“Do you use the same calendar for work, personal, and volunteer activities?”
This was one of the questions in a workshop for women in business on Creating Space in our Rooms, Devices, Calendars, and Minds.
My answer was “Yes.”
I have one calendar, which I also share with my team.
I use different colors for different types of activities, so that I know at a glance how I’m allocating my time.
Personal time, or selfcare, is in gold because it’s the most important to me.
If I’m not taking care of myself physically, mentally, and emotionally, I can’t serve my clients to the best of my ability.
Then I use other colors for training and coaching, meetings, and content creation.
Grey is for buffer time – at least 15 minutes between meetings.
The lady who asked the question replied, “I love that selfcare is gold!”
Creating space in your physical environment, your digital devices, your calendar, and your mind is an often overlooked approach to less effort and more impact.
If you’ve ever spent even just 5 minutes clearing out a drawer, you probably noticed it uplifted your spirits when you saw the organized and spacious results (even if that didn’t last long…).
In fact, decluttering brings an array of benefits – not only in your physical space, but also in your devices, your calendar, and your mind!
5 Benefits Of Creating Space – Physically, Digitally, Temporally, and Mentally
- Saves time – How much time do you waste looking for things that you can’t find because they’re hidden among so much clutter (including in your digital space and your mind)? You can find things quicker in a decluttered environment.
- Builds confidence – When you keep things decluttered and organized, it boosts your self-esteem and confidence. You value yourself enough to care about your environment.
- Improves health – Clutter in your physical space can easily gather dust, which isn’t good for your health. On top of that, UCLA research found a direct correlation between clutter and stress. And, of course, stress is an underlying factor in many health issues.
- Strengthens relationships – When you feel stress from your lack of physical, mental, or emotional space, you’re less likely to be tolerant of others – and the reverse is true too!
- Uncovers lost items – I don’t know how many times I’ve been decluttering and found a lost item. At one point, years ago, my engagement ring disappeared. It turned up several months later when I was sorting out the closet! Digital decluttering may uncover a treasured old photo. You may discover time for yourself when you declutter your calendar. And decluttering your mind of endless chatter can create space for you to discover new ideas and inspiration
So now let’s look at how to create space in 4 specific areas.
Your Room
Depending on the expert you listen to, you’ll probably hear different approaches to decluttering your physical space.
Some advise you to gather everything of the same type and sort through it all at once – deciding what stays and what goes.
You may love this. Or you may find it overwhelming and want to give up halfway through.
Some experts advise you to set a timer and declutter one area for 15 minutes or so.
Others recommend picking up a certain number of items to toss each day.
As I always say, do what works for you.
If one approach isn’t working out, no need to feel bad. Just test out something different next time until you find a better way.
Your Devices
Consider your computer and smartphone in these 4 categories:
- Email – What does your inbox look like? If you’re overwhelmed with email, the Sasuga! 5-Day Email Challenge will help you deal with emails faster, receive fewer, and have more time to focus on what’s really important for you!
- Files – How organized is your desktop and your filing system? This is a challenge for me because I’m exceptionally good at starting things and not the best at putting things where I can find them again. I rely very much on the fabulous Yumi in Team Sasuga! to locate important files and documents for me.
- Photos – How many photos do you have on your phone? Like files, keeping photos organized isn’t my natural strength, so if you have storage and organizational tips, please do share!
- Contacts – Do your social media and other contacts uplift you or bring you down? According to Psychology Today, a study of almost 700,000 Facebook users showed that people who were exposed to more negative content were more likely to make negative posts. This and subsequent research proved that “emotion contagion” can happen both online and in person.
Your calendar
When women join my online programs and groups, the most common problem they have is a lack of time.
So here are 4 questions you can ask yourself to create more time.
- What appointments can you cancel?
- What appointments can you shorten?
- What tasks can you batch?
- Where can you block more time for you?
Here’s one of my favorite comments from a client that I hope inspires you:
“Today I skipped one online meeting, since I judged that my team could handle the meeting without me. This is the first time I skipped a scheduled meeting. The meeting went well. Also I could take a power nap and concentrate on the next meeting, in which my judgment was critical. I experienced “less effort and more impact”!
Your mind
If you’re like many high-performing professionals, you have a lot going on in your mind. Constantly.
In my programs, our top focus is to choose your thoughts. This is actually a form of selfcare because you can stress yourself out so much when you let your thoughts run wild. And here I’d like to share another client comment to give you an idea of what’s possible:
“I was worried about what others think about me before, but I don’t care so much about it recently. Looking back at myself, I think I was trying to fish for good impressions from other people. But now, when I communicate with someone, as long as I’m polite, I’m not worried about what they think of me. Then, I can shorten my time to send emails to other people. This is my recent 断捨離 (decluttering) of my thoughts.”
So now you know the benefits of creating space and you have options to get started in a way that works for you.
If you’d like to listen to me talking about this topic, tune into Episode 161 of the Sasuga! Podcast here.
Are you overwhelmed with email? Would you like to deal with emails faster, receive fewer, and have more time to focus on what’s really important for you?
This guide gives you
- An email each day for 5 days to guide you step by step to create a habit of email efficiency
- Mindset tips for your ongoing success as you develop new behaviors
- A Step Summary and Reminder for you to keep – just in case you slip out of the habit during particularly busy times, so that you can quickly get back into it