Relational Decluttering

The gravitational pull on my schedule this week was enough to wrench an entire solar system out of orbit. Yet, I willingly took two hours of prime time, as I do every week, to meet with my precious accountability group. At the end of our time together, there were no finished tasks to check off my list, no chores now complete, but it was worth every minute and more. Like the air I breathe, I need to be around people like that.

Our surroundings affect us and so do the people in our life. Their attitudes, their words, their beliefs work their way deep into our souls. Coach Philip Humbert explains the process this way, “It’s automatic, it’s inevitable, and it has tremendous predictive value – the people we associate with predict the kind of person we will become in the future.” In other words, if you want to see who you will be next year, just look at those walking beside you today.

God states it like this, “Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces” Proverbs 13:20. Those of us who are parents know this all too well. Wisdom doesn’t come automatically, but only appears as a direct result of deliberate cultivation. And one of the primary ways to grow wise is to seed your life with godly friends.

Successful Christians choose their closest companions with care. Look around. Are you surrounded by people of integrity, wisdom, humility, and sacrificial love? If not, it may be time to declutter your relational environment and make space for some new companions.

No, I am not suggesting that you throw out your relatives or ignore your next door neighbor. But I am recommending that you add a powerful component to your spiritual life– wise mentors and friends.

Begin today to purposefully surround yourself with truth-tellers, God-lovers, and charitable workers. Let them encourage, instruct, correct, and inspire you. The results will show.

Energy Drainers

In the movie, Toy Story, Cowboy Woody is famous for his oft repeated line, “There’s a snake in my boots.” As we consider the idea of clutter for the next few weeks, let me tap into a similar thought, “There’s a fox in my life.” Not a literal fox, of course, but something small and sneaky, almost unidentifiable, that has crept into my life and eaten away at my opportunity for success. Perhaps you can relate.

Small Things Do Great Damage

King Solomon in the Old Testament shares a wise exhortation with us, “Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that are ruining the vineyard” Song of Solomon 2:15. Little foxes are known for sneaking in and spoiling the luscious fruit.

The Australian agricultural department catalogs foxes destructive power in these ways: eating the harvest, ruining choice fruit, gnawing on sprinklers and more. Small things can do great damage. What little foxes are ruining your organizational vineyard before it yields its fruit?

As I considered this question, images began to flood my mind. Unanswered email, unreturned phone calls, unfiled papers, undone tasks – there can be countless things that fill our work and life space with clutter, chaos, confusion, and conflict. Those little foxes seem small but inexorably they eat away at our peaceful productivity.

Practical Steps to Take

1. Sit down and identify your ‘little foxes.’ List both your energy drainers at work and your energy drainers at home.

2. Count the cost. Anything you tolerate has a cost: time, inconvenience, frustration and more. Identify the cost of each ‘little fox’ and decide if it is worth it.

3. Do something about it. You have four choices with each item on your list:

• Do it
• Delegate it
• Dump it
• Defer it (use this one sparingly!)

Now re-imagine your life. Your home and work space are beautifully decorated, soothing to the senses and a delight to your eyes. You arrive each day knowing that each tool you need will be at your finger-tips and perform as expected. Your chair is comfortable, your files are ordered, and your computer ready to go.

At home, the counters are clean, the cupboards full, the mail sorted, and the laundry done. Truly, this environment will feed your spirit and inspire your imagination. Enjoy!

Come back next week for more helpful decluttering tips.

Decluttering

It felt so good. My focus was restored and my creativity unleashed. I was completely invigorated. Without spending a single cent, life was better. The miracle cure? Environment management, or to put it more simply, decluttering.

Like a dry sponge, I tend to soak up my surroundings and give back what I have taken in. If the room is dark, I am sad. When my office is crowded, my creativity is stifled. If my closets are sloppy, so go my thoughts.

I was dragging and the reason was clear. A messy desk equals a messy mind. It was time to clean up my act.

God loves beauty, creativity, and order. In creation, His divine fingerprint fashions splendor from chaos and creates order from confusion. He called it good. So do I.

The Cost of Clutter

Disorder is draining, inefficient and costly. Take your typical business executive. Studies have shown that she can spend four and one-half hours a week just searching for lost papers. At an average annual salary of $30,000, she has just spent $3,376 dollars. If she makes $60,000 a year the cost is $6,752. At $100,000, the annual cost jumps to $11,250 – all to answer that compelling clutter question, “Now, where did I put that?”

According to Crown Financial Ministries, clutter is costly in other ways as well:

• Every time you allow an interruption in your work, it costs you six minutes in addition to the time actually spent. Thus, if you have just three 10-minute unexpected conversations in one morning, you will lose 48 minutes!


• You become an easy target for scammers who will double or even triple bill you. How often do we overpay because we lose track of the original invoice?


• Poor communication due to disorganization can cost up to 280 hours per year – seven entire weeks.
  

Whether we work at home or for another, disorder is expensive - financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

The Joy of Decluttering

I have begun to turn that loss around. This week, I have cleared my desk, tied up my loose ends, and freed my mind for more important things. You can do the same.

Our God is a God of order and He has a plan to help each of us become more faithful stewards of all that He has given. Join me, the Christian Life Coach, over the next few weeks as we declutter for the glory of God.

Be sure to leave me a comment and let me know how your personal decluttering project is going.

Too Busy for God?

Overworked, overwhelmed, and busy beyond belief, it is easy to race through life simply adding task to task in our attempt to do it all. Consider Michelle. Mother of two and step-mother of one, she desperately wants her new blended family to blend. On top of this, she daily juggles her career as a corporate trainer, her graduate school classes, and the chores necessary for daily living. Not surprisingly, by the end of each day Michelle is exhausted, short-tempered, and spiritually dry. In her desire to grasp everything, she is dropping the most important thing – a close relationship with God.

How about you? Does the busyness of your life get in the way of developing your relationship with God? If so, you are not the only one. A recent poll taken by Michael Zigarelli revealed that six out of every ten believers agreed, they are too busy for God. And like Michelle, they are not happy with the results.

Time after time, Michelle has valiantly tried to shoehorn God into her already full life. But for all her good intentions, when other pressures mounted, Michelle’s God-time was the first thing to go. As she viewed the subsequent wreckage, it slowly dawned on her that she ended up missing out on God and everything else as well.

As Michelle’s coach, I encouraged her to look deeper, to dig for more foundational principles and power. She decided to search the Scriptures. There, Michelle discovered a different approach, God’s approach.

Jesus said, “…seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). The concept that was missing in Michelle’s life was seeking God first, believing that He would then provide for the rest.

Michelle bravely took her calendar, turned it upside down, shook everything out, turned it back up and inked in God first. Those first few weeks were hard. Her anxiety rose as she watched the clock, wanting to be with God but worrying about the myriads of undone things. It took discipline; it took faith. It worked.

Yes, Michelle is still busy. But God is first. Consequently, in everything else she does, she knows God’s will, she hears His voice, and she experiences His peace.

We never again have to be to shortchange our relationship with God. His faithful promise is for busy people everywhere, when we seek Him first, He will take care of the rest.