Are you familiar with the story of the Princess and the Pea?
According to Wikipedia, it “is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a young woman whose royal identity is established by a test of her physical sensitivity. The tale was first published with three others by Andersen in an inexpensive booklet on 8 May 1835 in Copenhagen … In 1959 The Princess and the Pea was adapted to the musical stage in a production called Once Upon a Mattress starring Carol Burnett.”
Earlier this year, while writing my latest book, I worked with a writing coach. One of the effectiveness tips he gave me was “embrace the Princess and the Pea within.”
What he meant was that the best writing and deepest focus comes from addressing the physical writing atmosphere and getting rid of irritants that tend to distract us because they make us uncomfortable.
We talked about things like proper lighting, background noise, comfortable seating (all easy to address) AND we talked about clutter in the work area. My writing coach was in Edinburgh, Scotland, but when he started talking about clutter, I figured he must have a hidden camera in my office!
If you come into any of my work spaces, you are likely to find some clutter. I used to have a sign that said, “A messy desk is a sign of genius,” but it got lost in the clutter.
It’s not that I enjoy clutter. Quite the contrary! It is a constant source of irritation. The problem is that I stay so busy (excuse alert!) that I don’t have time (excuse alert!) to get everything put away. And when I get really close to having it all organized and in place, someone gives me something else that adds to it (excuse alert!).
Besides that, I really know where everything is (excuse alert and untruth!). I can work just as effectively (blatant untruth!) despite the clutter. It may just take me a little bit longer to put my hands on it or get the task completed because I sometimes get distracted by the clutter and lose my focus (truth!).
Does that sound familiar? It is not only our physical work spaces that get cluttered. Our schedules get that way. Our minds get that way. Our family time gets that way. And while we think we have adjusted to the reality and developed the ability to multi-task, we have really just lost our sensitivity. We can no longer sense our loss of focus nor recognize that we are not multi-tasking (a neurological impossibility, see links below); we are really engaging multiple tasks in rapid succession with diminishing effectiveness.
What might happen if we decided to stop the madness and “embrace the Princess and the Pea within?” Might we discover a new level of living? Might we discover that our lives matter to God and we don’t have to earn that with busy-ness? Might we embrace our royal identity as those created in His image?
Excuse me while I get back to de-cluttering.
Articles on Multi-tasking
Multi-tasking: Switching costs (American Psychological Association)
Think You’re Multi-tasking? Think again (NPR)
