Freshen up the place, why dont'cha!
One way to induce creativity?
Re-organize your space.
It’s quite an understatement to say that we’ve all spent WAY too much time in our homes over the past year.
I’m sure that you’ve familiarized yourself with every nook and cranny in your home like never before. I know I have - and I already was a bit of a homebody before the pandemic!
Towards the end of 2020, I came to the conclusion that my home office needed a massive cleanup.
I had shit everywhere and it felt claustrophobic.
It wasn’t in complete disarray - I mean, everything was organized, but there simply was too much stuff everywhere - and a lot of it hasn’t been touched in years.
I started by donating a couple sets of lights to a non-profit organization. That one small thing opened up a massive can of worms - the good worms, :)
From there, I ended up reorganizing the entire office and that opened up space that I didn’t even know existed in there!
When it was all said and done, I was so thrilled at how open and spacious the room became that I was inspired to do more in the apartment.
How much more?
Over the next month, I re-visited every single room in my apartment, as well as every closet and shelf, too, with the goal of opening up more space.
In addition to donating clothing that didn’t fit me anymore, I also threw out bag after bag of shit that no longer served any purpose whatsoever.
Clothes. Equipment. Books. Tools. Keepsakes that I no longer wanted to keep. Nothing was off limits.
Day-after-day, I would go ahead and evaluate something that’s been untouched and go to town on it.
I’ve spent hours and hours on this reorganization project, and lemme tell you, carrying all this shit up and down three flights of stairs also builds in a nice workout component to the project, to boot, :)
In addition to the cleanup job, I also revisited the artwork - or lack thereof - on my walls.
This is a long-term project that’s still in progress, but I've done a lot of updating over the past month or so, and it’s breathed new life into a space that I’ve lived in for over 11 years.
Oftentimes at night, I open up a closet and see how organized it is now and a wave of happiness washes over me. It may seem silly, but when you spend the majority of your day in a place, it’s important that it feels good to be there.
Wanna know the kicker?
Although I’ve spent a gigantic amount of time re-organizing every square foot of my apartment, it hasn’t negatively affected my work productivity.
In fact, it’s done the opposite.
I’ve gotten a ton of work completed in a record amount of time!
How did this happen?
Motivation and focus.
By accomplishing the intention of resetting my space in a way that is more open and spacious, I now feel more motivated and focused to sit in that space to work because I simply feel more comfortable. It also looks prettier in here, too, and that goes a long way to inspire motivation to work.
Plus, the new artwork on the walls is fun to gaze at while I’m ruminating on a thought, and for visually oriented folks like me, that slight edge helps keep me on task.
Once I get everything I want on the walls, I’ll take pictures and share it with you.
But, until then, if you find yourself currently in a creative rut, think about taking the time to reorganize your home.
Start with one shelf. Start small and let the momentum to do more build inside you. And then, see where it takes you.
The experience, and the results, will give you a much-needed shot of life that will help snap you back into the present moment to get shit done...and done well.
Give it a go and let me know how it goes!
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