Making space for something new, purge the old

If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind,

what is the significance of a clean desk?

Laurence J. Peter

Every year, before Easter my mom cleans the whole house.  I call it “spring cleaning”. And there is a good reason for doing it. 

Whenever you want to bring in new business or new project, you have to purge the old. From Aristotle and Einstein way back when, to physicists today, both scientists and philosophers agree that (at least here on Earth) nature abhors a vacuum.

Meaning, when you create space, the Universe will gladly fill it up for you, with what your intentions are set on.

The problem is if you don't have space, nothing new can come in.

When we don’t throw away clutter and items we no longer need, it’s as if we don’t trust our ability to manifest the necessary abundance in our lives to buy new one. But incompletes like this keep that very abundance from showing up. We need to complete the past so that our present can show up more fully.

Are there areas in your life where you’ve left uncompleted projects or failed to get closure with people? When you don’t complete the past, you can’t be free to fully embrace the present.

Failing to complete robs you of valuable attention units

When you start a project or make an agreement or identify a change you need to make, it goes into your present memory bank and takes up what I call an attention unit. We can only pay attention to so many things at one time, and each promise, agreement, or item on your to-do list leaves fewer attention units to dedicate to completing present tasks and bringing new opportunities and abundance into your life.

So why don’t people complete? Often, incompletes represent areas in our life where we’re not clear-or where we have emotional and psychological blocks.

For instance, you might have a lot of requests, projects, tasks and other things on your desk you really want to say No to. So you put off responding to avoid saying No. Meanwhile the sticky notes and stacks of paper pile up and distract you. There may also be circumstances in which you have to make decisions that are difficult or uncomfortable. So rather than struggle with the discomfort, you let the incompletes pile up.

Some incompletions come from simply not having adequate systems, knowledge or because of our bad work habits.

So who to get into Completion Consciousness?

Take a look the The Cycle of Completion Steps:

1. Decide

2. Plan

3. Start

4. Continue

5. Finish

6. Complete

Each of these steps is required to succeed at anything, to get a desired result, to finish.

Continually ask yourself “What does it take to actually get this task completed?” Then you can begin to consciously take that next step of filling completed documents, calling a clients to complete a contract or making payments, etc.

The truth is that 20 things completed have more power that 50 things half completed.

Action steps:

How many things do you need to complete, dump, or delegate before you can move on and bring new activity, abundance, relationships or excitement into your life? Make a list, choose four items, write down how you’ll complete each task. Start completing them. Choose those that would immediately free up the most time, energy or space for you – whether it’s mental space or physical space.

Also add what’s irritating you. Like incompletes, daily irritants are equally damaging to your success because they, too, take up attention units.

What is your favourite way for making space for something new?