By Bill Boyajian

We've been redoing the floors upstairs in our home, so it means taking everything out of every room and moving it, only to have to move it all back in after the work is done. It's a pain, but it has to be done. What's more alarming is the stuff in our closets that has accumulated over the years. It's a bit scary.

We've also been going through the garage with a merciless purge of items that we have never used yet have somehow kept for unknown reasons. We aren't packrats, but it would be hard to argue us out of it if you were helping us clean up.

During this process of clearing out stuff that gets accumulated, it made me think of the clutter inside our businesses and even our lives. Our heads get so full of thoughts, opinions, and garbage that we have to do some mental gymnastics just to bring in new thoughts and ideas. Our minds get so entrenched with our past experiences that we can hardly fill them with anything new unless we purge those thoughts to allow new thinking to emerge.

Maybe it's time to reflect on what needs to be cleared out - physically and mentally. Otherwise we'll just hang on to valueless items far too long. Worse yet, we'll hold on to outdated and irrelevant beliefs and opinions that keep us from thinking and learning anew.

Is it time for cleaning house?