In this solo podcast episode, Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal, Nourish, Grow, guides listeners through Day 20 of the 30‑Day Healthy Habits Challenge: decluttering a small area for five minutes. She explains the habit’s purpose—reducing visual and mental stress caused by clutter—backed by research linking mess to anxiety and reduced routine efficiency. Cheryl outlines a step‑by‑step method: set a timer, choose a tiny zone (e.g., a countertop, a shelf, a car surface), and apply the “touch‑once” rule, deciding on the spot to trash, donate, or relocate each item. She stresses the importance of stopping when the timer ends to keep the habit repeatable and avoid it overtaking the day, noting how the limited time can create a pleasant craving to continue while still preserving manageability. Practical tips include using a small “decide‑later” bin for items that need more thought, avoiding deep‑cleaning, and focusing on one square foot at a time. Cheryl highlights the psychological payoff: a small win builds trust, creates a calm environment, and supports other healthy habits. The episode ends with a reminder that research links are in the daily tracker, a call to sign up for the challenge at healnourishgrow.com/habits, and standard podcast disclosures.
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I'm Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal, Nourish, Grow, and welcome to day 20 of your 30 Days of Healthy Habits Challenge. Today is one that I use pretty frequently, and I think it is so helpful. And actually looking into the research about it, I always knew that there was a reason that this was a thing that was good for you. Um, but today's habit is that you're going to declutter one small area for 5 minutes. So you're just going to set a timer on your phone or in the kitchen timer or something like that and stop when it ends. Now I will say what happens to me when I use this little habit is that sometimes I I kind of get on a roll and I don't really want to stop. So if you wanna keep it super manageable and not let it go kind of taking over other parts of your day, if you, if you have a really busy day, you might wanna just take a 5-minute section that's right before you need to do something else. So you definitely have to stop. And it's interesting how it almost leaves you kind of craving more, cuz once you get started, quite often you get a little bit in a flow and in a, in a rhythm where you want to do a little bit more. And it's kind of like the other habit that I shared with you, or I mentioned how I would kind of trick myself when I used to have to get out the door to go run or go exercise or something like that. And so it's kind of the same with this. You're saying, I'm only gonna declutter for 5 minutes and then I'm going to stop. So it takes away the resistance to that. Cause I know a lot of times if I have a big cleaning project or if I have an area that's a, a big mess and I just, I wanna reorganize it and I wanna deal with it, but I just, I will mentally put it off forever cuz it seems like it's going to take too much time and it creates a lot of mental stress for me specifically. So I think that this habit is a really good one to take on. It is something that, again, like all of these habits has research to support why it's good for you. But basically clutter increases your stress. So like I just described, for me, it definitely creates, it's more like anxiety for me, what it creates when I have a messy space. And a calmer space also supports calmer routines. It makes it easier to carry through on your other habits because you're not looking around thinking about all the things that you need to clean up or organize or do. It's just a calm zen space really creates a calm zen mind. So this small reset can also help reduce visual stress and make your environment just more supportive for everything that you're going to do in that space. For example, right now, Now, if I look at my desk, there's a few papers and things on it that aren't making me so happy in the moment, but that's probably what I'll do for my 5-minute, uh, little clutter cleanup today. So you start these short sessions and it really helps you build trust with yourself because again, it's a small win. And so in this scenario, the way that we set this up, decluttering a small space, you're going to have the small win where you finish what you started and you get to check it off your list and it's done. And that, that always feels great, right? So that's another way it's really supportive. So as far as picking a tiny zone, here are examples or ideas that you might wanna use for. So for example, a counter space, maybe the kitchen junk drawer. I don't know, my junk drawer would probably take more than 5 minutes, so I might not pick that one for this particular one. One specific shelf, or maybe it's a part of your car. Maybe it's like just vacuuming, um, you know, this one's not really decluttering per se, but say you had trash or work things or piles of paper or something in your car, you could declutter that space. Um, and then the simple rule is just you only wanna touch the things once. I think that is a really good practice as well. I try to get my husband He doesn't do this with the mail, but he just, he'll sort through it. He'll kind of look at it and then he'll put it down. It's like touch it once. So that's what we're doing with this declutter habit. And you just trash it, donate it, or relocate it. That's your choices. So it's either trash, donate, put away. Just, you've gotta deal with it though in that moment. And so again, kind of stopping at that 5-minute mark, even while you wanna keep going. The reason this is important for this particular habit is it's about repeatability. So you can't, you know, you can't put it off as easily when it's only 5 minutes. If you get into a whole thing where you try this 5-minute habit and then it takes you 20 minutes because you didn't stop, and then you're kind of annoyed by it because it took over some other space in your day that you needed. That is— so I think it's good to set mentally that parameter at the very beginning, and then that way when you stop again, you get to check off that thing off your list. You did it the way that was supposed to be done, and that's it. So if, you know, if you have problem with that touching it once kind of thing, or something you really need to give it more thought, because even Marie Kondo— Kondo, is that her name? I think she's the one that's the lady that's the the, you know, declutter lady. But, um, a small decide later bin is okay. And this is only for one day, so you probably won't need that. But if you're gonna carry this habit forward into the future, maybe have a small decide later bin. That way you can put some little things in there when you're feeling overwhelmed, but you can still put it out of the way and make the one space that you're focused on actually being, you know, completed like we've discussed. So even just if it's one square foot, that is it. It's like, don't be tempted to deep clean. Just remind yourself that this is a small little habit that you're gonna start repeating over and over, and that's why we wanna keep it super manageable. And this one is, I, again, you can tell I'm talking about this one a lot because it is definitely something that I find challenging where I, if I would practice this habit every single day, these small 5-minute cleanups, I'd be in so much better shape than when I ignore it or I wait until I have enough time to do the whole thing because you easily keep putting it off and keep putting it off. So anyway, hopefully that was useful for you today. As always, the research links will be in the tracker and in your email for the day. And if you haven't signed up yet for the challenge, if you're just running into this video on YouTube and you're like, what is this all about? This is a 30-day Healthy Habits Challenge. You can sign up at any time. And that link is healnourishgrow.com/habits. And so that's it for today. I will talk to you again tomorrow.
This has been the Heal Nourish Grow podcast. Again, I'm Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal, Nourish, Grow. You can find show notes for this episode at healnourishgrowpodcast.com. If you have feedback on today's episode or questions about the content, please email us at podcast@healnourishgrow.com. We'd love to hear from you. Be sure to sign up for our email list at healnourishgrow.com and subscribe to the show with your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. Join us next time for more information that helps you live your best and healthiest life. Thanks for listening. Content on the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast does not constitute medical advice. Content contained in the Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast is not intended as medical diagnosis or treatment. Neither the company nor its owner, Heal, Nourish, Grow LLC, nor any of the company's employees, agents, or guest speakers provide medical advice. The content provided on Heal, Nourish, Grow podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please consult your medical provider with any questions about what health practices are right for you.
