Focus on Cleanups
By Gary Lockwood We all have messes in our lives. If you
have stacks of paper around your desk, you have a
mess. When you procrastinate on an incomplete
project, it is a mess. Each time you drag out
making an important decision, you have another
mess.
Messes are situations of
disorder, conflict and incompletion. Consciously
and subconsciously, your mind keeps coming back
to these messes. They cause you to be distracted,
lose energy, break concentration and reduce your
confidence. These loose ends can include
finances, relationships, your workspace, physical
well-being, agreements and legal contracts.
We donšt create a mess on
purpose. It just happens. We get busy and put off
making that important change in our office. We
dread taking that unpleasant action and delay it
again and again. We allow an off-hand comment to
go without a response because we donšt want to
deal with a confrontation.
On each of these occasions, we
leave behind a situation that is unresolved.
Throughout the day, day after day, week after
week, our minds wander back to the mess. Because
your mind keeps processing this complication, you
do not fully concentrate on the truly important
work at hand. Often, self-doubt sets in, causing
us to question ourselves. All this eats up your
energy and can make you feel weary. When you hear
people say they are mentally exhausted, you can
bet they have messes.
When you clean up an unresolved
predicament, then it stops stealing brain cycles.
When you resolve the situation, you can move on
to new opportunities. Each time you clean up a
mess, you increase concentration, confidence and
energy.
So how do you go about this
cleanup? Here are a few tips... The first
requirement is to recognize the messes. So often,
we keep plugging away at our lives without
realizing that wešre devoting lots of time and
energy just coping with all these unresolved
issues. In my business coaching practice, Išll
frequently see clients lugging around twenty or
thirty messes that are complicating their lives.
When we begin articulating these loose ends, we
often discover that some can be cleaned up in a
matter of hours or even minutes.
Herešs a good exercise to
start making you consciously aware of your
cleanup opportunities. On a piece of paper, draw
two lines that divide the sheet of paper into
four sections. In one section, write down all the
projects that you have started, but not yet
completed. This should include small and large
projects at home and at the office.
In another section, note the
projects you have not started yet. These are the
ones that you have been thinking about or
considering, but have not taken any action. Use
the third section for tasks that you are not
doing, but want to start. These may include
things like blocking off some quiet time each
day, call a few key clients, write a letter,
balance the checkbook, exercise or read to your
children.
In the fourth section of your
sheet of paper, identify the things you would
like to change. This may include tasks you would
like to stop doing, the organization of your
staff, your working hours, or the technology you
have in place.
Everything you have written in
the four sections of this paper represent an
opportunity for cleanup. Some may be quick and
easy. Do those right away. Others may take
awhile. Choose one or two to tackle this month.
If you clean up a mess a month, you will see and
feel a tremendous difference in your attitude,
energy and ability to focus.
Herešs another exercise that
will help eliminate the messes. On another sheet
of paper, write down the things that you are
tolerating. We all have things we are putting up
with. We endure that sticky computer key because
we donšt want to bother fixing it. We condone an
insolent staffer because itšs so much trouble to
replace them. We allow a supplier to make
consistently late deliveries because we donšt
want the confrontation.
Most of us discover that we
have quite a list of tolerations. There are two
ways to remove a toleration from the list. One
way is to decide once and for all that we really
want it this way. We prefer it. We embrace this
situation and are happy the way it is.
The other way to get a
toleration off the list is to take action. Donšt
put up with it anymore. Do something about it.
Get rid of the problem. Notice that I donšt say
this is easy. Some of these things have been
around a long time and take some work and tough
decisions to fix. Yet, here again, when you stop
abiding by unacceptable situations, you increase
your peace of mind, concentration, confidence and
energy.
Clearly, cleaning up messes and
eliminating the things you tolerate are major
steps toward simplifying your life at work and at
home. The world is a complicated, messy place in
which to live. Donšt make it any harder by
piling on more obstacles.
Take stock of your
opportunities for cleanup. Take action to
simplify your life. Clean up those loose ends.
Target a mess a month and feel your energy and
attitude soar.
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Gary
Lockwood is a Business Coach. Gary helps business
owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals get all
they really want from their business,
professional practice or job.
Office: (800) 272-1575, Fax: (760) 770-0868
E-mail: Gary@BizSuccess.com * http://www.bizsuccess.com
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