Is Your Clutter Affecting Business?

We live in a world driven by technology. We expect everything to be available at our fingertips. We want more news to read, more stuff to buy, more apps for our mobile phone and even more options for our morning coffee. But this desire for more is often distracting and unproductive.

When you add more to your workload, you acquire more clutter. Subsequently, this affects your brain’s ability to process information and is damaging the quality of work production – but how?

Disorganised Clutter

People collect clutter for different reasons. Trying to control this clutter can be mentally challenging – more so when you’re an entrepreneur. When surrounded by clutter, you can only fulfil a small percentage of your daily requirements.

Neuroscientists at Princeton University studied people’s task performance in an organised environment compared to a disorganised environment. The results found physical clutter in immediate surroundings affects the ability to focus and results in decreased performance and increased stress.

Another study conducted by UCLA researchers that observed 32 families found all of the mothers’ stress hormones spiked when dealing with their belongings. Similar to what multitasking does to your brain, physical clutter overloads senses and impairs the ability to think clearly.

Technological Clutter

Clutter isn’t just physical. Files on your computer, social media notifications, checking emails and telephone calls are all technological clutter. This clutter can destroy your ability to focus and perform tasks well.

When you’re trying to concentrate on work but your phone is ringing every few minutes, your mind doesn’t have the chance to process tasks. When you have too much technological clutter, you cannot digest information efficiently.

On the other hand, research has found certain people need a bit of clutter in their environment to feel inspired. Sometimes a small amount of clutter makes a person feel at ease.

Simplify Clutter

Clutter, whether physical or digital, is something we all have to deal with, but it can be controlled. To control clutter, you must learn how to simplify your workload.

Simplifying is learning how to reduce your clutter. Our workspaces often accumulate clutter because most of us aren’t very good at knowing which stuff to throw away. For each piece of clutter, ask yourself these three questions:

Does the item have a purpose?

Is this idea outdated or redundant?

When was the last time I used it?

If the item fails to meet the criteria of these questions, then remove the clutter from your workplace.

A telephone answering service can help remove some of the technological clutter from your workspace. myalldayPA will answer calls just as if based in your office, creating time and saving you money.