Until recently, I never heard of or was aware that there was a National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Once I received the news, I knew I had to teach and write about the three types of clutter that kill creativity.
Number 1 and the most important: SPIRITUAL CLUTTER
People teach about the importance of mindset, especially coaches. However, I am a firm believer that everything starts with a healthy and strong spirit. This means you cannot allow yourself to dwell in shame, regret, negativity, or pessimism. All of these are rooted in self-doubt and cause you to feel so heavy that you struggle to move forward, take risks, and be innovative. This is why maintaining a healthy and strong spirit is imperative to living a life of purpose. For me, the best strategy to stay spiritually clutter free is what I call the "fill your cup first method."
"Fill Your Cup First," means I start each day BEFORE my son gets up. I wake up early enough to have a cup of coffee in the QUIET and CALM of the morning. I then take time to review my daily devotional, read from my current book, set my intentions for the day, and then pray. Your "fill your cup first method," might be completely different, all that it requires is that you dedicate time to YOU and filling your spirit BEFORE you start pouring into your family or career. Ironically spiritual clutter, unlike the others I will discuss, is not about "removing" as much as it about consistently protecting.
Number 2 and the place that protects your PEACE: HOME CLUTTER
It seems like a no brainer, but you would be surprised at the number of people who don't understand the importance of having and maintaining an orderly and tidy home. I mean my goodness there is a best-selling book literally about picking up after yourself. So here is what I recommend. First up, remember your home is your safe space, so treat it accordingly. Do deep cleaning a min of once a week, but maintain it every day. Also, create a simple strategy for recurring tasks like laundry, grocery shopping, and errands. Also, EVERYTHING should have a place. This is also a productivity hack because you're removing one of the biggest time wasters…" looking for things." And my favorite way to remove home clutter….PURGE, PURGE, and then PURGE some more. Creativity requires and demands space.
Number 3 and the hardest for most: DIGITAL CLUTTER
Digital clutter has become the biggest hindrance to creativity because it feels impossible to escape. After all, we use technology for almost everything. Therefore boundaries and settings become imperative to make sure our digital clutter doesn't overtake us. With that being said, the first place I highly recommend is to deal with that 3,534 count on your inbox.
And here's how;
Most of those are JUNK or stuff that you will NEVER open. So you can either sit down and go through each one and delete or select all and delete in one sweep! Yes, I know it seems scary, but be honest with yourself…you are NOT going to read it and it's not important.
Stop checking emails as they come in. How? Turn off ALL notifications on your phone and computer. YOU determine when you will check email, and I highly recommend no more than twice daily. I check it once a day and dedicate an hour to responding and delete the unnecessary.
Finally, the only emails you will find in my inbox, are those that require some research or an attachment that I would need to create. An email in my inbox, is an uncompleted task, in other words, it has a purpose for being there.
Those are three quick tips to deal with email. Yet email is just the surface. The apps on your phone are creativity killers. So what's my recommendation? DELETE the ones you are not using. ORGANIZE them into categories. And the final one might stretch your will power…I want you to set TIMERS for your social media apps. YIKES, I know…you are worried about your business…and friends…and FOMO….Again, apps are KILLING YOUR CREATIVITY so do whatcha gotta do.
Lastly, here is my FINAL tip for removing CLUTTER for my spirit, my home, and my digitals…
I set downtime for my phone. That's right, from the hours of 7 pm-8 am I do NOT receive any calls, texts, notifications, and my apps don't work. I only receive calls and/or texts from those in my favorites and ONLY if they call back to back within 2 minutes. This allows me to be FULLY present as I wind day my day, eat dinner with the kid, and prepare my mind, body, and spirit to REST.
Oh and if you didn't know….REST is the match that ignites the CREATIVITY needed to be successful and PURPOSEFUL!
WHO AM I?
I’m Kandis Troutman, The Creative Architect. I'm a mother, teacher, and spiritual seeker focused on purpose walking and serving others. I help women activate their God given power so they can transform their purpose into a prosperous business.
Thanks for reading my post. I try to publish new posts weekly, but I believe in leaving room for God, which means there are no guarantees. But check in often and let me know what content awakens your spirit and I’ll be more than happy to share my experiences.
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