It has been quite busy over the last month and found that my mind was racing a bit with everything going on. It happens to all of us these days especially when you are playing a bigger game and Thinking Bigger and Acting Bolder!
The clutter in my office and at home had been piling up as I worked on some major projects. With a few extra piles, new projects, documents needing to be shredded, it was creating just a little more clutter in my brain and I wasn't focusing as much as usual.
I found it was time to set aside a whole day to do a major RESET in my work and life! As a result, my mind is clearer and I'm much more focused to get more done with a renewed sense of calm and knowing that things are on track and I'm playing to my potential. This is what I want for myself and for you!
When the piles of stuff and things to do keep growing around you at the office AND at home, your mind fills up with mental clutter! With more mental clutter, you have less clarity on what needs to be done and less focus to do it. This mental clutter causes your brain go to into overdrive and it can feel like your mind is bouncing. It can also put you into a sense of overwhelm and a feeling of a little bit out-of-control. This is happening more and more often as workloads are increasing, stress is at an all-time high, and expectations to do more with less are sky-rocketing.
You can tell if your mental clutter is high if: you forget things easily, you are not taking actions that you know you could be, you are feeling stressed out, or if you are waking up at night with your brain racing (just to name a few!). If that sounds anything like you, it may be time to do a major reset to clear the clutter and clear your mind!
You may feel like you don't have the time to do it but its definitely worthwhile to make the time to do it for your sanity alone! In the short run and long run, you will save a TON of time and you will be more focused as a result. You will also be more energized and clear-headed and also feel more in control and ready to tackle anything. All well worth it!
Get ready for a RESET Day and clean up the clutter! That includes physical clutter but could also mean electronic clutter too. You can do this on your own or even better with an entire group. Set aside a RESET Day (or an afternoon) and get the garbage bags, recycling containers and shredders ready.
Have an end-goal in mind. If you picture what you want your space to look like or have a goal like a clean desk where I can see the floor, then its much easier to achieve it. Better yet, keeping your bigger goals in mind like working towards that promotion or getting a major project completed which will set the stage for making decisions on what is important to keep and what to get rid of.
Be prepared. Get everything that you will need ready for your day like garbage bags, recycling, shredders, file folders, notebooks, markers, computer, etc. so you can focus on clearing the clutter!
Go through everything quickly. Sort through everything as FAST as you can and make categories that make sense to you: projects, work admin, personal brand, networking follow-up, etc. I have file folders ready for new projects, and my calendar and contacts open on my laptop to update as I go along. Don't get caught up in doing work during this process. This is more about getting organized so you can free your brain of clutter. Get rid of everything that you don't need (be ruthless) and recycle it, shred it or put it in the trash (or delete it from your computer)!
Create a list as you are sorting. You want to create a master inventory of all the projects, commitments and an action list of what you need and want to do. I have a list of projects and a smaller action list for both work and home. Track these in a way that make sense for you either on paper (like a notebook) or electronically or a combination of both. You want to get everything out of your head and into something that you can use to track your actions.
Clean up and systemize! Put all your projects together in files and put them front and center on your desk or in a nearby filing drawer. Use your master inventory (projects and action lists) to track the things you need to do. Create systems to keep them up to date like reviewing them weekly!
I have a RESET day at least twice per year (or when needed) to purge the clutter and make sure I'm on track and going where I want to go! Try it in your group (or family) to get organized all together and have a celebration afterwards! You will gain time and energy when you clean up the clutter around you, and free your mind to focus on Thinking Bigger and Acting Bolder!
