how tidying can improve your creativity

and what I'm learning from 90's sales advice

Hi, friend.

Today I want to talk with you about creativity.

Tidying is the process of keeping only what’s really important to you and discarding the rest - whether that’s tidying physical possessions, a collection of ideas, or activities in your weekly schedule. 

Three key components to creativity are solitude, silence, and stillness. Inspiration may come from other people, or loudly, or in motion, but creation itself happens from within the expanse of white spaces.

Solitude, silence, and stillness are difficult to cultivate among clutter. 

Everyone is creative, in one way or another. We meal plan, we make our daily schedules, we write text messages and Instagram captions, and we try to make meaning out of life. How is your creativity doing? Which area could you use some more white space in: solitude, silence, or stillness?

Hit reply and let me know the most recent thing you’ve created.

Cheers,

Amy

p.s. What I’m reading.

Every newsletter I’ll share what I’m reading and what it’s teaching me about tidying. Right now I’m reading an oldie from my dad’s bookshelf called Ziglar on Selling: The Ultimate Handbook for the Complete Sales Professional of the Nineties. Yes. It’s a book for salesmen published in 1991. And its wisdom has a surprising amount of endurance - 30 years later I’m practically drooling over Ziglar’s advice.

One of my favorite lines so far is this: “The surefire way to end a slump: Return to fundamentals with the proper attitude.” Of course, Ziglar is talking about a slump in sales, but isn’t this true in any area? It’s made me want to rethink what the fundamentals are for me in areas like exercise, diet, faith - and of course, tidying. 

What are some of the “fundamentals” that we need to return to when we are in a slump of clutter? Be encouraged that you can always return to the basics of discarding things you no longer need and putting things away after you’ve used them. These are the two basic principles from which all other tidying advice flows.