It’s 2019 if you’re reading this you’ve probably heard of Matt D’Avella and The Minimalists. You’ve seen the rise of minimalism in current generations. The YouTube minimalism challenges, the Marie Kondo your room videos, and likely the stark white walls with a single wooden spoon and bowl on an identically stark white table. No chair, of course, that’s too much clutter? ?. Minimalism has grown in notoriety and fame an incredible amount in 2019.
Most productivity experts will tell you how living a minimalistic life will reduce mental and emotional clutter, and overall enable you to be more creative and productive all at the same time. And I AGREE! But of course, most things are too good to be true unless you put your best effort into them. You see, you can only be as productive as your environment…BUT your environment cannot make you productive.
If you’ve ever seen a “creative” artist’s workspace, it probably looks something like a tornado blew through. There are stacks and stacks of stuff all over their desk and bookshelf, it’s complete and utter chaos.
*stereotyping here of course but if you are a creative or know a creative you all know it’s true*
And they may be super productive in this environment, and create an unbelievably high-quality art. This is the environment they want, they need the chaos to translate into abstract ideas for a canvas or novel. It’s simply what works best for them.
In contrast, someone may have the cleanest, sparkliest, white, black, and plant workspace you have ever seen. It could dazzle with simplicity, the 1 piece of black paper hung on the wall, the single blanket on the bed, the single iMac on the desk, the wireless mouse and keyboard. You get the picture.
But this only helps you have clarity and be productive if you choose to work in that environment. A man wearing the same color outfit he has worn for 18 months, laying on the sofa watching YouTube is far less effective in his workflow than the aforementioned artist. You can create the opportunity to be clear and engaged. You can create an environment that opens up mental clarity and makes you physically more efficient in your day to day routine. And of course, there is a big BUT coming to the end of this.
You. Have. To. Put. In. The. Work
Day after day, night after night. If you aren’t actually putting in the effort and doing everything in your power to advance your life, then it’s all for not. You can have the most dazzling office and desk, but it’s completely useless when you aren’t sitting there working. It’s almost an investment. You can choose to invest a chunk of time, and possible money, redesigning your workspace, cleaning it, and convert it into an essentialism pod for your daily routine. But if you don’t actively use that every day, it’s just a huge waste.
Personal Example
Currently, I am at a point in my life where I am trying to get as free and clear of as much clutter as possible. I’m removing every object that isn’t adding value and trying to go down to the simplest physical life possible. So far I have managed to get rid of countless trash bags and boxes of things, I’ve been able to finally maintain a cleanroom because it’s not overloaded with THINGS. And my room cleaning routine is quite easy because of the lack of interfering objects.
I’ve also started this digitally, though I have spent less time working on that. I’ve worked on creating file systems and trees, removing distracting pictures and designs and simplifying to all dark mode or black backdrops, and uninstalling every unused app possible.
All of this has opened the opportunity for me to be insanely productive. To rise at 5:00 am, do all my Business Law, and Algebra courses for college, and then go to work for 8 hours, come home and hustle for 4 hours, and then sleep for 10 hours.k But that simply is impractical. Today, for example, It’s a Saturday, I had the whole day off of work. I have a ToDo list of about 8 homework assignments and 4 other items that I am totally capable of achieving in one day. However, I’ve not been very inspired to do any hustle, I really just want to relax. Thus it’s now 9:03 PM and I didn’t accomplish anywhere near what I wanted to achieve. My room is as clean as it can be, my MacBook’s files have been purged and sorted…but that’s not doing the homework for me. It’s not writing the blog posts, and it’s certainly not completely reducing my procrastination.
Overall
What I’ve learned is that even if you spend 3 weeks perfecting your workspace and organization habits, you will never use them…unless you use them ? Getting rid of everything, guarantees that you….just…have….nothing. The mental clarity only comes if you actively appreciate and work in the environment!
So keep this in mind as you progress through your self-improvement journey. There are a time and place where you have to stop improving and just get to work!