It was a dark Friday evening and I had just returned from the Hustlersquare and Jaggynation orphanage outreach program. I was severely fatigued from the immense stress borne all week that involved work stress and traffic shuffle and could not wait to take a shower and just drift off into rest. It was a dark night and there was little to no light to make the profile of the keyhole on my door. Luckily, I slotted in my key on the first try and the door responded by opening easily without issue or complaint. The darkness that greeted me into the living room was so thick that I could cut it with a knife but I proceeded to navigate my way to a light switch considering that I knew my way around perfectly. I was mentally close to the light switch when the unexpected happened; I lifted my right leg and suddenly crashed it hard into an item of furniture that I did not know was going to be in the way. It was a shattering bang and my sheen was aching so bad. It was at that moment I remembered that I had a mobile phone with a torchlight that I could have used all along.
Well, I got up, struggled to the switch, turned on the light to reveal the culprit of my downfall… it was a wooden side stool with a glass top. The stool’s glass top was shattered and the wooden frame damaged, my sheen was bleeding and I was in pain. I initially wanted to throw a fit till I remembered how the stool got to that position in the first place. The thing was, I had been casually reading the previous night and used the stool to prop my leg up while I reclined on my sofa. When I was done using it, I was too lazy to clear the space of it and just assumed I would do it later. The fact that this new piece of furniture was out of place in my seemingly perfectly organized living room made it difficult for me to identify its location during my walk in the darkness. Sadly, the pain I felt was immense, the destruction to the stool was bad, the alteration to my initial plan to rest the night away was devastating and the financial and health implication of the aftermath of the accident were all disturbing, and guess what, all these side-effects would have been avoided if I had just put the wooden side stool with the glass top away. A one-minute decluttering activity would have saved me an entire weekend of pain and regret.
It is interesting to note that just like the randomly existing stool in my perfectly arranged living room that suddenly turned my life on its head, we have some existing attitudes, traits, practices, and burdens that obey these same principles in our lives, business, health, and relationships. Permit me to call these things “Clutter”. Clutter according to the Oxford dictionary is a collection of things lying in an untidy state. Clutter though seemingly harmless on its own has the propensity of causing us the greatest of hurt or harm. It is therefore expedient that we tackle this menace with all seriousness and intention as it has the ability to crumble years of effort and investments in one fell swoop. Clutter is clearly evident around us and they are those little things that we seldomly take for granted. However, the good news is that, with deliberate acts and effort, we can get rid of clutter and lead our lives and ventures successfully and without drag.
For the purpose of this piece, I will be focusing on business-related clutter that affects our efficiency and productivity. The first step to handling clutter in any facet of life is to IDENTIFY that it actually exists. Clutter is a natural by-product of stress and this can stem from having too much to do, and not knowing how to simplify schedules. The fact is, when you are over-cluttered, you inherently know. There is this sense of loss, constant fatigue, increased effort with reduced outcome. These all point to clutter in workflow and business processes. Taking an example of the Hustlersquare Instagram handle, the page though effective was experiencing clutter in the presentation and styling of posts and content. The reach of the page suffered even though the post frequency was steady. This realization led to a rethink.
The next step is to SIMPLIFY the clutter. Now, simplifying clutter actually starts from the point where we accept that we have an issue. This realization launches us into a state of ‘rethink’ with a deep-seated desire for change. Clutter is not built instantly; it gradually creeps in, stifling mobility and growth and this truth is fundamental to also handling it through simple process changes. Simple process changes go a long way in restoring balance to the flow of activities and businesses in this case. Taking a cue from the Hustlersquare and Jaggynation Instagram model again, the simple process changes came in the form of a change of the Instagram profile page making the contents of the bio less wordy and more presentable. This singular move led to greater page interaction and growth. By eliminating the extra and irrelevant details to the page, attention was properly shone on the true information that the page intended to disseminate.
Finally, the last step is to AVOID further clutter. Avoiding clutter is the last and fundamental process to decluttering as we intentionally seek to break the cycle. The deliberate effort to move to a lean system of process management requires the avoidance of unnecessary processes, activities, and patterns that have the tendency to increase wastage of effort and time. It is necessary to at every point in time, identify the steps required to attain optimum productivity with the least wastage of resources. Always stick to the goals just as practiced in the Hustlersquare and Jaggynation community. Make clear and achievable plans and do your best to crush them every time with the least amount of waste to resources.
On this note, if you are not yet a member of the Hustlersquare Community and you desire sound skills to grow your online presence and enhance your business reach then, take a moment to join us now on any of our channels below;
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Cheers!
