If you’ve ever felt like life has too many buttons, flashing lights, and absolutely no instruction manual, you’re in the right place.

Welcome to the first-ever edition of Simpler Times. It’s my weekly detour from the digital traffic jam, where we take a breather, toss out what’s in the way, and remember that joy often hides behind a stack of unopened mail.

This week, we fire up the flux capacitor and go back to the future because somewhere between skateboarding through town and almost erasing his own existence, Marty McFly reminded us: if you want to change your life, you have to take a hard look at what’s cluttering up your present.

Spoiler Warning…but to be fair, this movie is 40 years old, so at this point, it’s on you. ;)

In Back to the Future, a teenager named Marty McFly accidentally travels to 1955 in a time machine built by his eccentric friend. To return home, he has to fix the past, avoid erasing himself, and somehow make his parents fall in love.

Along the way, he gets pulled in a dozen directions. He tries to solve every problem at once, spreads himself too thin, and nearly fades out of existence (literally) because he forgets his main goal.

That’s what happens when we pile on too many priorities.

Progress slows. Stress climbs. And lose ourselves in the noise.

But once Marty realizes he just needs to focus on one thing, getting his parents back together, everything starts to align. He clears the distractions, makes a plan, and finds just enough momentum to change the future.

That’s what simplicity does. It clears the fog. It gives you one clear destination instead of seventeen conflicting GPS directions and a car screaming about low tire pressure.

Essentialism sounds philosophical until you realize your nightstand has been quietly undermining your life.

Every object in your space is sending a message. Some say “remember me,” some say “deal with me,” and a few just sit there radiating silent guilt.

Decluttering is not about being tidy. It’s about making your environment less annoying.

You remove the noise, and what’s important stops getting elbowed out of the way. Suddenly your brain doesn’t have to sort through receipts, unread books, and tangled chargers just to go to bed.

Marty didn’t clean his room, but he did clean up his timeline. Same idea.

Less clutter.

Clearer direction.

Better outcomes.

In this section every week, I’ll give step by step instructions on how to tackle one project. It could be something simple and small like this week’s assignment, or it could be more involved. Once you take on a few of these, you’ll learn some of the common strategies that can be applied to just about anything.

My hope for this newsletter is to make it feel like a mini-coaching session with me.

So now, it’s time to…

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You don’t need a time machine to change your week. A cleaner nightstand is a surprisingly decent place to start.

Clutter thinks it’s clever. Hiding in drawers, piling on shelves, whispering “better keep me, just in case…tee hee”

But you’re cleverer. More clever? Cleverest? Hmm… well, you get the idea.

You probably don’t have a Time Machine, but a trash bag and 10 minutes should work just as well here.

But if things start mysteriously multiplying (looking at you, free tote bags), I’m just a reply away.

Or pass this along to a friend whose clutter appears to be forming a union.

Talk soon.