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Episode #126
Here’s the short version. To listen to the full episode with more stories, examples and insights, click or tap the play button above!
Creating space and energy in your life before you start to build any business is essential, especially when you are still in a day job.
This is the second of three episodes where I'm sharing how you can make the most of the time you have when it's not possible to start your business.
Last time I talked about the importance of putting a date in for the future when you think you WILL be in the position to get started with a business and transitioning from your job, whether that is 6 months, a year or even 2 years away. Click here to listen to that episode now.
This time I’m talking about how you can use this time to clear mental and physical space for your future business by decluttering.
WHY DECLUTTER
When you want to move on from a career to start a business you need to clear out anything that is not going to be part of your life as CEO of your own company.
All that mental and physical clutter from past jobs and your life as an employee, so you can start feeling like the business owner you will be.
Just because you will not be starting a business yet, does not mean you can't start thinking and acting like a boss!
HOW TO DECLUTTER
Decluttering is clearing out and making space in all aspects of your life.
Physical Decluttering. Marie Kondo famously brought this into the mainstream with her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, where she talks about decluttering to change your life.
By clearing out the clutter around you (eg your desk, office space or wider home) you can bring peace and clarity to your mind, make it easier to be more productive and invite new opportunities into your life.
People Decluttering. Having people with negative, non-constructive opinions around is not going to serve you, and will actually hinder your creativity.
I don't mean those who play devil's advocate and try to get you to see all sides, they're just trying to help you, that's fine.
But if someone's just being negative and nasty and everything for the sake of it, distance yourself from it.
Do what you need to do, to pull away from negative people who drag you down, to more positive open-minded people that make you feel good about your choices.
Or at the very least are not needlessly critical.
Digital Decluttering. Which means clearing up your technology. These are things that fill up your computer and phone's memory and just remind you of past mistakes, negativity or just things that are not important to you anymore.
For example, if you have multiple versions of your CV or Resume everywhere, old work socialising photos, documents, emails and any other digital items that you no longer need then clear them out. You can keep a few memento photos of people you want to remember, or one version of your CV and of course anything you legally need to keep, but delete the rest.
You are clearing the space for all your new business files and documents to take shape. Clearing out the old for the new.
I promise it's such a great feeling. And obviously, as an added benefit it clears up lots of memory on your computer as well.
Mental Decluttering. To be honest, all decluttering has a positive effect on your mental health. When you clear out and make that physical space, you have the right people around you and your tech storage is simplified, your mind feels calm, clear and ready to focus on your future plans.
However, you still need to deal with any any bad memories, failures or experiences that may hold you back. The things that will make an appearance when you do start to work on your business plans.
This is because when you're making a big change in life, your subconscious mind will throw everything it can at you to make sure that you stop doing it.
It will start reminding you of all those embarrassing moments, all those times where things haven't gone completely to plan. Any doubts, fears or failures come back to haunt you. No matter how inconsequential or small they are.
It will forget about all the positives and all your achievements and amplify all the reasons you need to stay put and stay safe.
Get ahead of your subconscious mind and deal with the mental clutter now. It will make it so much easier in the future when you do launch your business to know nothing is going to hold you back.
Listen to the episode for more on mental decluttering and hear how I had to declutter something that was seemingly small but had been holding me back.
CONCLUSION
Decluttering is not just a physical activity, it’s a way to clear your mental blocks and create the physical space you need to move forward.
By using this time now, when starting a business and leaving your job is not an option, you will be able to declutter mindfully and do what often takes quite a while, and complete it on your own schedule.
What’s great about it is that it’s really actionable! You can declutter a drawer, a file or one memory today! Happy decluttering.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
I talk more about decluttering and give some checklists and other tools in the Career to Entrepreneur Method Made Easy course.
If you would like to learn more go to nicholaohara.com/course
Marie Kondo - The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up
