Unclog things fully to free up time and energy for what matters.
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Yes I did create this image with AI - and yes I did leave the frame quote as is for this newsletter. And yes I did find it soothing to have a grandma clear the pipes.
TLDR: If you have something you keep pushing back on your to-do list or only solving halfway, this is for you. Whether that's a frustrating employee, a worrisome job search, a health issue, or something else. I view these as clogs in the system - draining energy and time away from things that matter. Here’s a mindset shift and 5-minute exercise to lift the weight and move on.
"I want to regularly audit what’s clogging me up and unclog it.”
This came from a client of mine recently. A founder of an early-stage startup. When we started, he was working more hours than he wanted and feeling behind. His team was making progress, but not as fast as he wanted. And he was spending too much time managing contractors and answering email and not enough time on big needle-moving projects.
For six months, we’ve been systematically tackling what’s been standing in the way of him reaching his goals, faster, while also living a day-to-day life he feels great about, at work and at home.
That meant clarifying long-term and 6-month goals in work and in life, creating an org design to support that, hiring people he can trust to own parts of the business, adding meeting structures that don't bog them down but actually speed things up, and making mindset shifts on how he approaches his work and how he leads others.
Each of these felt like clogs getting sorted out. All in the name of achieving goals faster, removing himself as a bottleneck, building a team that can scale, and freeing up his time to focus on the highest value projects only he can do (while sleeping more and actually enjoying vacation.) It’s a work in progress.
He said this to me around the same time I had my own revelation about clogs.
Clogs are the things that drain my time and energy and stand in the way of living the day-to-day life I want.
About two months ago, I realized I had a bunch of things that had been clogged for months, if not years. Things I was partially resolving, or not resolving at all.
Gut and knee issues I wasn’t getting help for. Financial admin tasks like setting up an HSA or getting disability insurance that sat on my to do list but never got done. Tension with a friend I wasn’t resolving head on - just ruminating about. Some small clogs. Some big ones. Some in between.
In hindsight, I think I found comfort in the clogged pipes.
There was safety in staying with the problems I had in front of me vs. clearing them out and having wide open space to let in whatever’s on the other side. Maybe there were bigger clogs hidden behind the harmless ones that I wasn’t ready to face. Or maybe I’d get bored or feel analysis paralysis with the free mental space.
Half clearing the clogs.
My default M.O. is often to take a small action to resolve the clog halfway, then move on to something else.
Do some PT exercises vs. a complete program. Research how to open an HSA, but then push back the task week after week. Talk through my worries in therapy, but not have the conversation.
For my clients, halfway solving a clog looks like planning to hire around a bad performer, vs. designing an org that hums with the right people in the right seats. Or having a few exploratory conversations to see what other jobs are out there vs. taking stock of what they really want and intentionally going out to find it.
It's like going out to clear the gutters of a house, but never finishing. Instead of doing one at a time, I'll take a few leaves out of one, move to the next, go around the back, then go get a snack and watch TV. Then be annoyed that the gutters aren't cleared. No bueno.
Taking small actions is great. But half-clearing has a cost.
Clogs stand in the way of being present with friends and family - time passes but I'm not really there, my mind elsewhere. Instead of making real progress at work that I’m excited about, I'm stuck spinning and feeding imposter syndrome, comparing myself to others. Instead of getting exercise, endorphins, and social time with friends, I’m stuck at home “resting” my knee and worrying about needing surgery one day.
If I can actually take a step back and see what's happening, I can clear the clog and get back to the stuff I actually want to be doing.
Clearing the clog completely.
With some inspiration from a few people in my life who are excellent at fully clearing clogs, I've been changing my M.O.
I now view myself as the Head of the Factory of my work and life. Taking a step back to look at the system as a whole, seeing what's most clogged, and systematically tackling them until they're resolved - or at least on maintenance mode.
As an update: my knee is feeling much better with regular PT, I found a dietitian I’m excited about, my friendship issue was resolved with so much love and gratitude, and I have time blocked off this week to tackle the financial tasks.
It’s a work in progress, but it feels like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. My current clogs are in little boxes on a single piece of paper, and as I solve them fully, I shade them in with crayons which is just joyful and gratifying.
More clogs will most definitely surface - I'm not one to stop going after new things. But at least I'm building the muscle for clearing vs. staying with the same stuck energy.
And as a bonus: interestingly, the bigger problems I was avoiding before seem more solvable. Like I’ve built more trust in my ability to tackle a clog, so why not just tackle a bigger clog the same way?
The 5-minute unclogging exercise.
If you want to try this yourself, here's a quick exercise:
Pick one clog that feels especially frustrating right now.
Close your eyes and visualize: imagine it's 6 months from now. What would it look like if this were completely resolved? How would you feel instead? What would your work and life look like day-to-day?
What would help you fully unclog it? Maybe it's blocking time on your calendar each week for the next 6 weeks, asking someone for help or accountability, or exploring what has you resisting removing this clog altogether.
Bonus: What could you do to prevent this from clogging up again?
If you have 30 minutes: imagine you’re the Head of the Factory for your work and life. Take a step back and ask yourself: what's been weighing me down? Jot down anything and everything that comes to mind. (Getting them out of your brain is already half the battle.) Group them into related buckets if they’re all part of one clog. Then systematically solve them one at a time and reward yourself when done. (Tip: work backwards from an upcoming vacation or milestone date - can you get them cleared before then?)
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