Habit Two: Declutter To Delete Your Stress

Some people have a method to their madness.  Midst all the jumbled notes, books and discheveled piles of folders, there's actually a sense of order and reason.  But mostly it's just clutter.  Not necessarily junk, but a confusing heap of tasks littered in a chaotic manner drowning your thought process and damming your creative flow.

Let's take a trip to your junk drawer in your kitchen.  I know you have one, everyone does.  That drawer where you put everything that doesn't have a place but you just can't bring yourself to throw it away yet.  There's probably several old batteries, an old remote to a TV that you don't own anymore, outmoded phone chargers, and possibly a marble.  A MARBLE!  Why are you holding on to that?!

The real question is does the top of your workspace resemble your kitchen junk drawer? 

I'm going to play Dr. Phil here and tell you that "it's not your fault" (did you hear his voice when I said that?).  There's a very normal, as well as scientific, reason that you hold on to things that you don't need and keep the mishmash of papers, folders and assortment of other "necessities" on your desk that make up your clutter.

The principle of Consistency. 

Dr. Robert Cialdini, a Regents professor of Psychology at Arizona State University and author of Influence: Science and Practice states:

"Like other weapons of influence, this one lies deep within us, directing our actions with quiet power.  It is, quite simply, our desire to be (and to appear) consistent with what we have already done.  Once we make a choice or take a stand, we will encounter personal and inerpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment.  Those pressures will cause us to respond in ways that justify our earlier decision"

In essence you keep that book about social media on your desk because at some earlier point you promised yourself that you were going to read it and master LinkedIn and Twitter.  Despite the fact you literally haven't looked at it in two weeks, if you put the book away, you are subconsciously admitting that you were wrong in the first place.  Normally not an easy concession to make.

Why?  Because there's a genuine physical pain associated when your brain submits to the fact that you made the wrong decision.  Recently a group of researchers at the Yale School of Medicine discovered  that when you choose to rid yourself of items that you once deemed important, you activate certain areas of your brain associated with conflict and pain.  Letting go of that clutter can actually cause you grief, anxiety and discomfort.  The same feelings akin to a smoker trying to quit.

Unfortunately, the medical community hasn't developed a patch to help with clutter withdraw.  So how are you going to clean up your mess?  How will you rid yourself of the hodgepodge that's scattered across your office?  It's not going to be easy, but you can do it.  Rather than trying to clean everything up in one fell swoop, Cindy Glovingsky, MSW, a psychotherapist and professional organizer suggests "Create a pocket of order."  Don't just dump the entire mess. Find single items that can be thrown away or scanned and put into an electronic file.  If there's an item on your desk that hasn't been used in two days, file it away.
 
Organize your Outlook mail folder.  Delete and answer those emails that can be done so immediately.  After that prioritize the rest into time sensitive needs and create folders for those needed for future reference.  Utilize Outlook's calendar function to set yourself reminders rather than jotting down on a legal pad or post it note.

There are a lot of resources out there to help you de-clutter.  Do a Google search and you will be inundated with a whole mix of links to websites, blog posts and books to provide you the wherewithal to accomplish your task.  Follow this link for a very informative article on WebMd to help get you started.

In the end, clutter control is a mindset.  Whether it's an important purchase, an impulse buy, or a scribbled down phone number.  Begin to think in regards to items helping you fulfill your life's purpose, not the other way around.

Habit One: Prioritization

"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."

-Benjamin Franklin

A well-known professor at a university is giving a pre-exam lecture on time management.  On his desk is a bag of sand, a bag of pebbles, some big rocks and a bucket.  After introducing his items to the class he asks for a volunteer to come forward and place all three smaller items into the bucket.   One of his clever students duly steps up to carry out the task, starting with the sand, then the pebbles, then the rocks, which do not all fit in the bucket.

"This is an analogy of poor time management," declares the lecturer, "If you'd have put the rocks in first, then the pebbles, then the sand, all three would have fit. This is much like time management, in that by completing your biggest tasks first, you leave room to complete your medium tasks, then your smaller ones. By completing your smallest tasks first you spend so much time on them you leave yourself unable to complete either medium or large tasks satisfactorily.”

The lecturer then re-fills the bucket, big rocks first, then pebbles, then sand, shaking the bucket between each so that everything fits.

Unfortunately I can’t lay claim to the above analogy but I think it’s a strong illustration.  Often times making your day fit into your finite schedule can seem like a Herculean task.  While you toil away at a sluggish pace with your output, your inbox continues to grow faster than the national debt.  It’s not a matter of working harder; it’s a matter of working smarter.   An easy way to overcome this is to be prepared and simply make yourself a list of priorities starting with the largest matters first and working your way to the smallest.

Prioritizing your tasks for the day or week removes what I like to call activity anxiety.  That feeling you get at night when you’re trying to fall asleep but unable because of an uneasiness thinking that you are forgetting something very important.  As I relate this article to Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, making a priority list helps you become what Stephen calls being proactive instead of reactive.   You’re choosing to act rather than be acted on. 

So when do you plan?  Making a plan as early as possible is the key to taking advantage of what limited time we are given.   Remember, there is no such thing as “extra time”.  Don’t tell yourself you will do it when you get an extra minute or two.   Take thirty minutes at the end of your day and make a plan for tomorrow.   Again, be proactive, remove your activity anxiety and be free to relax with a clear mind once you get home, ensuring you will be fresh to tackle any items on your list the next day.