I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier. Once a week I take a few minutes to reflect

on an experience, highlight interesting new research, tell a story, or share something funny.

This week I want to talk about one of my favorite secrets of

adulthood. Outer order contributes to inner calm. That's because I'm continually

surprised by the fact that for most people

outer order contributes to a sense of inner calm, energy and self-command.

It's not true for everyone, but it's true for most people.

This connection fascinates me because in the context of a happy life, a messy kitchen

counter or a disorganized desk is a trivial issue, obviously. And yet, disorder weighs us down more than it should.

That's why I make my bed every day, why I follow the one minute rule, and why I write about hacks for clearing clutter in

my book, Outer Order Inner Column.

Relatedly, in my book Better than before, I write about something that I found somewhat surprising.

Clearing clutter also helps us stick to our good habits and make big change.

A friend once told me, I finally cleaned out my fridge and now I know I can switch careers and I knew exactly

how that felt. A good clutter clearing makes me feel more energetic, more creative, and more in

command of myself and I know where my keys are. So I see the value of clearing

clutter. But sometimes we don't want to clear clutter, or we want to have the space in the organization but we just

can't let go of things.

And when I thought about it I realized one reason why that might be.

Love.

Maybe you're trying unsuccessfully to persuade your parents

to give away all the toy schoolwork and trophies that they've been storing since your

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