Clutter as Delayed Decision-making

And I write....where?

Clutter is delayed decision-making? You mean it’s not Creative Clutter? Yes, it’s true that because I can see possibilities in most anything and because I teach creative thinking using props, my stashes of stuff are rightly awaiting their day in the limelight.  But a recent ‘whack in the side of my head’  reminded me of the mind-body (intangible- tangible) connection- to whit, my physical clutter was a result of my mental clutter. Ouch! How can that be when I teach people how to think effectively? 

A friend dropped this one-liner the other evening and it shot through my bones like a flash. Yup, it felt so right! Thinking of my various project piles, boxes of client files from past work, resouces and articles groaning under the weight of my intent to turn them into products one day, I had been telling myself that the delay was because I didn’t know the technology. True to a degree. 

But I’ve taken some courses, acquired the equipent and certainly know how to think my way through the missing bits….what has been missing has been 

 my own volition on account of not having decided a single trajectory. For inherent in the word DECISION is the notion ‘to cut from’- deciding one thing requires we cut from another; partly as a matter of mental focus and attention, and partly as a matter of highest and best use of our resources in relation to our choice- time, money, effort and intention. Part of my value-add as a professional is that I generate multiple alternative options and see connections that others may not. So to me, as Leonardo DaVinci said, “Everything is connected to everything else.” I relish learning new things across a  spectrum of topics and interests.  So I just keep gobbling up new information day after day.  However, I also teach thinking tools that allow us to slice across piles of tangled information and pull out useful nuggets for actual use and application. So, thinker, think thyself. 

I stayed up till 2am after hearing that distinction and cleared a box full of waiting paperwork. Having made certain decisions, fulfilling the clearing task was actually quite easy. Now I’m using the same mindset to further clarify aspects of my work projects. Yes, there will still be the required time-on-task to get the jobs done, but I feel both better able to choose and better equipped to deal with the consequences of those choices having realized that my creative project piles (aka clutter) simply require me to make some hard decisions- or rather, strategic decisions. When I decide what their purpose is in relation to my strategic plan, I can more easily take the next step to create the products hiding within, as Michelangelo revealed the shapes hiding in the marble sculptures when he chipped away the excess rock.