The Hindu Business Line : Clear out the clutter

My wife Chandrika was in a relentless mood and would brook no further delay. Wearing a hangdog expression and with a heavy sigh, I began the arduous task of cleaning out the attic in our house. What happened next was a revelation.

Kamadhenu, the divine cow, could not have matched the output of my excavations in the attic; the notable difference being that the output from my attic consisted of a mind boggling variety of junk.

These could be classified as: things that had no use at all, items that could have been useful at some point of time, mysterious objects that defied classification — the list goes on and on.

After a few hours of work, the job was done and I was exhausted but proud. It was satisfying to see the amount of empty space that had been created and could be put to good use. More importantly, I radiated a virtuous glow that seemed to last a long time!

Cluttered mind space

Sounds familiar? When we examine our habits at work, I think it is a safe assumption that our memory banks are much like attics that are chockfull of things, most of them probably of dubious value.

This detritus builds up insidiously and with inexorable momentum over a period of time. Each nugget seems most vital at a point in time and is saved diligently. The net result is a cluttered mind space that cries out for periodic cleaning.

The diligently hoarded items choke the memory that can be most readily accessed and makes it difficult to make sense of the information.

In such a scenario, our progress towards an optimal solution resembles travelling on Bangalore roads today — a series of hops over careworn avenues full of potholes, with numerous detours thrown in. The net result is chaos and arrival at the desired destination is more by chance and divine blessing than through expertise.

The choked system prevents further inputs from being taken in and processed efficiently.

We bring the same level of attention to storing junk even when we use gadgets like PCs and laptops that increasingly serve as extensions of our own internal data banks. Over the last few years, the cost of storage of data has become very cheap and we use this vast storage space by piling up more and more clutter with the pious intention that all such data will somehow be useful some day.

Loading negative emotions

A similar attitude is displayed when it comes to storing up emotions and feelings as well. This is but natural and this is how our system builds up responses to people and situations. What is of concern is the fact that our systems most often get over loaded with negative emotions based on past incidents and interactions.

In some cases these negative memories seem to get permanently etched and appear impervious to removal. The overhang of negative sentiments also sucks up the mind’s processing bandwidth and not only makes the decision-making process slow, but also prone to errors.

Much like what we can expect to happen if we were to drive our cars with our eyes focused more on the rear view mirror instead of the windscreen.

The combination of data and emotional clutter holds people back from realising their full potential in organisational settings and produces sub optimal growth for the concerned individuals. Collectively, it can severely constrain the growth of the firm itself.

Our world today demands swiftness of response. This presupposes an uncluttered mind space. The more we take a metaphorical broom to the clutter in our minds, be it data or emotions, the better prepared we will be to face the world’s daily challenges. The trick is to take in data but process it quickly, to separate the wheat from the chaff; equally important is to let go of negative emotions fast. Northcote Parkinson, a famous management writer of the 1960s had it right when he famously said: “Work expands to fill the time available.” We just need to make sure that ‘Clutter does not expand to fill the mind space available.’

(The writer is advisor to 3i Infotech, Manipal Education & Medical Group and IDFC Pvt Equity.)

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