Can't Do It Alone Podcast Vlog

Welcome to Declutter Your Life. I'm your host, Andrew Mellen, and today we're going to talk about another fundamental principle when it comes to getting and staying organized, and that is that you, specifically you dear listener, can't do this alone.

That is not in any way to point out that you are diminished or broken, or flawed in some fundamental way.

It's not that at all. It's not a gotcha thing, and it's definitely not about any sense of humiliation or diminishment of the magnificent, amazing person that you are. It's just acknowledging that you need accountability to be successful. And there's no shame in that.

Understand, Olympic athletes have coaches; everybody has somebody they can turn to, to hold them accountable.

Again, even Olympic athletes need some form of accountability.

Michael Phelps won 119 gold medals because every morning he's in a swimming pool with a coach watching him and giving him feedback.

He could have stopped at 14 gold medals. He could have said: “I'm the best swimmer in the world. I know everything there is to know about swimming. I'm done.” But no, first of all, he wanted more, and he was capable of more. And partly, he was capable of more because he remained teachable.

So, for you, the metaphor or the example is the same, right? You need help...not that you're broken or damaged in any way. That's not what I'm saying.

So, whether you choose me as your coach, whether you enroll in any of our programs at Unstuff University like the Unstuff Your Life System®, or Your Next Big Thing® coaching program, or any of the individual classes, it doesn't have to be me.

I mean, at this moment, I'm guessing it's partly me because you're listening to this podcast. But if this doesn't resonate with you for whatever reason, my feelings won't be hurt.

Go find your coach. Go find the person, the program, the something that will hold you accountable and elevate you and your experience so that you can get and stay organized.

You deserve to be free from this dead-end relationship with stuff.

This is not your destiny; you are not destined to be stuck in this world with stuff…immobile, overwhelmed, stressed out, and unable to do the things or to have the experiences to participate in the relationships the way you want to.

That is not your destiny. Believe me.

I've been doing this work for over 25 years all over the world. I've worked with, at this point, well over half a million people through speaking training, coaching, all the different ways that I bring this message and this information into the world. And believe me, in all that time and in all those places, I have yet to meet the exception to this rule.

So, you might be remarkable. I have worked with Nobel Peace Prize winners; you might be a Nobel Prize winner. You might be a genius at something…but when it comes to clutter and disorganization, you are not the exception. You are my rule. You are the rule.

You are just another person with too much stuff, and not enough information, and lacking a source of external accountability to hold your feet to the fire to do what you say is important to you so that you can get to the other side of this experience.

Really, it's very simple. It isn't always easy. It isn't always comfortable, but it is a very simple equation we're talking about.

So, there is no shame in acknowledging; I don't even want to say admitting, but if admitting helps…admitting to yourself. You can't do this alone.

Again, if that triggers any sort of thought like, "Oh, I'm so messed up I can't believe that. You know, I'm so smart. I'm so accomplished in the world. Why can't I crack this nut?"

Who cares? You can't, right.

Why are you six feet tall or five feet two? Why are your eyes brown or blue or green? Why is your hair blonde or brown?

What difference does it make? You are you…more to the point is, if you will acknowledge, “I can't do this by myself. I've tried, and the results are not sustainable. I need some accountability to show up and do what I do.”

Here's an example for you, recording this podcast; I have a coach because I love helping people solve problems, but talking to you without you literally being in the room with me while I'm recording this feels a little awkward sometimes. It's hard to manifest the enthusiasm to be having a conversation, to have one side of the conversation in the hopes that you will be having the other part of it with me soon.

I don't know how that actually happens. I put the podcasts out in the world, and you listen to it when you listen to it, but we're not in a real-time conversation.

Because I'm now talking towards you, hoping that this is well received by you and prompts some sort of epiphany, some sort of a light bulb going on for you and prompts you into action.

That's my desire, that's my hope.

Sometimes it feels preposterous. So, I have a coach because my coach tells me, “Andrew, this is important information, it's serving the world, get it out there.”

And that's what I need to sit down in front of this camera and microphone and offer you my experience and the wisdom that I've gathered over the last 25 plus years working in the field as a professional organizer, so I'm not immune. I'm not exempt from what I'm talking about.

I need external accountability too.

So, there's no shame in it. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's not a vulnerability. It's not a weakness. It is an opportunity to be vulnerable and tell the truth and acknowledge a limitation or an opportunity for growth, if you will.

So that's what I, that's what I'm hoping you will take away from this episode is, you can't do it alone, and that's nothing to be upset about. It's the invitation. It's the opportunity to find an external source of accountability so you can tell on yourself when you're feeling weak or puny and don't want to do something.

You can use your accountability buddy or an accountability program or a coach like me to say “Hey. I'm bookending this experience. I'm about to set a timer for 15 minutes. I don't want to do something, but I do want to get the result of having done it. So, I'm telling on myself. I'm setting a timer for 15 minutes. I'm going to go do it, and then I'll call you back or text you back and let you know I did what I said I was going to do.”

Just by leveraging external accountability you will triple your effectiveness and impact. It's remarkable. It's a 3x factor just by leveraging external accountability.

Whatever you're doing when it comes to getting organized or staying organized, you will triple that output simply by leveraging an external source of accountability. So instead of feeling upset about it, embrace it, surrender to it, and leverage it to triple your results.

That's my invitation to you today. That's today's episode, and I can't wait to be with you again real soon.