Lesson Twenty-Eight: My Junk

We’ve been getting ready to move house.Packing up boxes, and emptying out closets of long-forgotten things. I’ve realized that at least 25% of everything we have in this house is junk I could easily do without.With every move, it seems our junk gets packed into boxes, carted to the new house, unpacked, and forgotten about again.

My wife, Jess, is becoming ruthless about throwing things away. She’s an inspiration. But, even with her sharp eye, we end up with a house full of things we don’t need or use. Junk.

Deep down I know it’s because I find my junk comforting. I’m used to it. It’s an extension of me. It’s safe. But the fact that it comforts me doesn’t make it right.

How many of us are like this in our businesses? Burdened with junk we don’t need. Processes that don’t really work anymore. Training that hasn’t been dusted off in years. Beliefs that have never been questioned. Assumptions we’ve long since forgotten were assumptions.

I’ll bet it’s more of us than we care to admit.

This junk accumulates without much effort.The real trick is keeping it in check.

Let’s make a deal—I’ll change if you will.

Open up that metaphoric closet that your business resides in and shake off the cobwebs. Everything that is potentially junk has to go. If you haven’t used it, written on it, met about it, or made money from it in the last 3 months, toss it. Chances are it wasn’t of any use in the first place.

If you’re worried that your junk is irreplaceable, I guarantee you that inside 6 months your closet will be bursting again.


Principles of Persuassion by Shane Spark