Coaching for De-cluttering

Coach Susan’s client Maria was interested in being more organized.  When asked to describe what that meant, Maria talked about cleaning up clutter at home, organizing closets, organizing her office, and organizing files on her computer too.  Maria decided to start with the clutter, then move to closets, then organize her office, and finally her computer files.

Susan asked Maria what the clutter consisted of now.  Maria listed old magazines, personal items of different family members, household gadgets that were left out, and little decorative things.  Susan then asked Maria what process she wanted to use to de-clutter.  Maria said she had thought about hiring someone, and then decided too much of the clutter involved her making choices about whether to keep it.  Susan asked about the options for the doing of the work.  Maria said she could schedule time.  Susan asked what else.  Maria thought about asking her family for help.  Susan asked what else.  Maria shared she had a friend who was likely willing to help.  Susan asked what else and Maria said she could find out how hiring someone worked.  Susan then asked Maria what she wanted to do to make it happen.  Maria decided to hire an expert to work with her whole family.  (At the end of the coaching session, Susan asked Maria if she wanted referrals to professionals and Maria said yes, so Susan provided three.)

During the coaching session, Maria developed her action plan.  She chose a Saturday so everyone could be involved, and she planned a fun evening as a reward.  Maria reflected that she learned from her own experience with coaching that by involving her family, they were invested.  She later reported the success of her process.  Maria shared the family’s participation in keeping the house nice, and that the expert taught them some simple approaches to make it easy.