Think of all the little things that sidetrack you from time to time during the day. Disorder on your bookshelves, clutter on your desk, too much “stuff’ in your closets, items you spend time hunting down, half-finished projects or books, incomplete tasks, broken household appliances, leaky faucets, unfulfilling relationships, to name a few.
It is difficult to maintain a clear focus on your goals when your energy is pulled away by distractions. There is a lot of truth to the expression: A cluttered environment = a cluttered mind.
Here is how the “cleaning house” process works:
List the items in your personal and business lives you want to 1. clear out, 2. clean up, 3. complete or 4. delete.
When I do this for my work, I make “Walk the Talk” lists of all the stuff I have promised myself I’ll do. I then categorize each item into one of the above four categories.
If I can handle the item once and for all BEFORE putting it on the list, I do that instead of creating extra work to add it to one of the lists.
- Make a list of what you want to clean, clear, complete and delete in your personal life over the next month
- Make a list of what you want to clean, clear, complete and delete in your job or business life over the next month
- Block specific times on your calendar that are devoted to accomplishing these tasks
- Find ways to make the chore as pleasant as possible – play music, sip a glass of wine or a mug of tea, tune in to a favorite radio station
- Get started right away
- Aim for “Relief!” – that feeling you get of a burden being lifted from you, as the task lists get shorter. This enables you later to turn your energies to creating “Joy!”, which comes from tackling and completing the goals that excite you.
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