Skyros, Greece

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Tuesday 9 March 2010

'De-Clutter & Spring Clean Your Mind' by Andrew Risner

Spring time is often a time for making a fresh start in the home.

One of the topics that always seems to come up on my “How to have your best year ever” workshop is clutter.


Some people never invite people into their homes due to the embarrassment of the clutter they have.
It is fascinating to look at some of the reasons we hang on to “stuff”.

Some of the most common reasons include:

  • I might need it someday
  • It holds special memories for me
  • I don’t know where to start
Three solutions are:
  1. Donate stuff you’re decluttering, so you don’t feel bad about wasting it.
  2. The One-Year Box. Take all your items that you unsure about getting rid of (e.g. “I might need this someday…”), put them in a box, seal it and date it for 1 year in the future. When the date comes, and you still didn’t need to open it to get anything, donate the box WITHOUT OPENING IT. You probably won’t even remember what there was in the box.
  3. Internalize that your value is not in your “stuff”. It is just “stuff”. And realize that your value grows when you share your “stuff”. Hoarding is a selfish act.
One of the benefits of de-cluttering is the positive affect it has in other areas of one’s life. You can be curious as to what unexpected pleasures await after a spell of de-cluttering.

Andrew Risner

Andrew Risner, described as ‘The Big Man with Huge Solutions’, left a successful career as M.D. of a finance company to help people release their untapped potential. An NLP Master Practitioner and Hypnotherapist, Andrew was also stress consultant on BBC1’s Heaven & Earth programme. See www.risner.co.uk


His use of humour and straight talking has made him a sought after speaker and trainer. Spending several years performing stand up comedy taught him that most challenges in life are not difficult but merely uncomfortable and it is a willingness to feel uncomfortable that separates the players from the spectators in life.


Andrew, a regular to Skyros, will be running his course 'Your Best Year Ever' from Sunday 1 to Saturday 14 August and from Sunday 15 to Saturday 28 August at the Atsitsa Bay centre on Skyros island, Greece.