- MYFI Monthly
- Posts
- MY⚡️FI MONDAY
MY⚡️Feature
featured piece of advice for creatives and creative leaders
KILL THE CLUTTER
Can you believe it? We are just a few days away from wrapping up 2023. This year seems to have flown by in a blink. I hope that you get some time to get your mind and your heart around everything that happened in your life this year, both the good and the not so good.
It’s important to take stock of what happens in our lives. We need to celebrate and be grateful for the good things and appropriately process the tough things we went through as well. It’s necessary to process those things so we can ready our minds, our hearts, our schedules, our goals, and even our spaces for what we hope to accomplish in 2024.
I want to give you a simple task to do over the next couple of weeks… declutter.
It’s no surprise that as a year goes on we pick up things that we didn’t anticipate. Your car breaks down, maybe you switched jobs, moved, lost a loved one, got your dream gig out of nowhere, met the love of your life, etc… And all of those things have an impact on our lives.
By the end of the year our circumstances have changed, our schedules are packed, our office or studio is a mess, and we are just trying to get everything we can wrapped up before the end of the year. Life gets cluttered very easily and before we know it our minds, our spaces, and our schedules are a mess.
I want to encourage you to take those 3 areas of your life and declutter so that you can start the year fresh, energized, and simplified.
Declutter your schedule
Take a look at your calendar and really ask your self if your appointments, your meetings, and your daily routine are working for you. Then remove the things that aren’t helping you live the life you want to live.
Maybe that recurring meeting isn’t necessary anymore. Maybe that zoom call can be every other week instead of every week. Maybe you need to workout in the evening instead of the morning. Simply look over your schedule and declutter things so you can see what’s important. Then put things in the most efficient and effective place you can in your schedule.
Declutter your space
This is about where you work. If you’re like me, my studio can get destroyed so quickly. I’m constantly moving cables, changing instruments, keeping charts, updating gear, and downloading new software. Your space can be a lot to manage!
Take a look at your physical space. Your studio, your desk, your entire work area. Clean things up, maybe even dust, haha! Get the physical things in order. Go through drawers and clean things out. Get organized. Sell the things that you don’t need and re-organize the things that you do. Set yourself up for efficiency and a great work flow.
Then take a look at your digital space. Re-organize your computer desktop. Back up your files and make sure that you folders are organized in a way that you find things you need easily. You can also spend some time updating software and ensuring that any subscriptions are up to date. Get rid of things you don’t need. Empty your trash on your computer and start the new year with an organized digital space!
Declutter your mind
This is the most difficult and the most personal. I mentioned something things before, but I think it’s so necessary to process the things that happened in our lives this year. That may lead you to throw a party to celebrate a great year or it could lead you to the realization that you should talk with a counselor or a therapist. Don’t be afraid to face the things that have happened in your life and appropriately respond. The worst thing we can do is just stuff things away and not deal with them appropriately.
I am no counselor, but I coach creative people almost every day and we are a complex bunch to say the least.
Talk a walk, set aside some time to pray or meditate, spend some time with a friend talking through your year, or journal about the things you went through. There are a lot of great ways to declutter our minds and process the things that happened in our lives in 2023.
Create new space for innovation by processing and eliminating the things that crowd you.
I hope you had a great year and I hope you get some time to declutter your schedule, your space, and your mind before 2024 is upon us. It’s going to be a great year!
I’ve created a tool that could help with this. It’s called the MY⚡️FI CREATIVE CLARITY PLANNER and you can get it FREE by clicking the link.
MY⚡️Follows
The Awakened Creative
(@the.awakened.creative) is an incredible account run by creative coach and consultant Alex Eynstone. He posts incredible insights for artists and musicians and offers 1 on 1 coaching and other resources.
Writers and Rockers
(@writersandrockers) is a Canadian coffee company that makes fantastic coffee in conjunction with writers and musicians. They have blends from Todd Kerns, LA Guns, Orianthi, and more.
The Wise Musician
(@wise_musician) posts clips of interviews with musicians that will inspire, encourage, and challenge you. I repost things from this account all the time. It’s wonderfully curated and always inspiring.
MY⚡️Finds
cool stuff I found this week
CLIP
Clip is a fantastic website that provides education for musicians about rights management, ownership, and how you can get paid from your music. The music industry can be a mysterious place, but CLIP provides education and resources that demystify the music industry and educate you so that you can manage the rights to your works in a knowledgable way. Check it out here!
Urban Creative Clothing
UCC is a UK based clothing company that believes in creativity, expression, and art in all forms. They seek to help creatives dress according to their values by providing clothing that is comfortable, functional, and expressive. They believe in quality over quantity and it definitely shows. Check them out here!
MY⚡️Favorites
some of my favorite sights, sounds, and reads
Ultimate Guitar
Ultimate guitar is a website that I have used for YEARS. They have charts, tabs, and music for almost every song imaginable and they host a load of other resources that can help you grow as a guitarist. There’s also a great community of people to connect with and places to share your own work. Check it out here!
Echo in the Canyon
This incredible documentary was created by Jakob Dylan from the Wallflowers. He connects with artists from the Laurel Canyon years of the early 70s and revisits the impact that music has had on so many. He also re-records some of those hits with some guest artists.
MY⚡️FI Podcast
a podcast about the journey of creativity
Ep. 040 :: Tim Turnquist
On the newest episode of MYFI we are joined by Tim Turnquist. Tim is the Associate Creative Director at American Express and works in their internal creative agency called OnBrand. There he leads teams that create websites, ad campaigns, commercials, social media content, and more for one of the biggest financial companies in the world. Jump in the conversation as we talk about leading creative teams, finding out he scripted a Super Bowl commercial while watching the Super Bowl, and which authors inspired his love for the written word.
MY⚡️FI Blog
monthly blog for creatives and creative leaders
Is Something Holding You Back?
On the blog this month I share a little bit about some simple things that could be keeping you from winning in your creative career. You can also check out some past entries on the phases of creativity and the power of creative clarity. Check it out HERE and share the blog with a friend!