Legal Grounds | Star Hansen on the Psychology of Clutter, Replacing Shame with Curiosity, and Why Boxes are Only the Beginning

Legal Grounds | Conversations on Life, Leadership & Law

One of the questions we ask every potential new hire at our firm is when your laundry comes out of the dryer, how long does it take you to put it away?

There is no right or wrong answer to the question, but the responses - I hope - give me a sense of how someone will process new work when it comes their way. This gives not just me, but the whole team the benefit of knowing how to train and integrate this person into the way we do things.

But perhaps more importantly, it's taught ME that there are a lot of different ways people choose to work towards the same goal. Some of the best lawyers I've worked with had offices that gave me anxiety - but there was a method to their madness, and the job got done.

And even though my guest this week is known as The Clutter Whisperer, she would be the first to tell you that what I saw as chaos, those attorneys saw as a necessity to do their jobs well.

Star Hansen is a Certified Professional Organizer and the author of the best-selling and bluntly titled book, “Why the F***Am I Still Not Organized”.

Since founding her own Professional Organizing Service in 2004, she has been on a mission to help people strip away the shame and negative stigma surrounding clutter in our modern lives.

We discuss how clutter is almost always speaking to a deeper narrative in our lives and how it can offer a more gentle lesson in tackling bigger issues.

And while we do talk about a couple of practical tools for keeping organized, as Star explains, dealing with clutter is way more than finding the perfect label maker.

Enjoy the Show
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SHOW NOTES:

• Free Digital Copy of "Why The F*** Am I Still Not Organized"
• Star's interview on NPR's LifeKit
• Star's instructions on How to Fold a Fitted Sheet - you laugh, but give it 2 minutes.