Let your brain declutter – and clarity ensues

I’ve not posted for a while. In fact, last month was the first time I’d not posted anything since I started this blog over five years ago.

There are extenuating circumstances.

As some of you will know, I left my CEO job last month, and June was spent finishing off some important tasks as well as handing over to my successor. Along the way I have learned a few important lessons.

In the process of writing up hand over notes, I discovered that some of what I did I did not really need to do myself (directly), and that my delegation skills (which I thought were OK) needed some work.

It’s a bit like moving house. You find all this stuff you’ve kept over the ensuing years, and you really don’t know why you’ve kept it.

Whole drawers of drop files were thrown out. Why was I hoarding all this stuff? I rarely, if ever, opened those drop files, so what were they doing there? An important lesson learned. I also found that I did way too many tasks that really could have been palmed off to someone else. They weren’t all that time consuming, but as I’d initiated them, I’d carried on doing them, and could have hand-balled them way earlier.

I then had a week of catching up with about 18 different people (drank a lot of coffee), that I had been putting off til I had the time to do so. Then we had a family holiday in the sun.

Two weeks on, and I return to my blog, loaded with ideas. It’s amazing how the brain can get creative when you remove all the clutter from your life. All the stuff you do, and take on, because you can, but when you step back, should you really be doing it at all? It makes for a busy life, but is it as productive as it could be?

A week in the sun also helps put things into perspective. After a few days trampling through a national park, lolling on the beach or watching the sun set over a cool beer, your brain tends to do what it does so well – ideas come, and you see things with clarity. Things that annoyed you recede.

Cramming your brain with too much meaningless minutiae reduces its capacity to operate. Ever wonder why you get your best ideas in the car, or on a plane, or even on the toilet? It’s because, without the constant distraction of the bustling office, or emails or social media, the brain can breathe and function. (Life tip – don’t take the smartphone with you into the toilet.)

Paul McCartney kept a notepad by his bed, and often would wake up with a great tune, or the start of a classic song as he nodded off. He’d scribble it down, so he’d capture the thought. These days I use the virtual equivalent Evernote, which is an online app and website where I can capture all my thoughts, notes, drafts and to do lists. I can open it up anytime I think of something, and can access it from anywhere – on the plane, in the departure hall, on the platform. I’ve been making Evernote work overtime these past 2 weeks. It’s my external brain. A hard drive of information I can upload to, and download from, whenever I want.

So, to those of you in full time management and leadership roles, I would urge you to organise your day with some time for emptiness. It’s not wasted time. It will be productive, because only when you declutter your life and brain, does clarity ensue.

Photo: Sunset over Mindil Beach, Darwin ~