Invest the Time AND Change Things for the Better

When I have a big project to work on I start by cleaning up my work area. Be it my office or studio, what works for me is to reorganize, clear up, put away and clear the decks. It gets my juices flowing, it sets the stage for me to work from a fresh perspective, and it reminds me that what I do is important enough to have a nice place to do it.

There is nothing worse than wasting time trying to find things needed to get the job done while your new ideas are hot in your head ready to go. If it takes too long gathering and preparing the energy level dwindles and soon what was a fabulous idea has been beaten down by mundane tasks. And how sad it is when that idea fades and is hardly visible because the energy to get started took up all your fuel.

One gift the global pandemic gave us was a fresh perspective on our spaces. Suddenly we were home all the time and there was time to sit, reflect and think about what we want out of the places where we live and work. I can’t tell you how many people I know who cleaned out closets, basements, attics and rearranged their spaces in order to better live their lives. Being able to order and arrange the places where you live to your own likings and needs changes everything. Want a better view on a room, rearrange it. Want to feel better about yourself in the clothes you wear, clean out your closet. Want to eat better, feel better, sleep better, clean up and clear out the ‘stuff’ that is weighing down your mental ability to think freely. “Don’t agonize, organize”.

This may sound like a round about way to get people to straighten things up, and that may be true. Yet there is a reason why we enjoy before and after photos of spaces and places. Seeing hard work putting things into a better space lifts all sorts of things within our souls. We are greatly impacted by the spaces we occupy so why not take that frustration, anger or even depression and put it into a menial task like cleaning up. Just one thing, move or clear out one thing. Make the long procrastinated decisions and get that stuff out of your space and let someone else find a use for it in their world. What you do is important enough to invest that time AND change things for the better.