How to Cut the Clutter
Welcome to another episode of Diary of a Worthy Pursuit, where we dive deep into the pursuit of a more intentional and purposeful life. In today’s episode, titled “How to Cut the Clutter,” we explore the importance of prioritizing essential tasks and decluttering not just our physical spaces, but also our mental and digital environments. Join us as our hosts, Speaker A and Speaker B, share insightful anecdotes, practical tips, and thought-provoking discussions on navigating the overwhelming noise of everyday life. From the challenges of saying no to unnecessary commitments to the power of aligning tasks with goals, we’ll explore the art of letting go and creating space for what truly matters. So grab a cup of tea, find a cozy spot, and let’s dive into this journey of simplifying and finding clarity in the pursuit of our most worthy goals. Welcome to Diary of a Worthy Pursuit.
Podcast Transcription:
Speaker A [00:00:06]:
So I’m sitting in front of my desk, and it is piled with all sorts of papers and lists and my lists of lists and the binder with that training and that book I’m supposed to read and That client’s material that I need to go through, and it was just the most overwhelming space in the world. And I’m talking about my desk when I was still working in kidding, and it was really representative of the way I felt my life was going. There were a lot of pieces here and there that were calling on my attention, but I couldn’t really focus on any one thing because there was too much in the periphery, too much surrounding me. So I really, in this situation, Jen, had to take it off piece by piece and process all of that. And while that felt like a huge undertaking, On the back end when I came in my office the next day and had a clean slate, it was so much easier to just go about the day and understand what was Important. So the practice of cutting the clutter is something we’re gonna talk about today.
Speaker B [00:01:08]:
Welcome to Diary of a Worthy Pursuit.
Speaker A [00:01:10]:
Where we talk about how to get what you truly want in life and in business.
Speaker B [00:01:13]:
You know, I had a business partner that her desk was serial killer neat. It was, Like
Speaker A [00:01:20]:
Was that creepy?
Speaker B [00:01:21]:
Surreal. Well, at first, it was creepy, but she was so organized. It was almost angelic. We’re just like, you can’t even be human
Speaker A [00:01:29]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:01:29]:
To be like that. It was it was cool. It’s something that I would love to achieve, but that was next level, probably few levels up from where I’m at.
Speaker A [00:01:37]:
Well and the desk, I think, is is a metaphor because it’s very physical, but I even think of this like the tabs on my Internet browsers. Mhmm. I mean, how many windows do I have open and how many tabs each of those have. And sometimes it’s very symbolic of all the things I’m trying to process in my brain. Like, I can’t lose that. I gotta come back to that. And I want this over here to come back to So you’re like, don’t close any of it. I need to have it accessible, and that’s just overwhelming.
Speaker B [00:02:04]:
Yeah. I’ve had that where my I had to reboot my computer, And you go into history in Chrome?
Speaker A [00:02:08]:
Yeah. And it
Speaker B [00:02:09]:
says you wanna reopen 44 tabs? Oh, nice. 44? Wow.
Speaker A [00:02:16]:
That’s a reality check. Like, the weight of that just sits
Speaker B [00:02:19]:
Oh my gosh. Yes. One of those. I always think, who is the person that said it was okay to have more than 1 tab open? Because at first, you’re thinking, hey. Multitasking. But 44 there should be a cap or something where once you get over 12, a little thing comes up and says, are you sure? Do you really need all this?
Speaker A [00:02:38]:
It’s kinda like the, the memory on your phone and it’s like, you really need to cut out some apps because I’m running out of space here. So, make some decisions. Yeah. You
Speaker B [00:02:49]:
can’t save it all.
Speaker A [00:02:50]:
Right. Exactly. Interesting. But I think we do this in our our physical spaces, but also in our mental spaces. Right? So especially as we’re staring down the barrel of the holiday season, I think it’s really important to evaluate. Just put a pause on things and say, what am I gonna focus on? Where what are the things that should have my energy, and what is just not important either in this season or in general that I can let Go of.
Speaker B [00:03:15]:
Oh, fair. I suppose, especially when you’re thinking about gift giving Yeah. You’re thinking of, like, I’m gonna give you more junk. It’s a sit on your desk, your Trinketty useless crap that you’ll feel too bad to get rid of or some stuff that’s just gonna take up space that when you die, I gotta clean up later.
Speaker A [00:03:32]:
Why is that at that, like, you can’t get rid of the gift. I we are hanging on to some candle that someone gifted my husband when he moved Cool. We’re not even in the house anymore.
Speaker B [00:03:51]:
The house is warm.
Speaker A [00:03:52]:
Yeah. We’re good. It’s warm for someone else now. So, yeah, It’s funny why we can’t let go of things, but also the, like, the toys are real. So you come into the holidays or come around birthdays. And all of this idea of, like, cutting the clutter. And especially in the physical space for me is like, can we just get rid of some of this? Because I know it’s inevitable. We’re gonna get more toys.
Speaker A [00:04:12]:
Mhmm. So can we just, like, moved some of it out so at least we have space or, god forbid, there’d be white space. What?
Speaker B [00:04:20]:
Oh, that sounds amazing.
Speaker A [00:04:21]:
Yeah. You
Speaker B [00:04:22]:
know, it’s interesting. 2 days ago, I was having a conversation with my kid. He wants to change bedrooms Okay. Which is Fine. In his existing bedroom, he does a really good job, keeping it clean because he doesn’t really cling to stuff
Speaker A [00:04:35]:
That’s great.
Speaker B [00:04:36]:
Like a lot of people do, like his dad. So he he’s really into baseball, and he loves getting signed baseballs or signed jerseys and stuff like that, but he doesn’t like it to keep it. He just likes it kind of as the winning thing. Like, I was able to get this famous person’s signature, and once he gets it, he’s like, okay. That’s cool. Like, Like, for example, we went to the Harlem Globetrotters
Speaker A [00:04:57]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:04:57]:
And he got signatures from all the Globetrotters on the basketball, and then we use that basketball and play pig outside.
Speaker A [00:05:03]:
Done. Yeah.
Speaker B [00:05:03]:
Like, it’s not in some frame thing.
Speaker A [00:05:05]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:05:06]:
So, anyways, I said, hey. We can change bedrooms, move bed, dresser, all that kind of stuff. What about all your baseball stuff? And he’s like, I don’t know. Whatever. It was so funny because there’s some people even that I know That have Star Wars action figures still in the packaging and stuff like that that they’re so connected Mhmm. To that Stuff that it would have been like, no. Right? We gotta frame it, get a humidor, all this kind of stuff. And my kid was just like, meh, whatever.
Speaker B [00:05:36]:
It’s like, oh, we can learn something from you.
Speaker A [00:05:38]:
Yeah. Absolutely. I wish I I strive to be more of that person who doesn’t need to hang on to the things for the emotional value and just have the memory, and the memory is enough. Right? But even in our you know, metaphorically then how that applies to our lives, like, There are things that I’m hanging on to that I am spending time on that aren’t worth it. Like, I was just thinking on my way here, I was scrolling through my podcast feed of, like, what am I gonna listen to today on my commute? And I have something like 30 podcasts in my podcast Speed. Oh. Why am I gonna listen
Speaker B [00:06:10]:
You just need 1.
Speaker A [00:06:11]:
To those 30 podcasts. Clearly, you just need 1. But as I was sitting here, you know, thinking, what am gonna use this space for it. I thought I’m collecting a lot of gurus. I heard, someone, Emily p Freeman, talk about this, and it really resonated with I’m collecting gurus, and I’m collecting them in podcasts. I’m collecting their lead magnets in my email or their email subscriptions or this store’s coupons or whatever. And so all these things are being thrown at me, but I’m not filtering out to say what’s important in this season so I can meaningfully connect with any, you know, any few, a handful of those things. Like, we know that we really can’t focus humans on more than 3 or 4 things at a time, and some people will say it’s 1.
Speaker A [00:06:54]:
Like, what’s the one thing that you can really focus on?
Speaker B [00:06:57]:
I would say it is 1.
Speaker A [00:06:58]:
Yeah. So It’s okay to clear that space and really give yourself time to really just dive deep and enjoy one thing, but all of those other things are still sitting on my brain, still in my feed. Like, why do I make myself scroll through all of this? Mhmm. Instead, if I just got rid of this, I’d save myself I’m in the scroll. There’s only 3 or 4 that I really listen to anyway. So what am I doing here?
Speaker B [00:07:21]:
Oh, what is the goal kinda thing? Yeah. Interesting. 40 how many podcasts?
Speaker A [00:07:26]:
33.
Speaker B [00:07:27]:
Holy god.
Speaker A [00:07:28]:
Right? I only know because it goes 3 across, and there were 11 rows
Speaker B [00:07:31]:
Woah. It’s amazing. And then each of those has multiple episodes.
Speaker A [00:07:36]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:07:36]:
So you’re talking layers, file cabinets, and podcast.
Speaker A [00:07:39]:
Many layers and layers and Layers. Oh. Yeah.
Speaker B [00:07:41]:
And that’s just your podcast feed.
Speaker A [00:07:42]:
And that’s just the podcast feed. Right? That’s so unnecessary.
Speaker B [00:07:45]:
Yeah. Holy cow.
Speaker A [00:07:46]:
Yeah. So I think the, what we’re coming down onto this decision fatigue. Right? It’s that idea that why am I wasting this mental energy on these things that don’t matter?
Speaker B [00:07:56]:
Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:07:57]:
And what’s even harder as at the beginning of the day, I might have a ton of energy, and I haven’t made a lot of decisions. So I’m like, I can make this. I don’t have a lot to sort through. It’s fine. And by the end of the day, you’re like, of all the I could eat, I’m gonna eat the chimichangas and all the chips and guac because I am just too tired of making the decisions that are gonna serve me.
Speaker B [00:08:14]:
You run out. Yeah. That’s why I wear black T shirts every day.
Speaker A [00:08:17]:
Right. It’s
Speaker B [00:08:17]:
like makes fun of me, but I’m like, it’s one less decision.
Speaker A [00:08:20]:
It’s the Steve Jobs weighted dress.
Speaker B [00:08:21]:
Yeah. Maybe a little bit classier than that. But
Speaker A [00:08:24]:
Can you do class it up?
Speaker B [00:08:25]:
We just look better than Steve Jobs. What are you gonna do? I don’t have cancer. Anyways, one of the things that I was thinking of Would be a great idea for somebody smarter than me is to come up with, Netflix or even on your your podcast, let’s say. If you just open up your phone and click the podcast button, in just middle of the podcast, it would start playing. Like, at this point right now, it would start playing this podcast, you’d be like, oh, this is interesting. You wouldn’t have to make a decision.
Speaker A [00:08:53]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:08:53]:
And you’re getting some cool stuff. Right? You already set it up. It’s just like the old radio stations Or the old radio where you just push your little the physical presets?
Speaker A [00:09:01]:
Uh-huh.
Speaker B [00:09:02]:
And you’re in the middle of a song, like, oh, I like this song.
Speaker A [00:09:04]:
Yeah. And then you keep it’s like Google’s Are you feeling lucky button? Or What
Speaker B [00:09:09]:
does that even do?
Speaker A [00:09:11]:
I don’t know, but I’d love to see the stats on how many people actually use that thing. Oh, okay. But Netflix has one too where it’s it’s rather than searching because how much time do people waste scrolling Netflix
Speaker B [00:09:21]:
on the screen
Speaker A [00:09:21]:
or fixing to watch. Yeah. I’ve done it before for the kids where I just select. Fact, it’s like, just randomly choose, and it will just put a show on. I’m like, thank goodness. What does that have to work? Yeah.
Speaker B [00:09:33]:
Okay. I don’t
Speaker A [00:09:33]:
know if it’s just a kid setting. I haven’t paid attention on the adult thing because, Clearly, I wanna choose what I’m watching. Alright.
Speaker B [00:09:39]:
I like the idea of it starting a movie or a show not at the very beginning where you have to see all the credits of people that you don’t know. Yeah. Wanna get in there 20 minutes in a row.
Speaker A [00:09:48]:
Me into the meat of the thing.
Speaker B [00:09:49]:
Where it’s just like, oh, I can figure out what happened before. We’re good.
Speaker A [00:09:52]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:09:52]:
Or you get kind of enthralled in it because it’s in the middle of an Action scene or middle of some cool dialogue or something like that. Mhmm. They’re not planting the seeds and all that.
Speaker A [00:09:59]:
Right. Well, it’s like the Get me to the 20% of the movie that matters.
Speaker B [00:10:04]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:10:04]:
Right? The other 80% is just the flow.
Speaker B [00:10:06]:
It’s just filler. You’re just making it 2 hours. Right. It’s just filler.
Speaker A [00:10:09]:
Character development, that’s That’s so overrated. But I think how this applies to our life is that we say sometimes we look at the 80/20 in business, and we say, what are the 20% of things that are producing 80% of the results? And we are better about looking at it in our business than we are in What’s taking up our energy?
Speaker B [00:10:29]:
Oh, yeah. Good point there.
Speaker A [00:10:30]:
You can
Speaker B [00:10:30]:
talk about just normal life.
Speaker A [00:10:32]:
Right. So even, like, your physical spaces, there’s plenty. There’s, like, Coal Industries around. How do you cut the clutter at home? Get rid of all the things. You don’t need to organize all the things. You need to declutter and get rid of some stuff Mhmm. Before you try to organize all this stuff.
Speaker B [00:10:45]:
Oh, yes. So I go running every morning. Mhmm. And I saw this house had the sign that says harvest. And my first thought was, where do they put that the other 9 months of the year? Right? They got a store that’s wooden sign. It’s 5 feet tall, and I can imagine the fights that that couple must have about that sign. And there was a time when I assume the wife just was at some crafty fair, and she’s like, what we need on our front door is a sign that says harvest. And she comes home with it or maybe the the husband was with her, and he’s like, we gotta fit that in the car.
Speaker B [00:11:21]:
And then she’s like, doesn’t this really bring the house together? Right? And I I think of a lot of decorations, holiday decorations like this. Like, you gotta store all that So
Speaker A [00:11:31]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:11:31]:
You gotta bring it out, and then you gotta put it away. It seems to me Yeah. Like, that is Crazy clutter to
Speaker A [00:11:39]:
me. Well, I think that other other cultures are much better at this. You know? Like, you think of especially folks who live in cities I have a girlfriend who lives in lived in downtown New York, now lives in downtown Chicago, and they don’t do a lot of decor because they don’t have a lot of storage.
Speaker B [00:11:53]:
Oh, sure.
Speaker A [00:11:54]:
And so it almost forces them to only keep the essentials, and the little things are you know, she can be trendy and be like, I’m gonna spend $100 on decorating this year, it. And then it all goes to Goodwill or whatever the thing. And so you’re like, that sounds extremely freeing. So I think that there was a time in my life, before I had children, where I would have said, yeah. That’s great. Let me pull the house together. Let me decorate all the things, and some people really get into that. And kudos if that’s thing.
Speaker A [00:12:20]:
But for me, it’s more about, gosh, there’s so much going on around the holidays. Decorating is one more thing.
Speaker B [00:12:26]:
Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:12:27]:
And so If I think about the experience that I wanna create, particularly the holidays, but really life in general, what do I care about getting out of this and being intentional? Okay. If we’re heading into Christmas, what’s the end result? What’s the experience? What do I wanna feel? What do I want my kids to feel? And then What really matters of that? It’s probably not like the merry Christmas or the Santa on the front lawn or whatever. It’s the experience they have or the it’s not the gift that they open. It’s the feeling of being with family. So
Speaker B [00:12:58]:
Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:12:59]:
That is a filter that has really helped me when you get in these crazy seasons and you try to keep up with everything that people are putting on their socials. Like, look at our beautiful lights, and look at all this pile of presents, and you’re like, well, that’s not really important. And cutting that out is so freeing, but you have to, like, Let it go first, and that’s a process.
Speaker B [00:13:18]:
Alright. Burn your harvest sign.
Speaker A [00:13:20]:
Burn it.
Speaker B [00:13:21]:
Let’s start over.
Speaker A [00:13:21]:
Have a bonfire instead. Making s’mores for the kids.
Speaker B [00:13:24]:
So what are your thoughts about Christmas trees?
Speaker A [00:13:26]:
We do real Christmas trees
Speaker B [00:13:28]:
Oh, okay.
Speaker A [00:13:29]:
Because I don’t store 1.
Speaker B [00:13:30]:
Okay.
Speaker A [00:13:30]:
But also because of the experience of going to cut down the Christmas It’s something that my kids thoroughly enjoy, and then we have a bonfire.
Speaker B [00:13:38]:
And then we have a bring it down. Okay. Yeah. Alright. Yeah. When I was a kid, We had a Christmas tree, and I remember being traditional fun thing.
Speaker A [00:13:45]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:13:46]:
Now I’m just like, oh, this is not what I wanna do on Saturday afternoon, put together this Hey.
Speaker A [00:13:52]:
Do you guys pull 1 up anymore?
Speaker B [00:13:54]:
Oh, we do. We do. That’s not if it was up to me, we would not.
Speaker A [00:13:58]:
Sure. Because because
Speaker B [00:13:59]:
you like, you gotta move the living room around, and then we have a fake one, so you have to figure out where the branches go. And it’s a hole.
Speaker A [00:14:05]:
I have more patients than I do. So That’s half the reason get the fake one because I don’t wanna move all the branches just so.
Speaker B [00:14:11]:
The new one, you gotta water it. Yeah. Or a new one. A real one. Yeah. And I don’t know. It’s just, what do we have? We stopped getting an, real one because we had the pan leak once, And we have hardwood floors, and that cost a lot of money.
Speaker A [00:14:29]:
I bet.
Speaker B [00:14:30]:
So I was one of those like, oh
Speaker A [00:14:31]:
I bet.
Speaker B [00:14:31]:
This is not bringing joy to the world at all. You gotta Get rid of this thing.
Speaker A [00:14:36]:
It would have been of ironic if you had, like, a joy to the world sign right as you’re fixing it. So you should’ve taken that picture.
Speaker B [00:14:42]:
Yeah. Not not cool. Not cool.
Speaker A [00:14:44]:
Well, another thing is we’re coming up on a really busy season, but you can do it any season of life, is just a calendar review. So that’s the idea of What are the things I’m spending my time on that are giving me the most return? And we should be doing this periodically anyway. But sometimes you see that I’m spending a lot of time on this one thing, and it’s not helping me hit the goals that I want. Now clearly, there’s things that you do just for the joy of it. Right? Like, we do we do our workouts in the morning because that’s something that we know is gonna fill our cup and taking care of our health, and it’s not maybe moving I mean, you could argue it’s moving your business or you’re showing up more sharp. And and you’re healthy, so you’re showing up as the best version of you. But at a surface level, you’re like, that’s not making me any money.
Speaker B [00:15:26]:
Not directly. Sure.
Speaker A [00:15:27]:
Right. So Just keep in mind that there are some things that you might keep that may not be affecting the bottom line, but are still good in the main, I guess, in the main scheme of things.
Speaker B [00:15:37]:
There’s a strategy.
Speaker A [00:15:38]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:15:38]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:15:39]:
But you might say, like, I am on events committees for 5 different holiday parties. That may not Necessary.
Speaker B [00:15:47]:
Wow. Are you really?
Speaker A [00:15:48]:
No. This isn’t simple. God, no. I never do that to myself.
Speaker B [00:15:51]:
You are
Speaker A [00:15:52]:
insane. Alright.
Speaker B [00:15:54]:
That would be crazy.
Speaker A [00:15:55]:
Are there other things that you’ve noticed on your calendar in the past few years where you’re like, this is just not serving me?
Speaker B [00:16:01]:
Yeah. I had, I put, this was from pandemic. There was an event that started that I came across. It was national networking That. That was, like, Monday afternoons or something like that. I put that on my calendar. And up until 3 months ago, it’s been on my calendar. I never once attended it.
Speaker B [00:16:23]:
So every week at, whatever, 1:30 on Monday, I would get this Bing, bang, bang. Right? Like, oh, what do I have going on today? And it would be this networking thing that when I first, found it and signed up for it, it sounds super cool. Right? Get to meet people all over the country. Remote. It’s magical. And I never once attended, so I had that thing on my calendar for probably close to 3 years. And I finally said you know, the interesting thing, and I wouldn’t say I’m proud of this. It kept Stuff from being scheduled over that time?
Speaker A [00:16:55]:
Sure.
Speaker B [00:16:56]:
So I would look at that thing and be like, oh, I got an hour and a half that is not already documented for something to So, usually, I could catch up with the stuff that I didn’t do before, but still every every week on On Monday
Speaker A [00:17:11]:
afternoon. Well so your self confidence, I would venture to say, is pretty high. So maybe you don’t struggle with this, but there’s certain folks that talk to, who every time that they create a time block that then they don’t honor Mhmm. They get this hit of, well, I’m not doing what I said I was gonna do. And there’s, like, this integrity hit of
Speaker B [00:17:28]:
That would be good. I could use that. Yeah. I I don’t. But
Speaker A [00:17:33]:
I think it’s one of those things where it just depends on who you are. But if you’re if you’re blocking something and then you’re not doing it, then you’re not practicing what you said was a priority. This was not priority for you, so that probably didn’t hit. But I think what’s interesting about that is that it took you 3 years to move that thing off.
Speaker B [00:17:49]:
Yeah. And I I think the reason is because of the freedom that it gave me. Yeah. When I knew because I didn’t even remember what website to go to. Like, I I didn’t put any of the information in the actual calendar thing. Mhmm. So that means that when it was telling me, hey. This is happening in 20 minutes or whatever, The work that I would have to do to actually find I don’t even know if the thing’s still going on.
Speaker B [00:18:09]:
It’s been years.
Speaker A [00:18:10]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:18:11]:
So it’s one of those like, oh, I’ll go to that next week.
Speaker A [00:18:15]:
So you just shifted it. This is James’ personal productivity time.
Speaker B [00:18:19]:
Yeah. And there was I mean, there’s always fires to put out
Speaker A [00:18:22]:
Absolutely.
Speaker B [00:18:22]:
Or something where, like, oh, I gotta do this, or I gotta procrastinate on this thing now.
Speaker A [00:18:27]:
Well, I think that that’s another important thing to keep in mind is that when you’re doing, like, calendar review or you’re looking at how you spend your time, we tend to overschedule our days, and we overestimate how much we can get done in a day. We underestimate we can get done in a year, but it’s important to leave some white space. And so if you are scheduled back to back to back and have all of these blocks, and you’re like, where am I gonna deal with those inevitable fires that come up? Where am I gonna have some space to, like, go take a walk? Because I I got a really frustrating email from a client, and I just need some space before I respond to this thing.
Speaker B [00:18:59]:
Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:19:00]:
You don’t have time to do those things, which will Serve your business in the long run.
Speaker B [00:19:04]:
You’re not supposed to respond right away and just I mean, you can write
Speaker A [00:19:07]:
it out. Just maybe don’t send it.
Speaker B [00:19:09]:
I’m still learning that. I’d luck out Fridays. I have a big red, don’t schedule anything here on Fridays.
Speaker A [00:19:15]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:19:15]:
But interestingly enough, Fridays are always crazy busy. Because Even though I don’t schedule anything?
Speaker A [00:19:21]:
Because you’re handling all those other things from home.
Speaker B [00:19:23]:
Yeah. You’re trying to play catch up? Yeah. Or you’re mopping up your inbox before the weekend? Mhmm. Or doing getting the podcast set to go, all that stuff that didn’t get either didn’t get scheduled or got scheduled and I actually didn’t do.
Speaker A [00:19:37]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:19:37]:
So failure in my party again.
Speaker A [00:19:38]:
But other things came up, and so you had to prioritize and move
Speaker B [00:19:41]:
along. Yeah. Yesterday, for example, I had a I had a employee. Her computer decided to give the blue screen a death.
Speaker A [00:19:47]:
Oh, no.
Speaker B [00:19:48]:
And so, like, you’re working remote. Right? So it’s not like I can just walk over to a cubicle and give her 1. It’s like, oh, you’re across the country, And you’re not very computer savvy. Mhmm. So I spent I think I spent almost 3 hours trying to walk because it was it would come up for a little bit. You get 5 or 10 minutes of that thing working, and then you’d get the little frowny face blue screen.
Speaker A [00:20:09]:
Oh, no.
Speaker B [00:20:10]:
It is what I was like, all we gotta do is this. Yeah. But it was so that was two and a half, 3 hours that I didn’t schedule. Right? Have messed up computer at this time. Something like that. That didn’t work out.
Speaker A [00:20:24]:
You in advance.
Speaker B [00:20:25]:
Yeah. And I remember just ending it with a bit like, I’m just gonna send you another computer. Yeah. Because it’s not worth dinking around with this. I’ll fix it on my end, Ship it back to me. Whatever. But then I thought after I said that to her and shipped her a new one, I thought, what was I going to do during that 3 hours? Because I know it wasn’t this.
Speaker A [00:20:43]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:20:43]:
Because this was pull your hair up kinda thing.
Speaker A [00:20:45]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:20:46]:
So it was interesting because nothing was Yesterday was supposed to be one of these catch up days and end up with a 3 hour fire.
Speaker A [00:20:54]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:20:55]:
That didn’t and in the end, it didn’t produce anything. So I still have to
Speaker A [00:20:59]:
so hard.
Speaker B [00:21:00]:
New computers on their way. But when that shows up, I’m gonna have to walk her through setting it up and all that kind of stuff, presumably, without a blue screen of death. Hopefully, without a blue screen of death. So Fingers crossed. Yeah. Hope that goes well. Someone’s like, man, this is Blue screen of death. So
Speaker A [00:21:09]:
Fingers crossed. Yeah. Hope that goes well.
Speaker B [00:21:10]:
Someone was like, man, this little boo boo, snafu, whatever, probably just a stuck stick of memory or something like that, is gonna cost me 7 hours and a few $100.
Speaker A [00:21:22]:
Yeah. Oh. Well but that’s essential. Right? Because When you look at everything that’s going on that’s urgent and important so you prioritize the right thing. But to your point, what did you choose was not essential? Mhmm. What did you have to I go of that even if it was a subconscious decision, I think sometimes as we get into our business, it’s a lot easier to see those things. Like, clearly, if you have an employee who can’t do their work, we to take care of that. Right.
Speaker A [00:21:43]:
But sometimes this stuff sneaks up on us. Like, I’m spending my time doing this thing that everyone else says is gonna be really great, like posting on social media every day and doing 15 Instagram stories and showing up on Facebook and going to all the networking events. And then you’re like, wait a minute. This is all busy work. It’s not the important stuff that’s moving me forward. So I think it’s really important to just take a minute and say, what am I gonna let go of in your business? But then also personally, Like, I I think I’ve used this example before, but and I have a girlfriend who’s on all the committees doing all the things with the kids and a big job, and she really loves Christmas. So she’s gonna decorate the house to the nines, and it’s just like but what can you let go of so in This time, you’re not crazy stressed and overwhelmed, and you have a little space to enjoy it or maybe show up in a better way for your kids because you’re not too busy spending 15 hours over here on something that you might be able to let go of.
Speaker B [00:22:37]:
Totally. It’s the power of knowing Yeah. To get rid of that stuff. Yeah. It’s interesting knowing. I guess, man, that’s a lot of committees. How does she say yes to all of them?
Speaker A [00:22:47]:
I might be over exaggerating. Reading, I think
Speaker B [00:22:48]:
But is there 2. Well, even even 2.
Speaker A [00:22:51]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:22:52]:
Right? Because in 2 committees, they’re gonna say, hey. Can you volunteer for this thing? Or, hey. We have to do fundraiser. Or, hey. We have this event That we have to plan. That’s just gonna snowball.
Speaker A [00:23:00]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:23:01]:
Because committees always assume that you have nothing but time. Mhmm. Because that’s why you’re on the committee. Right?
Speaker A [00:23:05]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:23:06]:
You got nothing but time. Totally bored and have no purpose in your life. So
Speaker A [00:23:10]:
Oh, but I think at the at the end of the day, it’s the What’s the nonessential? Right? So you join the committee fine, but you probably don’t need to say yes to the fundraiser. You don’t need to say yes to this other thing. Somebody needs to, but there needs to be a certain season in life where you can step up and other seasons where you say this just isn’t a fit for me right now based on based on other commitments.
Speaker B [00:23:30]:
Sure.
Speaker A [00:23:31]:
The power of the positive no is another episode we’ve done. So if you need that encouragement, go check that out.
Speaker B [00:23:36]:
Right? That was a good episode. I liked it. One of the things you can also Do is figure out if you do say no to this, what is the worst that can happen, and what is the best that can happen? Yeah. And same thing with saying yes. What is the worst that can happen? Best?
Speaker A [00:23:49]:
Mhmm.
Speaker B [00:23:49]:
So somebody says you’re gonna be on a committee and you say yes, what is the best thing that’s gonna happen? It’s It’s probably not that good.
Speaker A [00:23:55]:
Right? Well, maybe you meet someone that turns into business or I don’t know. You get an award. Sure. I don’t know.
Speaker B [00:24:02]:
How about posting 15 Instagram stories? Best that could happen. Well I know. That was the reaction of a lifetime right There. That’s a big positive.
Speaker A [00:24:14]:
Yeah. Right? Another thing that’s important, though, is to is just make sure it serves your goals. Right, we come back to this a lot, but that idea of what is the overarching goal for your business, for your life, for this particular season of the year, And how is this thing that you’re spending your time on either serving or not serving that goal?
Speaker B [00:24:32]:
Yeah. It’s nice also to know what your goals are.
Speaker A [00:24:35]:
That’s helpful.
Speaker B [00:24:36]:
So you can figure out where, what’s gonna fit, and all that jazz for your to know what to get rid of and what to keep.
Speaker A [00:24:42]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:24:43]:
I had a I had a 79 Malibu wagon that I put a new engine in, changed transmission, changed its manual, did a ton of work on there. Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:24:52]:
And it
Speaker B [00:24:52]:
was one of these little by little. Right? You get an Now we’re here, a Saturday there kinda thing. Mhmm. And so people would walk into that garage, and it looked psycho. Just terrible. But the interesting thing was my wife asked me for it was, like, 9 16th Ranch or something like that because she was putting together some bookshelf. And I told her exactly where it was. And she’s like, how do you know that? I’m like, you have to know that.
Speaker A [00:25:18]:
Right?
Speaker B [00:25:18]:
Because when you’re like this under a car, you don’t wanna be like, where did I put that thing? Mhmm. So it’s interesting. I guess, from my point of view, I didn’t intentionally memorize where stuff was. You just always put it back and all this kind of stuff
Speaker A [00:25:33]:
Mhmm.
Speaker B [00:25:33]:
Or knew where you put it. So it’s interesting because in the house, we’ll be, like, wrapping presents. Where’s the tape?
Speaker A [00:25:39]:
Like,
Speaker B [00:25:40]:
oh my gosh.
Speaker A [00:25:41]:
Can’t find the tape.
Speaker B [00:25:42]:
Nobody knows where the tape is, and then you finally Fine. Like, we have 7 rolls
Speaker A [00:25:45]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:25:46]:
Of half used things.
Speaker A [00:25:47]:
After you bought more.
Speaker B [00:25:48]:
Yeah. So my wife is like, why can’t we organize the house like you do in your garage? Interesting thing is probably priority.
Speaker A [00:25:55]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:25:57]:
And it’s only me in the garage. We’re in the house. It’s not only me.
Speaker A [00:26:00]:
Mhmm. So Other people to to mess with This
Speaker B [00:26:03]:
is Yeah. They they moved the tape.
Speaker A [00:26:05]:
How dare you move my cheese? Yeah. My
Speaker B [00:26:08]:
kid is gonna buy something at some crafty fair. And I said, before you buy that, You gotta think of where is it gonna go? So when you get home, you’re gonna put that away. Where is the way gonna be? Mhmm. And he thought about it, and he’s like, we don’t have a place. I said, either you gotta come up with a place or you don’t get to get it. Mhmm. I’m just like, I don’t need to get it.
Speaker A [00:26:30]:
Wow.
Speaker B [00:26:30]:
Yeah. It’s
Speaker A [00:26:31]:
a big decision for him, but I love that as a filter.
Speaker B [00:26:35]:
It helped.
Speaker A [00:26:35]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker B [00:26:36]:
Sometimes I have to teach him through me or teach me through him.
Speaker A [00:26:39]:
Well, but what I can learn about that when I’m thinking about how I spend my time is, oh, I wanna do this thing. Cool. Where’s that kinda go. I have no idea.
Speaker B [00:26:48]:
Oh, it doesn’t say
Speaker A [00:26:49]:
Oh, I wanna start a networking group. Oh, where’s that gonna go in my schedule. Oh, I wanna do this. Where’s that gonna go? Oh, you wanna I don’t know what’s in the insert thing here. You wanna be more present on social and post, you know, 5 to 7 days a week. Cool. Where is that gonna go?
Speaker B [00:27:04]:
Where are you gonna get that time? Mhmm. What are you gonna say no to to advance it?
Speaker A [00:27:08]:
Yeah. Right.
Speaker B [00:27:09]:
Interesting. Yeah. Clutter can be, it’s also mentally taxing. So mentally taxing. Is cluttering.
Speaker A [00:27:15]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:27:15]:
I had so I used to be a mechanic, so I have a lot of tools and stuff like that. My brother-in-law or my sister and brother-in-law come to my house. It was 3 hour drive, something like that.
Speaker A [00:27:24]:
Okay.
Speaker B [00:27:25]:
And they had I think they had a thermostat go bad. So, anyways, I was gonna help him change the thermostat. Open up the garage door, and my brother-in-law says, woah. I thought you were a mechanic. And I said, I am. He’s like, I thought this place was gonna be neater. Like, settle down. We’ll fix your car.
Speaker A [00:27:42]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:27:42]:
But it’s one of those things like, oh, he’s right. So it’s one of those things where you almost feel obligated to keep stuff tidy. Mhmm. So that when it does come to this thing, like, hey. We gotta this thing really fast. You know where the stuff is, and there’s room Yeah. And all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A [00:27:58]:
Yeah. You bring up a really good point, though. There is some social pressure on the decisions that we make in the clutter we allow and don’t allow. Yeah. You know? My, my brother-in-law is also pretty handy, and he comes and looks at our garage. He’s like, oh, it should be he’s a clean one of his clean and tidy mechanics. It should be so clean. It should be this, and I’m like, but we have children.
Speaker A [00:28:17]:
And, like, we’ve got ski gear, and we’ve got all these things. So, like, it’s in places, and it’s relatively organized. But to your point, we know where it is. We’re in a season of life where that’s not a priority. And if you’re in a season of life, that’s your priority. Great. Come to my house and fix it for me and tell me the system, and I’ll try to keep it up. But I I think the the pressure that comes with, but these should your be your priorities is another thing we need to let go of.
Speaker A [00:28:44]:
Oh. And I think that’s, again, around the holidays, something that a lot of us struggle with is, but this is how you do the holidays with kids or this is how you do this. You have to do all of the things. And it’s, well, why? What’s the goal of that?
Speaker B [00:28:55]:
Right. Because it’s tradition. Right? Or this is what we’re told we’re supposed
Speaker A [00:29:00]:
to do. The way we’ve always done
Speaker B [00:29:02]:
And Right. I suppose if you make Christmas cookies or something like that, that’s not anti clutter. Right? That’s
Speaker A [00:29:09]:
Hopefully, the goal is for someone else to eat those things. I’ll make them and then get them out of my house.
Speaker B [00:29:13]:
Yeah. Isn’t that the thing? Yeah. You’re like, I’m making the thing that I don’t wanna even have in my house. Get this out of here.
Speaker A [00:29:19]:
Oh, there’s There’s my there’s my little holiday tidbit. Only make food that you are willing to eat yourself
Speaker B [00:29:23]:
Oh.
Speaker A [00:29:24]:
To take to your holiday gatherings because we’re so good at making, like, crap food take to these things. Totally. It’s a pet peeve of mine. So I always make something really yummy and delicious that I take because then I’m like, I’m not gonna feed you junk If I don’t want my kid eating that joke
Speaker B [00:29:36]:
Alright. So what do you make?
Speaker A [00:29:39]:
I usually make sweet potatoes. I make, like, goat cheese, cinnamon, cranberry balls.
Speaker B [00:29:45]:
Alright. I was thinking more like a salad, so that’s better.
Speaker A [00:29:47]:
Well, I mean that too.
Speaker B [00:29:48]:
That that works too. Jenna showed up with the salad again.
Speaker A [00:29:52]:
Oh, this green stuff. That’s my kids. Vegetables?
Speaker B [00:29:56]:
Oh, that’s funny. Cluttering your body. Right? Get rid of that.
Speaker A [00:29:59]:
Yeah. Right. Exactly. Well, this has been Diary of a Worthy Pursuit.
Speaker B [00:30:03]:
How to get what you truly want in life and business.