Does clutter impact your leadership?

As an executive coach, I am a steadfast believer in the principle that strong, impactful leadership reflects the leader’s willingness to look inside themselves to discern where they are strong and where they need to grow. We grow our leadership when we start with an honest and thoughtful assessment of ourselves. In “Outer Order Inner Calm” author Gretchen Rubin makes the case that there is a direct correlation between our external environment and our internal state of well-being. She asserts that clutter in our environment reflects a cluttered state of mind. In my coaching work with executives, I often see how external clutter can represent procrastination and an inability to make decisions, hindering focus and creativity. It shows up in cluttered desks, overflowing email inboxes, unopened texts, and lost voicemails. The clutter can get in the way of what is most important in work and in relationships, robbing us of physical and emotional energy. We lose focus, hindering our impact and distracting us from what matters most. Clutter can also contribute to an increase in unproductive emotions such as shame, defeat, and questions of self-worth. We can’t change what we aren’t willing to see. While leadership impact isn’t as simple as a clean desk, taking an honest look at our physical and intellectual clutter can trigger some powerful growth that leads to greater impact. How do internal and external clutter impact your ability to thrive?