Last November, I was frowning at the shrinking storage space on my less than one-year-old MacBook Pro and muttering, “How did all this stuff get here?” My IT specialist, aka, my wife, exclaimed, “Honey, you can’t keep everything that comes into your computer and not expect it to fill up your storage.” “Really?” I sighed.

As she helped me dig through the hundreds, possibly thousands, of files, attachments, photos, and other digital entities, I recognized a metaphor for life:  Capacity and productivity diminish when input becomes clutter. Just like your computer, you can find yourself working at 50%, sluggish, and without energy, when you don’t guard the flow of constant input. Full capacity requires consistent practices of decluttering, deleting, and freeing space for an upgrade.

People often embrace January with energy and hopes for achievement and success, but end the month feeling drained and defeated.  The capacity to grow suffers from too much, not too little.  Would some decluttering and deleting create a fresh reboot to improve our productivity and energy?  Are there new habits that serve as our upgrade and refresh us for success?

5 Areas to Refresh

Physical

• Eliminate sugars and refined foods.
• Drink little to no alcohol and increase your water intake.
• Establish a routine to move and exercise. Start where you are and then reach for more.
• Try 30-60 minutes of cardio a day for 5 days a week.  Add some weight and strength training as well.
• Move more during the workday.  Create breaks to move, stretch and reboot your body.
• Create a goal of 10,000 steps each day.

Spiritual 

• Find fresh material for reading, meditating, and reflection.
• Take a mini-sabbatical. Even a few hours of time to reconnect will make a difference.
• Invite someone to mentor you in spiritual growth.

Work/Vocation

• Create a self-audit/assessment of your professional goals and development.
• Recognize the power of getting one thing done a day.  Focus on important items that will create forward momentum.
• Practice continuous effort in the right direction.
• Focus on consistent process rather than lofty changes.

Stay Sharp

• Read and learn something unfamiliar or new to you.
• Increase your proficiency in a current skill or hobby.
• Create a plan to advance in an area you enjoy or a skill needed for work.

Relationships

• Assess which relationships would benefit from more time and attention.
• Stop investing in relationships that drain energy.
• Make room to invest in others as a coach or mentor.
• Connect to build community and teamwork.

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Capacity and productivity diminish
when input becomes clutter.

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If unrestrained input is affecting your capacity, it’s time to declutter and delete. Then upgrade your life habits and routines to reset your performance in this new year.

Small incremental changes can create lasting and increasing results.

The best to you!
Jim