The Blank Slate

Do you ever think about how complex your life has become?

While you chase your dreams and meet the goals you have set, your lives get so confusing, slowly.

The puzzling nature of things goes on, one small step at a time.

I wake up in the morning, check some key business metrics, go for a walk, do some exercise, take bath, eat breakfast, rush to the office and then get involved in diverse activities that I have allowed in my life.

The clutter multiplies.

Who’s the creator of such a cluttered life?

Me.

Who allows so many challenges (read: opportunities, threats, scarcity mindset, fire in the belly to make it happen …) to visit me often?

Me.

It’s because I want to see myself at the apex of what I consider my mountain.

It’s because I still have what is called the scarcity mindset: If I don’t do XYZ thing, I might lose on something important.

It’s because I feel I’m incomplete; it’s because I want to accomplish something; it’s because I want to make a difference.

If our life were a project with a non-negotiable goal to experience it fully, isn’t the clutter that we allow happening a “Scope Crepe”?

We are born into this world to experience our life fully. Anything that prevents us to do that is a scope crepe.

Clutter.

“Should we not chase our dreams? Should we not chase excellence? Should we not cultivate the achiever mindset?”

Don’t ask these questions.

Instead, ask a better one: are we experiencing this very moment without worrying about losing on something important in the future?

No?

All these questions; all these to-dos or not-to-do things; all these wise or silly looking decisions; all these right or wrong things; the complicated mess …

Okay, I want to get rid of this complicated mess but how?

Start with a blank slate.

A blank slate is neither cluttered nor uncluttered. It’s just that – a blank slate. The Blank slate means nothingness. Nothingness has the capability of creating something.

Nothingness is a possibility. A possibility to create an uncluttered life for you if you choose to create it.

A blank slate has limited space. What would you write on it?

For me, I might put some quality time with people who matter to me; traveling to unknown lands; exploring different cultures; long walks along with good friends; creating a state of health that I’m proud of; indulging in the work that gives me joy and continuous learning.

Those are the things that I’d write on my blank slate; because they feel appropriate to me. What would you choose?

Once we’ve figured out what we want to write on our blank slate, we know what makes our life worth living … now we just need to consciously be aware of all what we are doing and ask: “Is this one of the items I would write on my blank slate?”

No?

You know what to do.