No matter how much time we may have or how focused we try to be, our productivity ultimately depends on mental clarity. Achieving that takes effort in cleaning out mental clutter that accumulates throughout the day and gets carried around in our head.

 
 
We talked about managing time and projects in ways that fit within the time constraints we have. In addition to making choices and defining priorities, however, we also need to invest effort in decluttering our mind. Besides preventing us from focusing, mental clutter is energy draining.

Ultimately this practice will define how focused we are on our work and, eventually, how efficient we are.

Much of our time gets drained due to less-than-optimal brain functioning. If we are not focused on what we are working on, we end up spending double or triple the time than it would have taken us if we had approached it with a clear and focused mind to begin with.
 
 

The thing that is not being done, is doing its time in your head.

 
 
That costs you enormous amounts of energy. The room you wanted to paint last year, but never got around to? Well, you may not be doing the work, but your mind is. Somewhere in the background of your awareness, your mind has been painting that room for a year now. It will continue doing so until you put the project to rest. Add a few more thoughts like that and viola! you’ve got yourself loads of mental clutter.
 
The way you put it to rest is through the simple approach of Do-Schedule-Close. In other words, we either decide to get it done now, schedule it, or close it (the way we close a book — shut it down). Anything that is reminiscent of “I’ll get around to it” or “I’ll get it done later” and so on will create mind clutter. So when it comes to things on our to-do lists, when someone (could be our own brain) happens to ask us about them, we should be able to say one of the following:
 
I am doing it now as we speak. (do it now)
It is scheduled for ____ date. (schedule it)
I decided not to worry about it. (close it)
 
 

Adopt a clean-as-you-go approach to mental clutter control.

 

We tend to pick up a lot of clutter from the world. We carry it in our head as if it’s of any use. See, our brains are primed for scanning and looking for information. Normally this would be OK, but in today’s noisy world, the brain ends up picking up more than it needs, much of which is simply junk. Usually things like that get sorted out and “erased” during sleep — that is, if we get quality sleep every night.

We can also do our own cleaning by noticing, right in the moment, whether the information we are paying attention to is actually of any use. Is it important to you to hear the news story of a cat that got rescued in the storm? Maybe it is. Maybe not. Decide in the moment and move on — do not just simply absorb. Do you need to look at those magazines and headlines at the register? Maybe, maybe not. Only you can decide what is relevant and why. The stuff that isn’t, keep it outside your attention. (So when you are waiting in line, it’s OK to look at your feet, far into the distance, or at the ceiling.)

 

Even the best computers can get stuck. Close those tabs. Increase efficiency.

 

Having too many things going on at a time may happen for various reasons. We may think we are being efficient by doing many things at once. We may worry we will forget something if we don’t get them going as soon as they cross our mind. Perhaps, we are tricking ourselves into believing that this is the way we will accomplish more. Or, we may think that looking busy and being busy is how we are being productive.

Whatever the reasons, multiple ongoing projects and tasks at once add to mental clutter and add confusion to our thinking space. It’s like having multiple browser tabs open. They turn our mental agility into fog. It prompts multitasking, which as we have seen already, does not work. Just as computers with too many open tabs cannot perform their best, neither can we. Even the best of computers with the best processors will eventually overheat and slow down with too many open tabs and programs running simultaneously.

 

Don’t respond to Sirens. Creative moments can generate the most mental clutter.

 

Sometimes mental clutter gets created when we are busy working on something, especially when we are really into the work we are doing and are excited about it. Because of all the creative energy that comes with this mental state, we may get lots of new ideas coming at us from all directions. Especially for those who experience creative blocks every once in awhile, having moments like these may feel like they require our attention and take priority over what we are doing. But… not so fast — the key phrase here is “may feel like” which does not mean that this is how it actually is.

If we do attend to these “siren songs,” we are doomed. Not only does it disrupt our focus, but thinking that we will be more productive on this new idea is an illusion. As soon as we shift our attention to it, we will be called to do something else, ending up in perpetual mode of scattered attention and energy deficit.

The way to keep this in check, is to have a place to capture these ideas and inspiration, and to continue on with the task of our primary focus. Now, if we chose not to capture them, they are highly likely to occupy space in our mind (especially if it was an exciting idea). This, again, will create the kind of brain clutter we do not want. Record any thoughts, ideas, needs, and tasks as they come up. Capture them, but don’t get them going until your next scheduling/planning phase. Then you can decide on their importance and assign priority.