Clean your Windows! (No, Seriously.)
Let’s face it: there are certain chores in life that we rarely celebrate. If your weekend highlight reel includes phrases like, "We replaced our water heater—best Saturday ever!" or, "Can't wait to show you our amazing new toilet!", you might be in the minority. Right up there with these mundane household activities is another universally thrilling chore—cleaning your windows.
Windows typically exist quietly in the background of our lives. They let sunlight in, offer nice views, and in exchange, we mostly ignore them. Occasionally we glance at them and think, "Hmm, probably should clean those someday," and then promptly do something else—usually anything else. After all, windows never seem to reach that mysterious “critical” state of dirtiness we imagine must exist somewhere.
But then, on those rare and inspired days when you finally grab the glass cleaner and tackle the task, the transformation can be truly astonishing. Suddenly the sunlight feels brighter, colors outside become richer, and you're embarrassingly amazed at what you've been missing. I mean, who knew the world was in HD?
As I sit here in my office today, proudly admiring my sparkling clean windows (don’t judge, it’s been a while), I'm watching two birds enthusiastically building their nest in a vibrantly green tree across the street. It struck me—perhaps due to mild oxygen deprivation from cleaning fumes—that cleaning windows might actually be good for our souls and our perspectives.
Recently, I’ve spent quite a bit of time deep in self-reflection, which, depending on the day, can be either incredibly insightful or mildly painful (and occasionally both). But this window-cleaning epiphany made me realize something profound: just as literal windows become cloudy without us noticing, so do our internal lenses—the mental and emotional windows through which we view the world.
The more emotionally invested I become in my perspective or a particular challenge, the less likely I am to notice if my viewpoint has gotten a little dusty—or frankly, completely fogged over. Taking intentional time to clean that lens and refresh my perspective is surprisingly helpful. Sometimes the result is reassuring—I discover my thinking wasn't that dirty after all, validating my (obviously) brilliant insights. Other times, I realize I'd been viewing things through the intellectual equivalent of grimy glasses.
At Discover Strategies, clarity is what we help our clients achieve. We support teams and leaders in seeing clearly, because decisions become easier, problems feel more manageable, and opportunities look brighter when your windows—literal or metaphorical—aren't clouded by smudges and fingerprints.
So, next time you're deep in thought, tackling a tough decision, or just feeling stuck, do yourself a favor: consciously take time to clean your mental windows. Who knows? You might realize things weren’t as complicated as they seemed, or at the very least, you'll discover your neighbor’s landscaping is nicer than you remembered.
If you'd like to chat about this further, share your window-cleaning adventures, or even discuss the relative excitement levels of water heater installations, feel free to comment below, shoot me an email at Jonathan@DiscoverStrategies.com, or schedule a chat.
Thanks for your time, and always remember to Discover More (like how many bird nests are actually in that tree).