One surface
Clear one usable place.
Choose a table corner, chair, counter section, or another surface you want to use.
Permission to stop
Choose a finish line you can reach.
When a room feels like too much, the problem is often the number of decisions hiding inside the word clean.
Pick one result. When you reach it, you are allowed to stop. That is completing the plan—not quitting it.
One category
Gather the obvious trash.
Ignore every other decision. Collect only what is clearly ready to leave.
Five things
Return what has a home.
Put away five things whose destinations are already known, then stop.