Clean-ups less clutter less mind traffic.

A case study by Peter Sergeant is in the Knowledge Base.

Forget the pressure; cleanups will provide many answers.

Business owners and managers today tend to be under a lot of pressure to perform. It causes you to lose sight of some critical details involved in business cleanups. Routines have become habitual, and few take the time to notice the mess. The broken window, the grass growing on the street, the dust on the counter and the list goes on.

Perhaps you can allocate the time to start a continuous improvement program in your planning. This would minimise the cleanup costs as little bits could be done in the normal course of business, and junk would not be allowed to accumulate.

The impact of clutter before cleanups begin.

Before moving a few years ago, my home office was surrounded by clutter. It was everywhere: in my office, in the spare rooms, in the garage, wherever I could fit it.  The part of the job I loved the most was working on products, writing,  designing tools and processes and their delivery.

Unfortunately, this was only about 50% of my work. The rest of my time was spent trying to control the constant flow of stuff. Keeping track of meeting notes and searching for files while trying to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in regional and business development.

I was becoming mentally exhausted. Some days, I would feel that I hadn’t accomplished anything. Things happened when we decided to make the break and return to a country lifestyle. Without taking ‘no’ for an answer, my family moved in to clean up and prepare our house for sale. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I was recovering from a serious operation, and my defences were down.

Hundreds of books in my library were the first to go, hundreds of books I had accumulated over 50 years. “They are outdated, and you can get them on the Internet now, Dad”, my daughter insisted. Many of my filing cabinets were ransacked by my wife (who has been my PA over the years and did most of the filing). And so it went on for weeks until the house was spick and span. What was essential was put into a storage shed in the community we were moving to.

Community cleanups.

Unsightly litter in your local community is a distraction and adds to clutter as you walk, jog, or drive around.  Why not organise a community cleanup? Getting involved in a cleanup is easy, and people will readily respond to a little bit of leadership.  

It can also be fun, refreshing and rewarding for you, the community and its visitors. If everyone looks after their local community, it will significantly affect the environment as a whole while improving business efficiency across the community.

By doing regular cleanups, you will play an active role in keeping your community tidy, making it a better place to live and work. While one-off cleanups are effective in removing litter, keeping an area litter-free is proven to deter litter. Just as it’s time for a business cleanup or some spring cleaning, so is it time for your community. Read the full text and lessons learned in the Knowledge Base.

Quotable quotes

“A clean desk can be seen as unproductive or an indication that your work is being completed”. Peter Sergeant

“There is a level of immaturity to people who can’t clean up after themselves”. Jan Wenner