Was the weekend one of relaxation or clear the clutter?

Well, the Christmas Holiday just passed. Next up is New Years Day.

If you’re like me, you will probably be asked on numerous occasions “How were your Holidays? Did you do anything fun?”

I’m sure the majority of people look forward to their Holiday for a chance to relax, recharge and get away from it all.

Me? I’m the exact opposite. Whether it’s the workaholic side of me or not, I usually spend the holidays in full “clean the clutter” mode.

This means going through hundreds of email that may have gone unattended, responding to Linked In requests, which always seem to take forever, cleaning out my sent files to get down under 10,000 so outlook won’t crash, writing proposals, setting up a new computer, or just plain cleaning up.

I’m sure that doesn’t sound like much fun to most of you.

To me, it’s all too exciting.

Why?

I keep thinking of Stephen Covey’s principle number seven- Sharpen the Saw. 

This is the theory that if you put two people in a race to saw down a tree, who will win? Well, if they both started out with the same dull blade on their saw, and one person starts right away, while the other one takes long enough to sharpen the saw, the second participant will win.

Sharpen the saw to me always meant taking the time to clean things up, put things in order, learn new skills, set up technology, etc.

This aspect, at least for me personally, puts me in a much better perspective and frame of mind coming out of the holiday.

Now, I’m able to move forward with my days and weeks without the weight and cloud of clutter hanging over my head.

Rather than continually putting off what needed to be done, I took the few days off the grid, to set myself up for a few more months of relaxation.

This may not be the perfect way, and it may not be the right way for others, but it seems to work well for me.

So, when I’m asked if I did anything fun over the weekend, I can say to the world, “Absolutely. I cleared the clutter”.