FINDING FOCUS IN THE CHAOS: Part Three
An email series to help you with the overwhelm - simplify, simplify, simplify!
Hello you!
Yesterday I tried to bust the myth that creative people don’t need structure, today, let’s blow up the idea that being tidy and organised is somehow at odds with being creative!
A tidy, focused workspace and efficient digital and admin systems really dial down the overwhelm and help you to create more focus by removing distractions, creating mental clarity, and improving your productivity—particularly when creative people usually thrive in environments that support focus and flow to both develop ideas and get stuff done.
This doesn’t mean minimalism or having no stuff (as you can see from the photo I have quite a lot of notebooks!) it just means organised, things at hand, space to work and move about and also digitally, knowing where things have been stored and deleting what isn’t required anymore.
Clutter, both physical and digital, can subtly (or not so subtly) drain your energy, creating a background of low-level stress that will hinder creativity and contributes to feelings of overwhelm.
Not to mention how much disorganisation of this kind actually costs us precious time, over and over again, as we can’t find what we need when we need it or we have to clear up[ physical spaces like desks etc in order to get down to work.
One client I had, had a studio so cluttered and chaotic that it cost her money because not only did she keep replacing supplies that she couldn’t find, but, once she had got to grips with it all, she realised she needed a smaller space to work in and store her stuff and made a plan to move somewhere smaller and cheaper!
ACTION:
PHYSICAL - make a plan to start tackling physical clutter and disorganisation. Your plan could have you blocking off a big chunk of time to sort this if you have a chunk of time and that doesn’t feel too much, or committing to spending 15 minutes a day until it’s done. It’s actually amazing how much you get done when you set a timer and… go! You might want to throw things out, shred old paper work, get some organisational furniture to help you keep and care for your stuff. There’s a lot of info online about decluttering and workspace organisation but try not to go down a rabbit hole! Set a timer for 15 minutes if you need some input, do some quick research and then create your plan for creating a more productive workspace.
DIGITAL - Things you might want to do here include deleting emails. unsubscribing to emails or apps and systems you don’t use, turning off notifications and pop ups, organising your documents and images into folders, backing up all your files, deleting old project folders, unfollowing people on social media. Take this task by task or just commit to a small amount of time each day until you are decluttered and reorganised.
What can you commit to doing? When will you get started?
With love until tomorrow,
A digital declutter sounds good. I have emails and apps I don't need 🙃