Natural Entrepreneur: Clear Your Clutter!

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Clear Your Clutter!

Work less and prosper more

by Peg Donahue, Feng Shui Connections, Windham, NH

If you would like to work less and prosper more, clear clutter from your workspace regularly. Your desk is a great place to start. Take everything off the top of it. Wash it down and then selectively put back the items that you are using and those give you pleasure. Put everything else away. Do this weekly.

Clutter. We all have it. At the most simplistic level it is defined as anything that you don’t use or anything you don’t love. Nothing more.

It’s fine to spread your work out each day and open your creative channels. Periodically though, you and your business will benefit by consolidating everything and beginning with a clear slate. Open space brings opportunity with it … opportunity to grow your business.

Look around your office and scan your business. What does it look like and how does it feel? Are you using everything? If you don’t use something, do you keep it around because you really love it?

If you have things around that you don’t use or you don’t love, you can boost your business by clearing the excess. You might be thinking, “I’d like to, but I don’t have time.” Actually, you don’t have time not to. The more clutter you keep around, the harder you have to work. So, clearing and reenergizing your space is a fabulous way to work less and prosper more.

In her book, Organizing From the Inside Out, Julie Morgenstern states that

Americans waste 9 million hours/day searching for misplaced items
US Executives lose 6 weeks/year (1 hour/day) searching for information on messy desks and files
Purchases related to disorganization cost 15-20% of your annual budget (duplicates, premium prices, finances)

Think about it. An hour a day could give you time to spend doing something you love, be with your family, exercise, take a class or whatever you choose. Fifteen to 20% of your budget could be the difference between losing money and breaking even, or breaking even and making a profit. Your time and profits are tied up in the stuff that surrounds you.

What do you see when you first walk into your business or your office? Is the message positive and uplifting? Perhaps it is soothing and calming. Does it reinforce why you are in business? If not, your perspective could be clouded or blocked. Consider changing your view. The message you receive when you first walk in sets the tone.

What do you have on your walls? Do you love the colors and images? Do they represent where you are or where you are headed, or do they represent where you’ve been? Do they make you feel great? If not, update them.

How about the areas that are hidden away …either behind doors or in a back room somewhere? Perhaps you even pay for storage elsewhere. What are you storing and why? Is it useful to you? If not, let it go. What you can’t see does matter.

Often we hold onto things out of fear. We are afraid that we don’t have enough or that we will need “it” someday. Fear locks us in place. When we hold onto things we don’t need, we feed feelings of scarcity and lack. As a result, scarcity and lack are mirrored back to us. It’s a basic law of energy. Here’s another approach: trust that everything you need comes to you when you need it. You might purchase it, someone might hand it to you, a new client comes in, it might be a new idea, whatever. Try it. Trust the process.

I continually hear from people about how liberating it is to remove things from your space (and therefore your life) that you don’t love or you don’t use. Doing so helps to shift your energy and your focus. It frees you up from things that may be bogging you down. It also creates some open space -- which is great for clarity and simply allowing new things and new opportunities to take shape.

When clearing clutter, I recommend that you begin with the easy things. Toss out your trash. Next set aside things that you don’t care for, that someone else might be able to use. Then begin to tackle the harder things-- items that you don’t use or love that may begin to surface memories. These things will take longer. If you clear things out in layers, the process gets easier.

Clearing clutter is very liberating and autumn is a wonderful time to free yourself from the clutches of your possessions. You’ll lighten your load, uplift your emotions and put yourself and your business on a path towards positive change. Once you start, get ready for new possibilities to come your way. Prepare yourself for wonderful changes.

Peg Donahue of Feng Shui Connections (603-537-9954 or www.fengshuiconnections.com) consults with people in businesses and homes to help create supportive living and working environments. She also teaches and lectures on feng shui throughout the area.

Upcoming Events

Feb 21 (8-9:30a): NH Forum on the Future, NHHTC, CR Sparks, Bedford, NH

March 1 (6:30-8:30p): Women's Business Center and MicroCredit-NH Networking Event, Bank of America, Portsmouth, NH

March 6 (10a-noon): Growth Capital Resources in New Hampshire, City of Nashua, Office of Economic Development, Daniel Webster College, Nashua, NH

March 8: (12pm -1pm) Break the Rules and Close More Sales, Amoskeag Business Incubator, Manchester, NH

March 16: Peak Pitch (pitch your plan to invstors on the chairlift), Mt. Sunapee, NH ($)

March 22: Breaking Trends in Web Develoment, UVCIA, Hanover, NH ($)

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