Edited - Reawaken Your Brilliance through Decluttering w/ Julie Coraccio
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[00:00:00]
Shawn Buttner: There's a strong connection to the amount of clutter that you have in your life to your inability to get started, your inability to be motivated, your inability to get organized and feel good about yourself or what you're doing. Welcome to today's episode of The Meaningful Revolution. I'm your host, Shawn Buttner, and today we're diving into the world of decluttering with Julie Caraccio.
Welcome to today's episode of The Meaningful Revolution. I'm your host, Shawn Buttner, and today we're diving into the world of decluttering with Julie Caraccio. author, professional declutter, and host of Re Awaken Your Brilliance podcast. So today we're going to explore how decluttering isn't just about tidying up spaces, but it's also about clearing out our mental, emotional, and spiritual clutter.
So Julia shared her insights on how to identify areas of clutter in your life and offers practical tips for fostering a healthier, more organized experience. It was a fantastic conversation. I can't wait to share it with you, so. Check out this enlightening conversation with Julie and let's jump right in.
(intro) Hey Julie, welcome to [00:01:00] the Meaningful Revolution podcast.
Julie Coraccio: Shawn, Thanks having me. I'm thrilled to be here.
Shawn Buttner: If you could describe in your own words what your Meaningful Revolution is, please.
How would you describe it or what would you call it?
Julie Coraccio: my goal is to support people in reawakening their brilliance through decluttering their life and space and home.
Shawn Buttner: Awesome. Could you maybe let us know what that means?
Julie Coraccio: absolutely can. So I believe we're born and we're awesome and we're amazing and we're perfect. And then life happens to us, whether it's within our family. our friends, society, and they say, you're not good enough. You're not worthy. You need to look like this to be considered attractive, right?
so for me, reawakening the brilliance is remembering that you're amazing exactly as you are. You're perfect exactly as you are and you're that diamond. And so we're going to clean off all the dirt. And I do that through helping people to clutter. Not and a lot of people you talk to professional organizers [00:02:00] are like, yeah, let's declutter your home and space and that's all good But I want to dig deeper.
I want to increase awareness. Where is the clutter in your life? Maybe it's a mental clutter of not believing in yourself Maybe it's emotional clutter of all these knee jerk reaction or spiritual clutter because you're unable to forgive, right? So let's figure out what that clutter is and clear it
Shawn Buttner: Awesome. I love that. And so I think most people discovered decluttering through Marie Kondo, I know that's how I first became Oh, that's a thing that people do and can do, and you see the value of people going through the emotional value of things, which is connected to every area of our life.
could you maybe explain how you got into figuring out that this mission to help people clear up everything around their diamond so that it shines, happened?
Julie Coraccio: Sure. I want to say Marie Kondo started I had my podcast.
So we were
picking out something, but [00:03:00] her husband's a pro marketer and she's a little better than I did.
I think
that's great. Like hopefully some people listen to her and they're like, aha, how Marie explains it. And so for me, what got me started was I,
a lot of
personal growth.
I do like I read books. I listen to podcasts. I work with coaches I work with energy healers and so I was Working with a client and my business used to be called healing through organization. So from the beginning, I wanted to heal and help people. And then someone said, Hey, I want you to come and do this show.
And I was like, Oh, I need a show name. And it was one of those things from above just plopped in my head, reawaken your brilliance. But anyway, so I'm doing the organization
and when I go to work with someone in their home, I typically work in four hour blocks, right? Cause I want you to see a difference, especially if you have a lot of clutter.
And she said, can we just,
talk?
absolutely. You're the client. And so within three hours we had this amazing conversation now because of all my personal growth work I felt [00:04:00] prepared to be able to coach someone through something And then we jammed through and got so much done in that last hour and I was like, aha The decluttering is more important than the organizing.
And so when I work with people it's about bringing in all of that personal growth work that i've done and so If you have if you declutter your home Can it stay that way? Absolutely! However, as one example, if you are jealous of people and you're trying to keep up with the Joneses, then that clutter may return, right?
So if we don't have that awareness, and as I like to say, awareness plus action equals change, then the clutter might come back to the home. Does that make sense?
Shawn Buttner: Totally. So to rephrase it, decluttering is a symptom and not the cause of what's going on in your Correct.
Julie Coraccio: I really like that. I didn't think of it that way. Spot on.
Shawn Buttner: All right. Oh, that's amazing. so I guess continuing on that story, what is the benefit to
decluttering
And just in a general way, in your example that you just [00:05:00] shared, we have this discussion and we do the personal development stuff. We get deeper into the issues, which I love those
conversations
myself, what immediately do people see and what long term benefits are you getting from clearing up the mess?
Julie Coraccio: Excellent question. the older I get, peace of mind. If you walk into a space and can't relax
You
can't put a price tag on that, but let's talk about health benefits. A cluttered home can cause you stress and most of our illnesses today are stress related. It can cause you anxiety. You're losing money if you're like, oh my gosh, I need this tool and can't find it so you got to buy a new one and two weeks later discover it and time to go to the store
And you know where that autopilot policy is and you can check and see if whether or not that's going to save you and you know they've done studies that clutter is related to non compliance of meds, not exercising, and so really, there are a lot of benefits when you do [00:06:00] clutter, better health, better relationships, be surprised.
80 percent of couples say they, argue about clutter and disorganization. it's really going to improve your life in multiple areas.
Shawn Buttner: And I
love that it's touching relationships and health
and
your mental wellbeing, all these different, I'm sure how organized you are in your business or work makes or breaks success.
So I
absolutely love that. I'm on board with it as a coach myself. so I'm curious then, how do you know, or how do you recognize, or how do you diagnose if there's an area in your life
cluttered,
Whether it's your finances, something I've been delving in and nerding out about is like digital clutter, and that could be a whole podcast under it.
Maybe we could talk about that a little bit, today too,
but
like diagnosing, cause I think
if
you're like the, Crab getting, or the lobster getting boiled in the pot, like
might
start out organized and things slowly change and you [00:07:00] don't even recognize how bad it is, so how do you identify that?
Julie Coraccio: Excellent question.
physical clutter is obvious, I'd say. if you have clutter in your home. So mental, do you have anxiety? Can you sleep at night? emotions. Do you have emotional outbursts? If someone cuts you off in traffic, are you giving them the finger because you're so upset?
That's not a good reaction if that's how you typically are. Are you arguing a lot in your relationships? Are you happy? a lot of people come to me because they're like, I'm stuck. I just don't know where, but I'm not happy. I know there's something else out there or something needs to change.
I'm not sure what. So I would say, look at how you're feeling,
Talks about emotional clutter. I'm trying to spiritual clutter, are you at peace in general in your life? Do you have things to be grateful for or do you give back right? And so just looking at your life holistically and if you're stuck, who's someone that you trust?
That's gonna give you an honest answer. I noticed that you get jealous a lot, right? Or I noticed like you have this amazing house and all you do is complain about what you don't have.
Shawn Buttner: Okay, so like signs [00:08:00] of cluttered emotions are things that tend to be comparison based?
Julie Coraccio: consider that spiritual clutter. I think you put it wherever it makes sense
But so are you angry all the time? we've talked about jealousy. Do you get upset easily? Like I had an incident recently. And, I was like, I'm not doing this.
This person is in their seventies and is trying to create unnecessary drama. They said you told someone that I had excluded them. Like I didn't exclude you. I did a reply all to an email and you're not playing tennis anymore. So you weren't on the email list. I didn't, and so and then created all this.
I'm not playing that. Is creating drama an emotional thing instead of saying what do I need to fulfill within myself? You know putting it on someone else So it's different if you get upset over dumb things all the time if you are sad all the time, right? life happens and we have to be aware of that.
how are you in general and are you focusing on what you love to do? Do you want to write that great American [00:09:00] novel, but never managed to find time for that, right? Do you absolutely wake up dreading Monday morning, And so looking at different things cues in your life.
Shawn Buttner: Okay.
cool.
So I had the thought that it almost,
if
you're struggling with like boundaries, like part of that is
Julie Coraccio: Yes.
Shawn Buttner: very, you're not very clear on, or it's cluttered in that space of what is me, what is other people
So I thought that was super interesting.
Julie Coraccio: Oh, I could talk forever about boundaries.
I love my dad. And so when my mom died, we'd have him over for taco Tuesday. And so my dad likes to eat early and my husband, we usually eat at six 30, what my dad did. And it cracks me up would come earlier and come earlier.
So all of a sudden, I'm like, dad, it's six o'clock and we're eating. And I just chuckled, I'm like, he's almost 80. It's all good. But I did a funny little video about like sliding boundaries. I just, I said, here's dinner at six 30 and whoop.
And that's
a funny example, but it can be a [00:10:00] serious thing.
if your integrity's involved and, I, the other day I, someone said, Oh, I need to meet with you. I volunteer in this organization. And I was like, why? I'm like, I'm busy. I'm volunteering. I'm happy to, but this isn't my area of expertise. If you tell me why we need to meet in person, then I said, this is for a mental health.
I'm doing the social media for this thing. I need a break. And then they were like, I guess we don't have to meet. And I was like, thanks, and I don't believe you need to explain yourself. but I think boundaries are so important and they like get slid or, we're like, wait
a second. Am I,
what am I being gas lit?
How is that being turned around on me? And I think that is so important. and that a lot of people need support with that. And just don't know,
Shawn Buttner: Yeah. 100%.
Julie Coraccio: I
can get excited talking about
boundaries.
Shawn Buttner: that's fine. no, I love it. I love it. This is a show that mostly follows what people are passionate about. So you're in the right spot to talk about anything that calls to you.
There's
[00:11:00] all these different areas that can get cluttered or we can get unclear, it can get messy. where do you think are, in your experience, having done this for a while, are like the most common places or common problems that
face
and either discovering clutter, getting rid of it or keeping it organized or clear.
Julie Coraccio: I would say the number one thing with people I work with is they're overwhelmed. There's just like, where do I start? It's just so overwhelming that they can't take that first step. So I would say that's common. A place where people get stuck in physical clutter is items that are memories to them.
And what I always say to them is, your memories are in your heart.
So if you let the object go, the memory's not gonna go. That's a big thing where people get stuck and hold on to sentimental items. I think another thing is people say, I'll get around to doing that someday, right? I'll deal with my insomnia someday.
I, I've got so much going on. I can't do it. Okay. Maybe I'll talk to someone [00:12:00] about my outbursts, but I just don't have time. I'll get to it someday. And so they put this nebulous someday out there instead of saying, you know what, I'm going to break it down into manageable steps and I'm going to give myself a deadline to get started on this.
Shawn Buttner: It sounds a lot like what I do with a lot of my clients. It's just set a deadline or make a decision. a lot of times it's just decide on it. if you have all those open loops in your head of I had, wanted to clean the garage. I wanted to do this. I wanted, that takes such a mental load.
Julie Coraccio: Oh, to me, being indecisive is
clutter, and for people listening, my nickname in college was Indecisive One, so if I can learn how to make decisions, you can too, and for me, it was about increasing my self awareness. why don't I want to make decisions? Ah, I'm a people pleaser. I don't want anyone to get upset with the decision I make.
My opinion doesn't count let that garbage go and make a
decision.
Shawn Buttner: Yeah.
So I think
on the other [00:13:00] side of that, let's give a scenario of someone that is pretty organized in every area of their life.
What are some things for someone like that, maybe that you would recommend or try to explore and walk through to help them thrive, excel, or, really reach that next level versus kind of their baseline, if that makes sense, or is applicable?
Julie Coraccio: Yeah,
I'm trying to think through that I would do a little assessment I try to figure out like where in your life aren't you happy because you can be super organized But maybe you're rigid and your relationship sufferings like oh my god can I just put something down without you having to wipe up and Put it away immediately.
Can I just breathe instead of you being super obsessive about it? think like Felix and Oscar type of thing. So I would say, looking at that, like, how are the relationships and
if
they're good to go and again, making sure that you're not rigid, it's coming from a healthy place as opposed to an obsessive plate.
I don't know [00:14:00] anyone that can't improve their lives. even the Dalai Lama is like, man, I'm afraid of flying and I think there's something else. I'm like, if you reach that spiritual level and still got stuff going on, and that is so not a criticism just to point out, we're all working hopefully to be the best that we can
Shawn Buttner: Okay. you bring up relationships. And so maybe I'm asking for a friend and not for myself, but say. you have a wife and say you have different thresholds of organization. How do you walk through that again? Asking for a friend,
Julie Coraccio: Excellent question. when I'm working with couples or families I say we're here to come together. The past is in the past. And if you have to express something, maybe it's Shawn, I feel disrespected when you never put your underwear and socks into the hamper One inch away from you I feel disrespected I'm a fan of I feel statements if we need to express that we do But we then let all that go and we begin from the present when you have two people that like the Felix [00:15:00] Oscars an example, you have to meet in the middle So for example, maybe you're a big reader and you just have all your books everywhere and that drives your wife nuts So I would say okay, we're gonna put a basket
Shawn
put all his reading materials in here.
It's not going to be super organized. It's not going to be alphabetized It might not look pretty inside the basket But you got to let go and Shawn has to step up to the plate a little bit And so figuring out and then with kids one of the things that I say is, These are so Important to learn how to declutter and get organized for kids because they are lifelong skills at the learn So we'll say okay, you know what in the common areas We are gonna establish these rules in your rooms.
I'm not a fan of stuff growing because the kids leave the plate and food getting all nasty But if their jeans are thrown and not all that everything's hung up You got to give them a little bit of slack on that
Shawn Buttner: Okay.
That
got me thinking of, getting people
get more
clarity in their life or to declutter [00:16:00] as
getting people motivated to change behaviors. And so how is it, do you find it to be fairly easy in your line of work? Or do you find it, I would imagine it's a spectrum, but maybe it's easy, maybe it's more difficult or mixed.
Julie Coraccio: Yeah, good question. It really depends on the person. By the time a lot of people speak to me, they're ready. It's you know what? I can't do this anymore. I'm stuck. I need to change and I need support. So we talked earlier in our conversation about what are the benefits to decluttering. what is clutter costing you?
Do you not want to fight with your spouse every night?
So then a benefit would be a peaceful home life. And so that can be your motivating factor. And so if it's a physical thing, then I'm always like, look, take pictures or do a little vision board of how you imagine the space feeling and that's for the physical stuff.
And then, whatever, you're not going to spend time making 30 trips to the grocery store each month, or, just being able to relax in your space. What is it that's going to motivate you to do that?
There's got to be some [00:17:00] balance in there that I think is really important
And just ask yourself, what is clutter costing
Shawn Buttner: Right on. I love that question. because it really does get you thinking about the implications of what you're doing. And I think so much of at least my experience with clutter with family and friends and clients.
It's again, it goes back to what you said before. It's that lack of awareness of how it's all connected to you.
Julie Coraccio: two in the morning when you're, asleep or sometime in the shower tomorrow morning.
Shawn Buttner: yeah, wake up and shout it out.
maybe going back to digital organization. So something I've been really nerding out about is as a coach and content creator and solopreneur, create a lot of things online, videos, podcasts, marketing stuff.
And probably about six months ago now, I
freaked out. I'm like, I have no idea what I'm creating and how it's related to each other. I need to have something a little bit better. So I started researching like different systems [00:18:00] and organization online. So I'm curious, how do you approach your, digital organization or how would you advise someone to think through it without actually, diving into what they're actually doing.
Julie Coraccio: Sure. I am a fan of how my paper files on everyone said, Oh, digital age, we're gonna get rid of paper. Not so so. However, it's organized in the paper cabinet. Filing cabinet is how it is organized on, online. And it's the same thing. You have to declutter your digital stuff regularly. Your desktop needs to be.
Decluttered so what I'm doing with my podcast. So I did podcasting for a decade. So is it I'm like, oh, I'm gonna put them all I'm gonna put all my Podcasts now up on YouTube With just my podcast thing and it's just the audio but it's the video. So I'm going through that now once it done I'm dumping it.
I don't need So constantly calling which I think is really important Like how many photographs do you have on your iPhone or your digital [00:19:00] camera that you hate? that are blurry and didn't work,
Cause we just keep
I think is such an important
And
again like you have to figure out how does it make sense for you to get organized like I
have,
personal folder and then business folder than my financial folder I keep it very the categories are really broad and the other thing that I do like to find things easily is when I Say an Excel or Word or PowerPoint, I'd give a very detailed title.
So if I by chance don't organize it correctly, then I know how to find it. So I think the
thing is to consistently call and let go of stuff. It's the same with everything else. When's the last time you use it? Did you even open
it?
Shawn Buttner: do you have any like favorite tools that you use personally to keep that stuff organized?
Julie Coraccio: I like Evernote for notes.
I love the search capability and they had an, what was it called? And they got rid of it. It was like Evernote kitchen or whatever for recipes. I absolutely loved it. [00:20:00] So Evernote is something that I use because of the search capability.
I have a meditation app on my phone because people are crazy. So I always have that. that's called Buddhify Those are the ones that are coming to mind. I should grab my phone and go look.
I'm not super techie. I am someone who reads a book I don't like to read on a Kindle. so I just keep it very streamlined and basic. And again, what's most important to me is on my computer, can I find what I need and make sure everything is synced, right? So that's just like less work. Oh, and the, there are good, there's something called unroll.
me. email is something
we should
touch on because I know I have, I started a separate, I have a personal account, I have my business account, and then I started a, or have a Gmail account. So for bills, right? So anything that's bill related just goes to the Gmail cause my personal,
Oh my God, who put me on this? So something like unroll. me is a really great option.
And if you have more than [00:21:00] one account, and so that's something just to, I don't know if you can, I don't know anyone that has zero emails in their inbox, but it's just is it, keep it reasonable is what I'd say and something like unroll.
unrolled. me help you with that.
Shawn Buttner: I use something called SaneBox.
Julie Coraccio: Oh, yeah, SaneBox
Shawn Buttner: Yeah, that so it would drive my wife crazy because she'd look over at my phone and see I'd have 15, 000 emails because I would just If I needed it, I'd search for it and everything else I just ignored because it's a lot of noise, but this inbox has really helped me.
I had my inbox at zero for the first time, like a month ago Thank you. it's not that way anymore, but it is much way more manageable.
Julie Coraccio: zero is better than 15, 000. And if you get five emails the next day and you need to hold on to something. And so again, have a system of folders that you need to keep stuff organized. But again, go through that regularly and call, maybe you needed to hold on to something now, Oh, this [00:22:00] it's been solved so you can let it go and don't need to hold
on to
Shawn Buttner: I
remember that question that escaped me earlier, and that is what do people consistently get wrong about decluttering?
Julie Coraccio: I don't like the term get wrong. I would say where people are challenged
is.
that, one, a challenging thing I've talked about, memories is a big thing. Someday is where people do it. Oh, they will be rigid about the rules. I was at an event and someone said, only handle
it once
for paper.
And I'm like,
but that's not realistic for a lot of us. I get a credit card bill, I check it off, but then maybe it needs to go in the tax folder or, maybe I need to hold onto it for some other reason because it's a rebate and I tack it up because I have to, but then once, oh, I've handled it, once I tack it up, then when I recycle it, and so don't be so rigid in your rules.
Another thing,
you
declutter when it's a good time for [00:23:00] you. If you're not a morning person, Don't say okay, I'm gonna get up at 8 a. m. On Saturday in the clutter. You're just you know, you're working against yourself. You have to find What works for you? So for example in
phone People are alphabetized by first name.
Most people do it by last name, but for whatever reason the way my brain works I like first name better, right? So you have to work with what works best for you. I could give a talk and say, Hey, how does anyone drink coffee or tea in the morning? And how do you have it organized? And I could get five different answers and they're all right.
If they figured out something that works for them. So I think you working with your natural habits is really important. not adopting tip, like not doing Marie Kondo doesn't work for everyone. You can't. Hold something. Some people can't hold something and say to the spark, Joe, I can't, that wouldn't work for me.
It doesn't make her wrong cause it helped a lot of people, but it's finding out what works best for you.
Shawn Buttner: when
you're preparing to declutter, do you have any rules about don't [00:24:00] declutter angry or, get into, a happy place before you declutter or are there steps you, do you want to be, in a clear, receptive, zen
state
or flow state or?
Yeah, I would say like I'd mentioned a moment ago if you're not a mourning person don't declutter then if you've just lost someone and are grieving I don't need to go but sometimes if you have to clean out a house, depending on what's going on You might have a deadline, but if you can not do it's why I'm a fan.
Julie Coraccio: People go through your stuff. Your kids and your grandkids don't are living like these days. They don't want it So anything that you can do to clutter to help your family and give them peace of mind Because it's a lot I had a neighbor took 18
months.
So the weekend she had someone help her occasionally, but 18 months. So you're paying taxes on that. You're paying utilities on that. You can't sell the house. So lighten your load now. So again, like
grieving if there, or if there's a
event. So maybe you've gotten divorced or sometimes it's [00:25:00] people just want to get rid of everything and have a new slate.
But if you have a baby, if you have a major life event, that sometimes isn't the best, Time to do that. But then
again, don't be tired. You want to be fresh. You want to be able to make decisions easily. Don't do anything that's going to make it harder for you.
Have snacks, have
music. If
like to listen to music, make it easy on yourself. You want to set yourself up for
success.
Shawn Buttner: so should cluttering, decluttering feel fun? Is that
a trap?
Julie Coraccio: I'm laughing because I have a niece and I can hear an eight saying, explaining what I did. And she's BORING!
Decluttering can absolutely
be fun, right? If you get motivated, if you're like, you know what, I'm decluttering to have a better relationship. And again, like maybe you use word exciting or liberating or freeing or something maybe that works with you and your motivation, so I think you can definitely make it fun, that's why I like, if you have some, you put on some Zydeco music, do a little Mardi Gras dance, and [00:26:00] you can make that enjoyable, everything's what you make of it, it can be boring to try to find new things.
A meditation that works or you can be like, ah, this is an adventure, right? And don't judge yourself because then you can go down that judgment rabbit hole and just beat yourself up be like, you know What I've become aware. I have this issue I'm taking action to change it and
be
your own best friend and not your own worst enemy and just say you know what?
It's what i'm gonna make of it. I'm gonna make this fun or i'm gonna make this exhilarating Or i'm just gonna make it the most enjoyable that I can
Shawn Buttner: I
am someone that believes that you can make almost anything fun or find the silver lining in it. Yes. and that just helps you overcome challenge. Like even in The most heavy moments, but
you
can usually find something to poke fun at or to laugh about most
Julie Coraccio: Yeah. I call it, you call it silver lining. I would call it golden nugget. And I remember reading this, he was the Oklahoma Thunder. He was one of the [00:27:00] basketball coaches and his wife died and was killed in a car accident. And because he was religious, he was like, she's going home.
And he was able in his deepest grief to find something good about that. And that to me Is impressive because not a lot of people can do that, but there are people out there that can do that So I don't most people listening couldn't do that.
I'll give an example.
I
my elbow So I found ah, yeah, it's left elbow.
Whoo.
Ah, yes a clean break So I don't have to get surgery right because it was a pain in the butt I did it right before we went on vacation to the beach. Couldn't walk on the sand, couldn't go in the ocean. That's my happy time of the year. So I was like, okay, we've got to find what we're grateful for so that I don't completely become bummed out that I can't do everything that I love at the beach.
Shawn Buttner: Just for everyone listening.
Julie Coraccio: just so you know if listening you they don't cast anymore because it limit can really limit your mobility And so I'm almost back to a hundred percent. I also sprained my [00:28:00] ankle. I play tennis I played two games and then broke my elbow and But I'm healing. I went to PT and she said, I can tell you're doing your exercises.
So we're on the way to
a hundred percent.
Shawn Buttner: So thanks for sharing and, hopefully, yeah, sounds like you're not too limited. So that's exciting too. okay. So back to the show. Have you dealt with hoarders or perfectionists or people that
have a hard time, or I guess you talked about rigid people being very difficult and I'm wondering if that probably falls under rigid for hoarders and
other
types
folks.
how do you end up being successful with those types of folks?
Julie Coraccio: Great question.
first I don't work with hoarders. I have a friend that does that, but you need specialized
training.
And I think that's really important. hoarding is in the, DSMV
it's
recognized as a psychological challenge. And off the bat.
I don't work with that. So it's digging [00:29:00] deeper or finding that awareness. Why do you want to be perfect? what is going to happen? Let's talk worst case scenario.
your house has a little bit of clutter. Are can you survive this? And digging deeper and finding out.
And again, not coming from judgment and holding that space. so I can't tell you how many people I've worked with who have been judged by someone in my profession and other people and how that has set them back. Like I want to, yeah, I didn't talk to anyone for four
years.
Okay, let's leave that in the past that happened in the past. That's not me. Let's move forward And so I think being compassionate with yourself and again come from curiosity instead of judgment. Why am I a perfectionist? Oh a little bit of people pleasing. Oh, you know what when I was a kid, I wasn't allowed Or what I perceived as a child.
I wasn't allowed to make mistakes, and I had that mean teacher that did that to me. Okay. that's in the past. How do we become present Move forward and what is being a perfectionist cause you're always stressed out, right? You know
just
to go to the doctor again and again finding those benefits [00:30:00] Digging deeper to find out what the cause is and then ultimately letting it go
Shawn Buttner: I
imagine this coaching is adjacent
therapy,
but definitely not therapy. Cause you mentioned if you. are diagnosed and you have a diagnosable thing.
You need special help and skills with that. And I wanted to recognize that. And for the listeners, that's a super important distinction.
Julie Coraccio: Absolutely. I was working. I want to tell you the power of decluttering. I was working with someone and we were in her bedroom working and decluttering. And all of a sudden she said, I was abused as a child.
I just held space for her. I'm like, it's okay, let it out. And then I said, I can't support you. I will find recommendations for you. I can help you to clutter your physical stuff, but this is someone that you need to talk to that, is specialized in that, but I don't discount my part in that and I don't discount the power of decluttering.
Shawn Buttner: Yeah,
that's [00:31:00] amazing.
The things that show up in your life or the things that you're struggling with are way more interconnected to everything, every other part of your life. Then again, we realize and just highlighting that sometimes or working on something can cause that big emotional unlock.
Okay, so then, moving on, I'm wondering, maybe in general, I think we've hit some of these points, but just for this section, lay it plain again, in
three
to five maybe high points, how could someone declutter anything in their life? Their purpose, their physical house, their emotional state? do you, I'm imagining you have a system.
Is there like a high level like thing that people could be thinking about?
Julie Coraccio: first is awareness. Okay. And then you think, okay, I want to work on this. So maybe there are several things that need to be decluttered. So you pick one that you want to focus on. And then what I [00:32:00] like to say is break everything down into manageable steps. I know at some point in our talk, I talked about people have a lot of clutter overwhelm, right?
So we break it down into manageable steps and then figure out, do you need support? Okay. And maybe it's listening to a podcast. Maybe it's reading book. Maybe you need to work with someone like me, right? There are different levels depending on what's going on and then
I think it's important to write it down This is what I need to accomplish
I'll get to it. And then if we don't write it down, we don't set those deadlines. I think that's something that's really important. And when all else fails, breathe. If
You're just
overwhelmed, stop. there are different breathing techniques. YouTube's great. You can do searches for that, but I like to do, close my eyes and do it.
Seven counts in, hold for four, seven out, right? Find something that works for you.
you just have to have that awareness and then take action to change it.
Shawn Buttner: Awesome. Amazing.I love how succinct it is. So to highlight that. That's awesome. On top of, outside of that, is there [00:33:00] anything in decluttering or anything that
talked
about today that, we should have maybe covered?
Is
there something we didn't talk about today about decluttering that we should bring up before we start closing up?
That's the question.
Julie Coraccio: No, you ask a lot of good questions. I would say I believe when you boil it down We're either coming from love coming in from hate and I would define hate as feeling not good enough feeling not worthy or feeling
unloved. And what I say to
is you are loved, you are good enough and you're worthy no matter what.
And that is what I would hope if there's one thing that they take away from our conversation is that, right? Because that just clutters our whole view and everything. when you're like, I'm loved, you don't need to have an emotional, Outburst when you're like, I'm good enough. You don't need to keep up with the joneses and you're like, I'm worthy I can write that great in American novel and go for it.
I don't have that doubt in my mind
Shawn Buttner: That's [00:34:00] beautiful. I absolutely love that message. and I'm a big Beatles fan, so it's all love, right? It all comes down to that. with that said, I'm out of here, folks.
Which is the best way to check out what you're doing or to get in contact with you.
Julie Coraccio: If they go to reawaken your brilliance calm They can check out me my shop with all my books and if they sign up for my email They get 10 free steps to declutter your life right now I give you a BAM something that you can do in 10 areas to jumpstart
decluttering.
Shawn Buttner: Awesome. I'll put that
in
the show notes. before we sign off then, what did you love about our conversation? I just like asking this question.
Julie Coraccio: I loved your enthusiasm that you were interested. Trust me, I've done a lot of interviews. I can tell when people aren't interested so that you were interested and you were open to learning use is a high performance coach. You weren't like, I know it all.
And that's refreshing.
Shawn Buttner: Awesome.
Cool.
Appreciate yeah, I. I [00:35:00] just love nerding out about this, topic with you. I find it very fascinating because it is so related to mindset, psychology and behaviors, which is everythingbut thank you so much for your knowledge, for being open, for being here,
Julie Coraccio: Thanks so much for having me, Sean.
Shawn Buttner: All right. I will see you guys on the next episode of the Meaningful Revolution Podcast.
[00:36:00] [00:37:00] (Outro)
