve a goal, and this is a great example of that!

2. “When in doubt, throw it out” – This is Katie’s new mantra. This is especially true if you have hundreds of pieces of scrap paper lying around with notes or ideas – that’s what Evernote is for 🙂

My Tips:

1. Make it fun. Adopting new habits takes time, so it’s fine if your desk starts to get messy again a week after you cleaned it. Things like cleaning to a playlist of your favorite songs or rewarding yourself with a viral video or TED talk can help you maintain your lack of clutter and help make your organizational habit stick.

2. Make lists! Make to-do lists for organizing or inventory lists of what items are in which drawers. List making is the ideal tool for de-cluttering because it can help prevent you from getting overwhelmed by all of the clutter and stay organized once the clutter is gone.