I do agree with that "a little at a time" cleaning idea. Agreeing does not often translate into doing, however.

Many of you will remember that early this spring, I took 5 whole weeks out of my life to clean, file and organize all my clutter and junk. It had gotten to the point where I just couldn't stand it any more.

My most helpful technique? THINK small. Don't think about filing all the papers or cleaning an entire room -- because frankly, that's too depressing and would freeze me into inertia.

I made a list, and everything on the list was micro-managed. So instead of "clean the entire living room," which would have stopped me dead in my tracks, my list read like this:
1. take all the stuff off the window sills.
2. wash/dust the stuff that was on the window sills.
3. wash the window sills.
4. replace stuff onto window sills.
...and I'd cross off each item as I did it, which means I accomplished four things, instead of failing at the one big one ("clean living room") that I would've given up on. A sense of accomplishment is important, and puts you in a much better mood than failure.

And after that, I'd tackle some paperwork:
1. remove and trash all expired coupons.
2. throw out all ads that are older than 2 weeks.
Etc.

Maybe then I'd do 4 more living room chores. Or read/delete emails for 20 minutes. The trick was that the moment I felt overwhelmed, I'd go on to something else. And make a list, so I could cross things off and feel like I was doing good.