When Mihaly Csekszentmihalyi was researching his book Creativity, he requested an interview with the great management thinker Peter Drucker. Drucker politely declined the invitation, explaining that if he accepted every invitation, he would not have time to create. The quote above citing the iconic VERY BIG waste paper basket is from his letter declining the invitation.

I chose to expand the use of the big trash can for more than invitations. I use my huge trash can for anything that does not bring me joy. I enjoy living in an energetic state of constant “spring cleaning”. It feels like my creativity and productivity is squashed by the weight of energetic clutter. For me, the definition of energetic clutter is anything or anyone that I keep around or accommodate that does not feed my soul.

For so many years, I kept tons of clutter around out of obligation, nostalgia, denial, blame, guilt and confusion. It seemed to be what everyone else was doing or expected, so why not? Little did I know the toll that dragging this clutter collection of people, obligations, and responsibilities was taking on my life, my creativity, my productivity and my joy.

Years before I found clarity around this subject, I accepted an invitation to a milestone birthday party for a business acquaintance. It would require my wife and me leaving our 5-year-old daughter for the weekend to fly to this event. The plan was for my daughter to go to the beach with family members and we would meet up after our trip for a short vacation together. Everything went wrong including us showing up at the airport late for our flight and without our garment bag for the event. The blame game went into full effect! What bubbled up, after much shouting, was the fact that neither of us wanted to take this trip. As we calmed down, we realized that it was not important to either of us or to our business. I had chosen to accept the invitation at great personal sacrifice, simply to demonstrate how important my relationship was with this colleague. Talk about a decision that created energetic clutter! We decided to drive home and pack our bags for the beach. We explained that we had to miss the celebration and sent a lovely gift. I realize that I have spent most of my career doing what I thought others would like me to do, or keeping and collecting things that I thought I needed to keep.

My trash can is now HUGE and at the ready. As soon as something feels obligatory rather than exciting, curious or joyful, it gets gleefully pitched! No regrets.