Make It Small Enough for a Win

Momentum Monday — Episode 46

Hello, and welcome to Momentum Monday, episode 46.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of decluttering and reorganizing around my house.

There are things I have had for years that I just don't use anymore, things that made sense for my life at one point, but they don't really make sense for my life right now.

And I have wanted to go through all of it.

But when you start thinking about an entire house and everything you need to go through, that can feel like a lot.

And then there's the question, what am I going to do with all this stuff?

What Am I Going to Do With All This Stuff?

For me, selling things online always seemed like it was going to take so much time and so much energy.

Take pictures, post everything, keep track of it, wait for somebody to buy it.

Just thinking about all of that felt like a lot.

So in the past, I would usually just donate things, and there's nothing wrong with donating.

I will still donate things.

But recently, I was talking to a friend who sells a lot of things online.

She was telling me how much money she had made, but she was also telling me how she does it.

She gave me all these little tips and tricks and explained what has worked for her.

And as she was talking, I was sitting in my office looking at my closet, and I started noticing things.

"Oh, I don't use that anymore. I could probably sell them. Oh, I don't need that either."

And that was my tiny spark.

My Tiny Spark

I didn't start by going through my entire house.

I started with what was right in front of me.

And because it was so tiny, it didn't feel overwhelming at all.

Overwhelming or you don't feel motivated to do it, don't tell yourself you have to do the whole thing.

Make your starting point so incredibly tiny that you can only have a win.

If you wanna work out, instead of saying thirty minutes, 'cause that can feel like a lot, just do one pushup.

You heard right, one.

You did it.

That's your win.

If your kitchen feels overwhelming, put one dish in the sink.

That's your win, and celebrate that because it feels so good when you do something you said you were going to do.

You get that little feeling like, "Okay, I did that."

And most likely because that feeling of accomplishment feels so good, you want to do a little bit more.

Maybe you do another pushup, maybe you grab another dish, and before you know it, you are moving.

That's where the momentum comes in.

Everything After the Spark Is a Bonus

But here's the important part.

Everything you do after that tiny spark is a bonus.

You already won, and that's really what happened with my closet.

I started with a few things that were right in front of me, and once I started making those decisions, it felt good.

Now, I had things that were actually leaving the house, and I realized I could make a little bit of money from some of them, too.

Even if I only make a dollar on something, that's still a dollar more than I have right now.

So I kept going, and as I started doing that, I also had to figure out where all of these things were going to go while I waited for them to sell.

Finding a System That Works for Me

My friend had a system that works really well for her.

She puts her things away and gives them time to sell.

And I like the idea of giving things time, but putting everything away, that's not gonna work for me.

If I put something away somewhere, there is a pretty good chance I'm going to forget about it, or somebody is going to tell me they are coming to pick something up, and now I have to remember where I put it.

No, thank you.

So I took her idea and made it work for me.

For me, that means clear containers.

I can put the things I'm selling into clear containers and keep everything together in one area in my living room.

I can see what I have, I know where everything is, and when somebody comes to pick something up, I know exactly where to find it.

And if seeing all of those containers start feeling like too much, I can just cover it.

I don't have to look at them, but I still know exactly where everything is because that's the other part of this.

Just because somebody else's system works really well for them doesn't mean you have to copy it exactly.

Everybody's brain works differently.

You can look at what somebody else is doing and think, "Oh, I like that part. That could work for me," and then change the parts that don't.

That's exactly what I did.

Getting My Space Back

And while all of this was happening, I started getting something else back, space.

The things I decided to sell went into what I call a transition box.

A transition box is just a place for things that are on their way someplace else in the house.

So as those things moved into my transition box, I started getting space back in my office closet.

And let me tell you, closet space in my office is premium space.

There were things in my office that I wanted to keep but hadn't found a permanent home for yet.

Now I could.

I was able to move those things into the closet and finally give them a forever home, and that felt so good.

I'm going to have things leaving my house that no longer fit my current life, and I finally have a space to give things a permanent home.

And little by little, my space started to make more sense.

It felt a little calmer, it felt a little more peaceful, and I wanted more of that feeling, so I kept going, and that's the momentum.

Make It Small Enough for a Win

It didn't start with me having all this motivation to go through my entire house, 'cause I clearly didn't.

It started with me sitting in my office, looking at a few things in my closet and thinking, "I could sell that."

That was my tiny spark, and look at everything that came from it.

So today, think about something that feels overwhelming or something you have been wanting to get started for a long time.

What could your tiny spark be?

And I mean tiny.

Make it so small that you can only have a win.

Then celebrate that win.

Enjoy that feeling of accomplishment and see where the momentum takes you.

Just remember, everything you do after that tiny spark is a bonus.

Until Next Time

Thank you for spending a little bit of your day with me.

Until next time, I will see you for Tip Tuesday.

Until then, I hope today's episode helped you create a little more clarity, feel a little more calm, and have a little more confidence.  💜💚