Productivity Tip – Are You Creating Space for New Ideas?

My office cleaning service sucks. (That would be me.)  Cleaning my office doesn’t help me serve my clients, so it’s the last thing on my to-do list.

I’m not a hoarder by any stretch, but eventually the clutter catches up with me. The light bulb finally went on: a messy office creates visual clutter, which turns into mental clutter. Mental clutter prevents me from serving clients because I can’t concentrate.

So I hired a friend who really likes to clean and organize stuff. She turned my business storage room into a fully functional, organized space where I can actually find stuff. She did the same thing for my extensive reference library.

While she was organizing, I was purging. Stuff I no longer needed. Materials that were great when I used them ten years ago, but are now outdated. Along the way, I found a few gems to keep – “I’ve been LOOKING for that!”  However, for the most part, it was an exercise in clearing out the clutter.

You know what?

As I cleared out the physical clutter, the mental clutter was being tossed as well.  What a liberating sensation! My brain felt better too.

I’ve created space. In my physical world and in my mind.

Now I have room for new things – new ideas, new tools, new service offerings for my clients.

What do you need to purge so you’ll have room for “new things”?