Welcome to Day 3 in our Clutter-Free Challenge.
After seeking God’s help with this de-cluttering process, the next
step on our Clutter-Free journey deals with minds. I’ll venture to say
75% or more of our clutter problems aren’t because we don’t work hard
enough, or that our homes are too small or our children are messy.
Most of our problems start because we can’t think through what needs to
be done. We can’t get our minds under control. We can’t make
decisions. We are on mental overload.
Do you know that feeling?
For years, I lived with an ongoing sense that I should be doing
something all the time. It ate at me. Even when I was focused on
something important, there was a latent unease about what else I should
be doing. It was an underlying anxiety that hung around, even when
there was no pressing deadline or responsibility. It caused stress and
lack of sleep.
It wasn’t until I read David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done,
that I discovered a reason for this tension. It seems our brains
aren’t designed to store and manage all of the information, deadlines
and demands that swirl around us at all times.
Allen writes, “The big problem is that your mind keeps reminding you
of things when you can’t do anything about them. It has no sense of past
or future. That means that as soon as you tell yourself that you need
to do something, and store it in your RAM (your mind), there’s a part of
you that thinks you should be doing that something all the time.”
It was a head-slapping moment when I read those words. That was it!
Allen goes on to explain that the first step to finding a solution is to
get everything out of your mind and store it somewhere safe. Not the
“safe” place you stored an important document at home, and now can’t
find. But somewhere close at hand.
I realized my mind was trying to manage more stuff than it could
hold, and one to-do list wasn’t the answer because it wasn’t keeping
things in safe places.
With that in mind, I’m going to ask you to do something painful. Not
as painful as stepping on a scale, but close. I want you to take a
personal assessment of all your responsibilities, projects, priorities
and tasks. Everything. Get it out of your mind and onto one notepad or
spiral notebook – this will likely take more than one page, and that’s
okay. If you have multiple to-do lists somewhere, combine them into
this one list. Leave this list where you can see it morning, noon and
night for a few days.
On this list write down everything you need to get done. You might
start with your home and add repairs, cleaning projects or laundry.
Write down things you need to do for your family, such as make a dentist
appointment, write a letter to a teacher or take clothes to the dry
cleaning. Then move on to other areas of your life: church, community
involvement, sports teams, etc. Include big projects and little things,
like errands and emails that need to be sent. Nothing is too small to
include.
You might want to dedicate one page for future projects, such as
planning this summer’s vacation or researching colleges with your
daughter. Another page might contain things you want to do years from
now, but you don’t want to forget.
If you are employed, you might want to keep those responsibilities separate.
This process will take you days. If it helps, you can organize this
list however you see fit now, or just write things down as they come to
mind. It’s okay if there is no order to it. Actually trying to
organize it now might hinder you if you are a perfectionist. You might
not leave yourself enough room in a certain category and then you’ll be
frustrated.
For now, capture it all on paper. Don’t be surprised if you feel a
bit panicky at how much you have to do. Just take a deep breath and ask
for God’s peace. You will feel a sense of relief soon. Even if you go
no further in this Clutter-Free journey, I promise you will feel better
after this step is done. You’ll feel lighter.
Hold on to that list. Add to it. We’ll get back to it in a few days
when I tell you how to use this list to create a project management
planner. I think that’s enough for one day, don’t you?
Tomorrow I’ve got a tip for helping to de-clutter your mind even
more. I think you’ll be surprised at what I’ve discovered multi-tasking
can do to your brain.
Until then …
Grace & Peace,
Glynnis
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me so much responsibility.
It shows Your trust in me. Help me to be a good steward of the
assignments You have given me. Help clear the clutter in my mind as I
work through this exercise. Bring things to mind that You want me to
remember. It feels overwhelming to me right now, but I know with Your
help, I can manage this. In Jesus name, Amen.
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