Taking control of your physical environment can help you take control of your stress!
We all agree that teaching is one of the most rewarding, yet challenging, fulfilling yet hair-pulling, wonderful yet draining jobs out there. I know that I am preaching to the choir when I say that a passionate teacher can be life changing for a student. However, that very same teacher is at risk of burn out if they don’t adopt strategies that enable them to manage their own energy and stress levels. Air NZ says it best: “Put on your own oxygen mask before helping anyone else,” and the teacher who neglects their own self care is the one who is likely to struggle over time.
My recent book, 21 Hacks to ROCK your Life! is a practical guide to help people, “Stop Procrastinating, Do that Thing and Live a Life ON-Purpose!” Utilising simple,
practical hacks that I have learned and used over my own varied career of working with people (high school teacher, lecturer, personal trainer and life coach) it offers easily implementable hacks that anyone can adopt to help them work towards a purpose-filled life. One of the seven categories of hacks that I list is titled, “Physical Environment Hacks,” and of these, one in particular is an easily implementable hack that can reduce stress and overwhelm in your workplace and your home.
Read on as I share an excerpt from my book: Hack #4 Clear the Clutter! “Clearing the clutter in your physical space will go a long way toward clearing the clutter in your mind.”- Peter Walsh
Have you ever wondered just why you have so many socks, when you are scrambling around in a hurry to leave the house but can’t find a matching pair? Or scratched your head in bewilderment over the clutter that has accumulated overnight on your office desk? It’s times like these that one finds themselves seriously considering becoming a minimalist.
Minimalism is on trend at the moment, with minimalist rock stars such as Marie Kondo becoming household names. There is much to be said about the positive effects of this movement, as clutter is often a physical representation of the state of a person’s mind. Too much mental or physical clutter can lead to procrastination, depression and low productivity.
In his book Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind, Arthur L.Costa discusses how the brain absorbs information through all of the senses, not just visually and aurally. We tend to forget that our senses of smell, taste and touch are also information pathways to the brain.
This ability to gather information in so many different ways is an incredible gift, however, it can potentially be problematic too, as we also have a variety of sources for potential distraction and reduced productivity. Who knows a teenager whose bedroom resembles a bomb-site? You may even have been this teenager in days gone by (sorry Mum!). Their wardrobe has exploded over the floor, amongst which are buried schoolbooks, shoes, chocolate wrappers, bags and last week’s homework. This same teen is the one who can never remember anything and has a meltdown when they can’t find their favourite top to wear to a party on the weekend.
Clutter is time-consuming, distracting, overwhelming, embarrassing, frustrating and productivity-destroying. A cluttered environment and mind is not going to support someone who aspires to live a rocking, on-purpose life!
So what does your present-day workplace look like? Is it overflowing with post-it notes, pens and broken pencils, correspondence, planners, photos, paper clips and other stationary items, ornaments, photos, phones, iPads, laptops and associated chargers and accessories?
How’s that working for you? The minute you pause from the task that you are immersed in, you run the risk of sensory overload in a cluttered workspace. Each one of your senses will be bombarded by information from your cluttered environment and your chances of remaining focused and productive will dramatically decrease.
How about your computer? Does it have a dozen tabs open and a desktop full of items that should be deleted or filed? What does your smartphone look like? Are there pages and pages of apps that could be grouped into files so that you don’t need to keep swiping away having to search every time that you want a particular app? While we are at it, how is the rest of your home? Do you have a pantry full of out- of-date food and overflowing with plastic containers? Do you have drawers stuffed full of paperwork needing sorting? Is your linen cupboard set to explode with bedding that you don’t no longer need?
Every one of these scenarios will contribute to a sensory overload that can negatively affect your focus and productivity. Even though you might work from a perfectly ordered office, coming home to a cluttered home is still going to raise your stress levels and hurt your productivity.
ACTION TASKS:
• In a nutshell – clear the clutter! Begin with your desk. Remove everything but the basics from the surface. Continue with the rest of the room. Be ruthless! You want your work zone to be clear and to create the lowest sensory stimulation possible.
• Work one zone at a time, even if only for 15 minutes a day. Then, tackle the other areas in your home or on your devices. Donate anything that you do not regularly use. It’s time to clear that space in your home and in your head!
• Once you have decluttered your environment, make a commitment to yourself to recreate this clear space at the conclusion of every day. Begin this habit with your desk and extend it to your kitchen, bathroom and living spaces. Doing so will set you up for focused, productive work the next day.
Want to reduce your stress and overwhelm? Start by tackling your physical environment today and support your own wellbeing so you can be the teacher that you aspire to be.
