Speaker #0Hi, welcome to The Pulse, the podcast where we explore the heartbeat of life and work. I'm Julie, your host, and I'm thrilled to have you join me on this journey. Every two weeks, I will bring you a regular dose of inspiration, practical tips, and regular stories about personal development, wellness, and career growth. Whether you're looking for motivation, fresh perspective, or just a reminder that you're not alone, you are in the right place. So welcome and let's dive in. Hi, welcome back to The Pulse. I hope you're doing well. Welcome if you're a new joiner. It's been quite a while for me since I recorded because the previous one had been recorded in December. And so it's been since February that I haven't recorded. So it took me a bit of a time to get back into the routine. But I'm very happy to be recording again. And spring is coming. We'll talk in a minute about it. But yeah, so it's been an exciting journey. So if you are new, as I said, welcome to The Pulse. And for the one who have been there since the beginning or who have joined me along the way, welcome again. And thank you for being here. part of the journey and for all your support. Today I want to talk about spring cleaning actually. When I'm recording this we are almost end of March and I have seen so much videos and content about spring cleaning and I want to take a bit of a different take about what spring cleaning is all about because it's not just about cleaning your home or doing a deep clean or buying new pair of beddings or buying products that are flowery or summery feeling. It's not about buying, actually, or not about also decluttering, per se. It's more about what's the concept of spring cleaning should be from my perspective. And so, yeah, I'll share my thoughts. I'll share how I view spring cleaning, how I view this time of the year. And I hope that inspires you or makes you reflect in some ways. Yes, spring cleaning is about cleaning your home, your space, your environment. And that can take multiple forms of sorts. For me, the way I view spring cleaning is spring is usually a bit less or around the three months mark. after the start of the year so it's almost your 90 days and if you think from a business standpoint it is the moment where you can start to reflect on how the years have been so far how your goals have been so far and the first thing that I do see with the concept of spring cleaning is doing that 90 days review and a bit of reflection on how the year is going and is it going the direction you wanted to take right you made some goals you made some plans is it fitting into how your life is actually going are you making some adjustment into those plans are you doubling down on it or are you looking into expanding them and this is really for me that moment right march the days are getting longer we get a bit re-energized some people you know can have in the winter that feeling of having a bit of a more moody or difficult time with the lack of sun. And with that, I view this spring cleaning, so March, April, Piergut, as a way to reset my attention and really to look at it, how inspired am I, how motivated I get with the newness of the spring coming and the flower blooming and everything behind it. So the first thing I would encourage you to do and that I did for myself was to look at how my year has been going since January 1st and to look at what's working, what's not. I'm very, very busy. I'm extremely busy in a good way, but also it can be, it can be, it's not even can, it has been difficult in some weeks, in some moments. So I did do with that a bit of a reflection on what... I accept and what I wanted to change. And basically, to keep it short, within the year, I've decided to, on top of my work, on top of the podcast, on top of taking care of my dog, on top of sports and my running goals, I also decided to finalize my master's degree. And with that, I have an academic paper to write, which is almost two. in one in a sense and requires a lot of of my time in order to to get it done and to get this master sorted i have this plus my german certification to get before october 31st and this has had a bit of a strain and so i did a bit of a reflection in term of where my intentions are going where my time is going is it going in the right way and i know that some moments have been harder and The moments that have been harder, I'm trying to figure out why it has been harder. And one thing that has happened is for sure I have some work events. So I have some evening when I don't get to write my paper or where also there is some moment where I get inspired. But I'm actually either at work or I'm in the middle of my run or I'm in the car. And therefore, it's nowhere for me to write or to get that inspiration back potentially at the moments that I get it. So I had... a bit of that reflection in terms of how my calendar looks like, how it's going to look like in the next three months, what can I adjust, what do I have to be okay with. And that was kind of the way for me to look at it in terms of how did I manage and do I need to make any kind of changes. And the main changes I'm going to make for myself is first to look at my schedule on a daily basis because I usually end up taking care of that paper at night. I sometimes struggle to find the time when to run within the day based on the sessions of running I need to do. I sometimes have difficulty also to be fully present for my dog when I need to be. So it's about resetting how my agenda looks like. Because until now, it was very much go in the morning, let's get to work, let's get the day going and have a lot of time in the evening for myself, which was great. But at the same time, sometimes I get tired from work. And now I don't have enough energy for the other activities. So it's not about giving less energy to work, but maybe rebalancing how I manage my day overall. So those are some of the reflections I had personally. And I would encourage you, before you even start to look at your home or to look at decluttering or to do a full reset, look at first the reflection of how things went for you in the last three months. And do you want to make any adjustments? The next step of spring cleaning, or the way we can call it a spring reset, is actually to look at purely the cleaning side. And I think everyone has a home that is decently clean on day to day. You're going to ensure that your apartment or your home is in the right set of mind for you to live your day to day. It's not going to be messy all the time. It's not going to be disorganized or you're going to like... mop or clean the floor or whatever or vacuum on a regular basis that is a given for me but what spring cleaning is also it's about is about moving actually the furniture and helping you reset for example what I did for myself and I do it room by room because I don't believe in the fact of doing it like all in one day to be honest I'm in the middle of it it's actually my apartment is messy because I'm in the middle of it. But one thing that I did is I moved my couch. And by moving my couch, I had so much dust underneath. And moving my couch, my couch is heavy. It's not something that I would do every two weeks or every weekend or on every X amount of days. This is not something that is sustainable for me to do so regularly. But actually really taking the time to fully move it out completely of the place it was. helped me really remove all that extra dust that accumulate. And I've done the same thing with my bed. And again, it's not easy to move my bed. And I think it's about looking at from that perspective. You don't have to do it all in one day, but moving the big piece of furniture that you never move. I would love to try to move my fridge because I know that there is this, like a tiny gap of maybe two centimeters between my fridge and the wall. And I do think, so either in the back or in the side, I'm pretty sure there is a lot of dust and there is no way for me to get it. And all that dust accumulated can sometimes make the air in your apartment, in your home not as good and it's allowing a better flow. So from that perspective, doing that cleaning, that proper deep clean and taking the time to move those big pieces of furniture, looking at also your closet. That's what. do I get rid of? What do I keep exchanging summer, winter, if you have to, but taking the time, space by space, to look at what's in my home, what does need to move in order for me to ensure that things are deeply cleaned and deeply reorganized and that it's almost again a reset is important. So for me, this is where I'm not about someone who's gonna buy the latest trend. In order to do that cleaning, I use my daily product. But by moving those pieces, I realize how much dust I accumulated in places that I don't have a chance to clean on a regular basis. And that's where I think the concept of doing that spring cleaning can be good. Because it can really help you with reorganizing and restructuring your home or giving it a good and deep clean. it As I mentioned, we all have busy lives and don't get discouraged or don't look at the videos that are online from influencers. I mean, they can be inspiring, but their job is really to do that cleaning. So they can spend all day doing that. To be honest, I did a little bit. I've been starting already on Monday. We are Sunday today and I am halfway through. And the thing is... I need to ensure that I finish it under a certain timeline because after that I want to do other things and I don't want to have to keep it pending over and over and over. But I know it's still going to take me two to three weeks to get it done. Easy. Not because I'm slow, not because I don't dedicate the time, but because it's a lot to move. It's a lot to process. It's a lot to ensure that you do that dip clean. So take the time and don't be discouraged by what you see online, but more take it as an opportunity for you to take room by room, piece by pieces, ensuring that you move your things or you reorganize your things in the way that does make sense and makes a better flow. And what it's going to bring, at least what it brings for me, is the sentiment of joy, of having a bit of a reset. But also is the feeling of... now I'm going to reorganize. I'm going to move something based on what my life is and what makes sense. I have the same situation in my kitchen where I have a little piece of furniture where I have some items that are more accessible. And there is those kind of mini pots, individual pots that I can put in the oven. And they used to be in another cabinet that I never, like on top for area that I never use and I never open. And it made literally no sense because I know those are individual portion that would be good for me to cook in but if I don't take them out because they're on the wrong shelf on the wrong setup it's not gonna work and so I exchange it with some bowls that I had that were actually for cider for this is cooking from my my region we drink cider in a bowl and those bowls are very special and so I wanted to have some but they don't need to be out I don't make galette and crepe every week I wish but no And so it makes a lot more sense to exchange because the smaller parts will be used on a more regular basis. And those are tiny, tiny changes. But to reset your life, to ensure that the things and the items and the flow in your house make sense with your life. And that is also valid in your car. This can be also valid if you have a desk at work. I'm lucky enough actually that I'm literally moving building next week. So we actually had to reset also. our area with my team. And since we are moving into a new building, then I was able to also do a bit of checking of what's out there. And I had colleagues that had documents since like early 2000s. And it's good to get rid of those things at some point and to get rid of the clutter and to reorganize and reset, because that makes you realize how much you accumulate and how much potentially what you have is impacting your flow. And I think that's the perspective that you have to take. I have to say, for example, and maybe I'm renting, so I'll have to stop at some point. But I had the flood in my basement and I had to bring a lot of stuff upstairs to my apartment. And that was some of them were sitting in my bedroom, which then my bedroom felt a lot cluttered. It was not helping me sleep better. And so by having now less in it, because I was able to bring everything back downstairs, It like feels again a fresher setup in a way. So yeah, I encourage you. There is other topics. We'll keep talking about spring cleaning in different sense. But also that cleaning has an impact. So I would really encourage you to do that home refresh and that environment refresh overall. The other topic I would love to talk about. And here it's more about the declutter, but not the home. It's digital declutter. And we spend our life being busy with a lot of things. And social media also doesn't help. And I know potentially, you know, releasing another podcast episode or sharing another Reels online is not helping with that overall clutter or amount that we get every day. But one thing that I did, and I thought this was actually a good thing. that I started already in January and have accumulated as I used to have in my podcast inbox, in a way waiting for me to listen to. I had about 60 to 70 podcasts. And it's not that I was not listening to them. It's more that I had the regular one and then I was adding more and I was doing more and adding more. And therefore, I had no time to listen to those. And so I did a bit of a refresh. I went through all my podcasts and I decided which one I still want to listen, which one I don't want. Which one is sometimes even like I like the person, but that actually makes no sense for me or is not about me. It doesn't fit my need. I was listening to a podcast about running. I love to listen. And they did an episode about women in pregnancy. And for some reason, I guess because it's one of their episodes, like every episode, I was like, okay, yeah, I will book it to be on my list. Actually, that one doesn't make sense for me. So maybe if one day I want to know about it, I can always go back. But it doesn't make sense for me. So I removed those. And I really did a bit of a declutter. And then after that, I focused before adding more. Let me listen to the one I really want to listen to and do it with intention. I ended up at 15. I have to say that I'm at 35 again. So I have to be careful. But overall, doing that declutter, and I'm giving you the example of podcasts, but I think it's valid for all your digital content. Look at the people you follow, the accounts you follow. Look at YouTube if you have also save account. cats I don't know, also your inbox and what's coming. And if you get such a newsletter, if you get some emails that comes in because you're for some reason on the list and that is adding clutter because you get those and potentially you spend your life deleting them, that extra time, that extra effort, that extra content in your brain, in your mind, with your files, with your emails, with your apps, etc. can add Certain sense of being overwhelmed or like of extra clutter or weight in your day to day. So I would also encourage using the time to look at it from a digital standpoint to look at, OK, what can I remove? What can I reorganize? Again, in the same way as for your home. Is there some topics? Is there some files that you saved? I am the first one I know at work. Sometime I want to work on something. And I don't have a folder preset. And I don't know yet what it is. So I just, and sometimes it's just junk on my thoughts. And then I accumulate and accumulate and accumulate pages of OneNote or Word document or PowerPoint with namings and everything that doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make sense, but the namings is potentially document one, two, three. And therefore, no way I'm going to go back to the document if it doesn't stay open. Because I won't know what it is. So at some point, it's important to ensure that you do a bit of that clutter and reflect on what's working and what's not. To ensure that you have the right setup for you to be successful. So again, now that the days are longer and now that you're more active also personally, having that moment to spend potentially a couple of minutes per day on your digital to ensure that that flow can continue, the flow you've created already, maybe something also to look at that I would encourage based on my experience. So why do we make spring cleaning such a big topic? And here I kind of made it, as I said, it's more of a spring reset in a way. And you can look at it from different perspectives in your life and do it for a lot of things. But what are the benefits that this takes? I mean, the first one, if you're doing a physical exercise by moving your couch or moving your furniture like I did, you exercise. So basically, you are more active and that is also helping you on a day to day. It improves the air quality, as I mentioned. it's Also helps for better sleep. Those are definitely three components that you always have to look at it from your home. Declutter from your home, spring cleaning is those three elements is really helping you. But from a deeper level, looking at and doing the reflection on what happened in the last 90 days. What do I move in the next 90 days? What do I change? What do I readapt? You know, that first piece that I was talking about. It's also helping you from a mental and emotional point of view. It's most likely going to reduce stress because if you have accumulated stress and if you realize that your weeks and the last two months have been highly stressful because of the routine, because of the organization, because of all your goals, then this is the opportunity for you to take a step back, reflect and make some changes. changes to make your life less stressful and more mindful more with more intention and that is helping you live that day-to-day and potentially is to remove one of those tasks potentially is to remove one of those topics but that stress relief will come out of that exercise will come out of that overall refresh and also you will get back control if you've lost control and the months and the weeks have passed by. then you're going to get that control back. You're going to be able to say, okay, now let's take a minute, let's take a beat and let me get my life back on track, the track that makes sense for me. And that doesn't mean that potentially the next months are not going to be scary. I have to say that when I'm looking at April, May, June, I have private events, which I haven't had in the last couple of weeks. I have a lot of races. I have a lot of want to accomplish. There is a lot of... day holiday in May. I'm actually even going on holiday at some point. And all these can look even daunting. And so if now I take the time already to prepare for it and to define what's my intention, what's my goal, how do I organize my day, to define and build that structure will give me a sense of control when I am potentially in the middle of all this rumble. And I think this is how you have to look at it, right? building that control back and the weeks goes and the months goes and the year goes and it can all of a sudden be two years later and where did life go and this is where having that moment of reflection and this is why I also do feel like that 90 days past the new year is helping is that is giving you a sense of like you're not waiting the six months and nine months the end of the year to be like oh what happened this year I was a bit out of control and I lost my own happiness, my own drive. I lost myself in it. And so this is where this reset can help you overall. Also, it can give you a sense of gratification. It's also a good reminder to see what did you achieve in the last three months. I think we all see a lot of time what we didn't do or where we need to, what more do we should do or where we should be. And social media is great to tell you what you should have done or where you should be. I am the first one to sometimes look at. LinkedIn or look at other platforms and be like, oh, I have not achieved this, I have not achieved that, but potentially it's not my course. But because you see other people achieving, potentially you forget what you have achieved yourself. So think about this as well. And I've talked about, you know, doing some reverse to-do list in previous episodes. So I would tell you to go back to this, but overall also reflecting on what you have achieved and potentially you struggle. to define what you've achieved. But potentially you put the brick or the base or the foundation for a strong rest of the year. And this you also have to acknowledge. So think about it from a deeper meaning and be grateful of what you've gone through potentially in those first three months. The last thing I'll leave you with is also another benefit that... doing such exercise or doing this spring reset can help you with is really it's enhancing focus. Cloud of free space or organized space can help you refocus on what matters to you. If you can see things that need to be changed or need to be done in your home, you're not going to be able to fully focus on what you want to do. I have to say that while we're recording, I have a pile of clothes in front of me because I was in the middle of switching. I have four pair of shoes in my entryway that are not in the cupboard and that can be distracting. And it's important to reset those and to figure out what makes sense and how to bring things in an order, in a calm way. It's not about having nothing in your space. It's about having an environment that allows you process and think and be free of that clutter. So you can properly focus on what you need to focus in that moment in time. And And that focus can be to take care of your dog or your kids. You know, if you have to think about the dishwasher that needs to be empty or pile on laundry that is waiting, when you could be focused on your kids, it's tough. And this is part of that journey that you have to go through. I think that's today's episode. I hope you liked it. It's a bit short, but I didn't want to make it another heavy one. For me, it's about to remind you that spring cleaning is not just about the basic Instagram or YouTube or social media trend that you see of seeing someone who has a perfect looking. or have someone that spend X amount of hours on doing all the deep cleaning. But it's like doing that intentionally for you, that reset after 90 days can help you put the right intention for the next 90 days and also for the rest of the year. So yeah, I wish you a very nice spring season. And we'll talk soon. Now go, because today is my dog's birthday. So we are going to... celebrate a little bit and go on a longer walk. So that's why I didn't want this episode to be also too long. And yeah, we'll talk to you soon. Bye. And that's a wrap for today's episodes of The Pulse. If something resonated with you, I would love to hear about it. So drop me a message on Instagram, LinkedIn, or leave a review wherever you're listening. Your feedback fuels this community and I much appreciate it. Make sure to follow The Pulse on your favorite podcast platforms and on social media so you never miss an episode. And if you're craving for more, check out the show notes for links, resources, and ways to connect. Until next time, keep trusting your journey because growth happens one step at a time. See you soon. Bye.
