What I Think a Lot of Decluttering Advice Is Missing

Read time: 3 minutes

I’ve been sharing my perspective and offering advice on my YouTube channel for many years — discussing topics ranging from minimalism to personal finance, habits, mindset, and life as a whole.

You likely found my videos and, eventually, this newsletter through one of those topics (and if you’re new here, welcome to the Clarity Club, my friend).

Today, I want to talk about decluttering.

Specifically, what I think is missing from a lot of decluttering advice.

3 Core Components of Great Advice (in General)

There is a plethora of decluttering advice and videos available. There are even courses that will guide you through the decluttering process. Some are fantastic and do an incredible job of transforming the lives of their audience or students. However, not all of them are equally helpful.

I’m very grateful for the audience I’ve been able to grow and nurture through the advice I provide. The amazing comments have been a great source of feedback — letting me know that what I’m doing is received and appreciated.

This is by design. I try my best to create incredibly powerful and transformational videos and advice.

Now, I believe that three core components are essential in providing advice, regardless of the topic, including decluttering:

• Clarity: What’s being taught? What advice is given? How good is the advisor at communicating?
• Package: How is the information structured (and recorded if it’s a video)? How’s your tone as the communicator? Is everything set up in such a way that the advice can be well received?
• Accountability: What about the information helps those on the receiving end take action on it?

Great advice, in general, does all three things well.

What I Think a Lot of Decluttering Advice Is Missing

So, what is a lot of decluttering advice missing? — and why are there so many videos and guides out there that drop the ball when it comes to enabling success?

Here are five things I can think of:

1. They don’t address the root cause of why people hold on to things. Instead, they offer a mixed bag of ideas on how to declutter, with little to no discussion about overcoming the underlying issues that lead to the clutter.
2. Focus too much on surface-level clutter. What’s the point of looking clutter-free on the surface if the under-layers still prevent you from truly prioritizing and enjoying the things that matter?
3. The content is just anecdote. “I did this, so you can too.” Great decluttering advice is going to be practical and applicable to varying situations. It will also include examples and helpful analogies that people can relate to.
4. Not focused on action. Good advice helps people solve problems, figure something out, or improve their situation. The goodness arises from the results of the advice, not the advice itself.
5. Practicality. It’d be great if there really were shortcuts or organizing hacks to decluttering success, but there aren’t. Some advice can inadvertently offer unrealistic expectations.

As someone who offers decluttering advice to hundreds of thousands of people, I’ve found it extremely helpful to know what I want to avoid while creating my videos.

How Does This Apply to You?

No matter what type of advice you offer or who you offer it to, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re doing everything in your power to make those who seek help from you happier and more successful as a result of them listening to you.

So the next time you sit down to chop it up with your kids, your best friend, co-workers at the office, the students in your classroom, or the subscribers on your YouTube channel — and they are seeking advice from you, remember the three components of great advice that I highlighted above.

• Clarity
• Package
• Accountability

If you lead with this, you’ll offer them something incredibly powerful and transformational.

That’s all for today.

See you next week.