Things build up day after day, week after week, and month after month. A new year offers hope for a clean slate, but we sometimes forget about the opportunity of a new day. Why do we have to wait for January 1st for a fresh start?
This morning when I opened my computer, I was overwhelmed with the documents and photos I recently saved to my desktop. I’m usually pretty good about putting digital items where they belong, but in the midst of working on several projects over the past few months, I let things go. It was easier to “save to desktop” than to think about streamlining my work flow. Creating a clean slate is going to take a little time, but once it’s done, it will only take a few minutes each day to maintain.
If you’ve ever gone the dentist after not flossing for a while, you know what I mean. All of the extra scraping and cleaning up could have been avoided by flossing consistently and creating a clean slate each day.
What areas of your life are in need of a clean slate?
Is it your …
- inbox or desktop?
- kitchen table that holds more paperwork than meals?
- calendar or to-do list that is on a perpetual roll over plan?
- diet that you plan to whip into shape tomorrow or the day after that?
- household clutter that never has a place of its own?
I’ve struggled with each of those things from time to time, and find the most clarity and freedom when I clean the slates one at a time.
Make a list of the slates you’d like to clean and start with one. Once you’ve reset to zero in that one area, spend 5 – 10 minutes a day maintaining a clean slate. After a week or two, start on a new area of your life that deserves a clean slate.
If you are tempted to let things build up because you don’t have the time or energy/focus to maintain a clean slate, remind yourself that eventually you will spend the time … at the dentist, or moving files, or putting stuff away. A clean slate practice today will save you the agony tomorrow.
You don’t have to turn your life upside down, or wait for a new year to enjoy the benefits of a clean slate. Give each day the opportunity for a fresh start without the overflow and excess from days and years that came before.
Create the promise of a new day with a clean slate.
Love this! I often wonder why people wait for “Monday” or Jan 1st to start something. It’s such a drag to tackle so much at one time. Every day is a new day. Every moment even. You can “clean slate” on not just physical stuff, but mental stuff too, whenever you like!
Yep! Mine is the perpetual rolling over to do list! It’s the bane of my existence! But I’m not going to let us be any longer. Giving those items a deadline and sticking to it!
Kitchen/dining table is totally my 1st slate that needs conquered. But there are so many others that need done before a deadline (Feb 1st). Family photos to be sorted then placed in an album (I pray!). Childhood paperwork, other memorabilia to be gone through & consolidated into the smallest no. of boxes I can squeeze the “keepers” into.
My most victorious move has been (with much help to clear in the 1st place) to maintain an uncluttered, un-stacked, able-to-sit-down-in living room for 2+ yrs. And that was hard to do some days. Lol