Most people view clutter on a desk or in a room as a storage problem. Therefore, they solve it by buying more storage products such as trays, shelves, and additional cabinets to store their papers, books, etc.

In many cases, clutter is less about storage space than postponed decisions. It is caused by a backlog of decisions that a person does not wish to make. Whether to keep or to discard a piece of paper or other item? Whether to file it or to shred it? When to deal with it?

Where we tend to think that we are struggling with storage or organization of physical items, the underlying cause of the clutter is the backlog of small decisions. And it is in this backlog that we discover some of the key soft skills.

The ability to prioritize, to follow through on a task, and to make a decision and stick to it, is a trait that is considered to be ‘hard’ to master, often reserved for the higher echelons of management in the workplace. But in reality these traits are a fundamental part of any successful person, and can be seen in the way that they handle clutter on their desk.

The Hidden Cost of Postponed Decisions

Every item that you leave undecided will cost you something, no matter how small.

Psychologists call this the Zeigarnik effect. Unfinished tasks stay active in your working memory. This means that even when you are not looking at the item, it will be pulling at your attention.

A stack of unsorted mail creates a huge amount of visual clutter and can actually be a distraction to focus on your work. Every item in the stack of mail is an open issue or decision that you haven’t made yet.

Psychologists have found that people remember unfinished tasks long after they have stopped thinking about them. These are called “unfinished tasks” or “unresolved issues.” They create stress and a sort of low-level irritation that you feel until you have resolved the issue. A good example of this is a stack of unsorted mail.

The mail is a constant reminder of all the things that you need to do. Often, this distraction is worse at night when you are trying to focus on your work. You are at your desk at 11 pm, staring at a screen, and your mind keeps wandering back to that folder of papers that you haven’t dealt with in weeks or months.

This is what actually costs you. As you are building your soft skills, remember that focus is not about having willpower to concentrate on what you are doing. Instead, it is about reducing the number of open loops competing for your attention. Clearing physical clutter will allow you to focus on your work by closing a few of the open loops.

Letting Go as a Trainable Skill

Letting go of things is very hard for most people. Why would we want to let go of things that could potentially be useful at some point in the future? Why would we want to let go of old emails? Because responding to them is safer than deciding whether or not to start and finish a new project? Because finishing old projects is an admission that we didn’t need to start them in the first place?

But letting go is a skill. It can be practiced. And it starts with a very small space. Pick a drawer, a box, a file folder on your computer. Set a timer for 10 minutes and go through the stuff in the space you picked and for each item ask yourself: Does this still serve a purpose? Yes or no.

That’s it.

Every piece of paper that you hold in your hand can be either kept or thrown away. If you keep it, then you need to file it, and if you file it, then you need to deal with it later. So, the easiest thing to do is to throw it away – immediately. Every time you throw something away immediately, you build decision-making muscle. That muscle is the muscle to make decisions, and to follow through on those decisions.

And that's the point, really. Over time, this practice sharpens a broader skill: the ability to evaluate information quickly and move on without second-guessing yourself.

What Happens After You Decide to Let Go

Throwing away information, whether in physical form or not, can be very difficult. This is especially so when the documents in question contain sensitive information, such as financial records, medical history, etc.

Often, people try to be responsible and so they shred the documents, assuming that once the paper has passed through the shredder, their job is done. But it raises a fair question: is shredded paper recyclable in the same way as ordinary paper? The truth is more complicated.

Shredded paper has short fibers, and those short fibers cannot be sorted by normal recycling equipment the way a whole sheet can. Whether it can be recycled depends on the specifics of your local recycling program, so check with your local authority.

This same principle can be applied to other parts of your life beyond papers, such as when to end a project, when to hand off a task to someone else, when to close a conversation. Following through on a decision fully means understanding what will happen as a result of your actions.

This is not the same as taking the first obvious step and then claiming that you have “followed through” on your decision.

Building the Habit, One Room at a Time

Working at your desk is where you can first practice making a decision and following through. The habit is transferable.

The new skill that you are learning will show up in your work on projects, in your reaction to feedback and in how you bring your work to a close at the end of the day. You’ll no longer have to worry about the dozen or so tabs that you have open on your computer and that are distracting you from your current task.

The easiest place to start making these decisions is with the physical objects in your space. The key to practicing these decisions is to limit the scope of the project you are working on and make it as short as possible.

Pick a physical space to work in. Set a timer for 10 minutes and, within that time, sort through as much of the material as you can to decide what to do with it. Once you have decided what to do with an item, follow through completely with your decision (even the easiest part, such as putting a document in the recycling bin with sensitive information shredded first).

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Conclusion: Small Space, Bigger Skill

Clearing clutter is about much more than creating a tidy workspace. Every time you decide what to keep, what to discard, and what action to take, you strengthen your ability to make decisions and follow through on them. As those small decisions become habits, they build confidence in your judgement and reduce the number of unfinished tasks competing for your attention.

With fewer distractions and less mental clutter, it becomes easier to focus on the work that matters most. Over time, these same habits extend well beyond your desk. The confidence to make timely decisions, prioritise effectively, complete tasks, and avoid second-guessing yourself improves the way you manage projects, respond to feedback, and work with others.

The ability to let go is an often-overlooked soft skill, but it underpins many others. By practising it in small, everyday situations, you develop greater focus, stronger decision-making, and a more disciplined approach that benefits both your professional and personal life.

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