Cleaning Up Your Digital Energy {Ep 212 B’Day Fun D5}

Your screen isn’t neutral. It’s an environment shaping your energy, authority, and results. Today I pull back the curtain on digital clutter and decision fatigue, and I get practical about building a calmer, more focused workflow that actually supports your goals. From the myth of “thriving in chaos” to the real cost of 110 billion open tabs, this conversation turns vague stress into clear choices you can make right now.

I start with the nervous system toll of visual noise like overflowing inboxes, a messy desktop, and constant notifications that fracture attention. Then I move to simple, high-leverage steps. Pick one digital zone and finish it, unsubscribe without guilt, delete duplicates, and create a folder system where assets have a home. You’ll hear why boundaries like response windows and twice-daily email checks aren’t just etiquette, they’re performance tools that reduce reactivity and help you lead your day. I also make a strong case for protecting the first and last hour of your day to curb anxiety, improve sleep, and avoid burnout.

What’s unique here is the blend of mindset and mechanics. I tie cleaner screens to better client experiences, faster retrieval, and a steadier presence on calls. Order creates steadiness, and steadiness creates speed. That’s how you turn calm into competitive advantage. Whether you’re a founder, creator, or team lead, you’ll walk away with a framework for digital harmony that isn’t about perfection. It’s about self-respect and sustainable execution.

If you’re ready to trade reactivity for clarity, hit play, choose one zone to clean, and tell us what you’ll tackle first. Subscribe, leave a quick review to share your favorite takeaway, and pass this along to a friend who could use a calmer screen today.

Transcript

Welcome & Why Digital Energy

How Clutter Drains Focus

Decision Fatigue And Open Loops

Start Small And Finish One Zone

Unsubscribe And Delete Without Guilt

Boundaries: Notifications And Response Windows

Protect Mornings, Evenings, And Burnout Risk

Order Creates Steadiness And Speed

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Hi everyone and welcome to this episode of Chusay Talks with Darlene. Today I want to talk about cleaning up your digital energy. Now we talk a lot about cleaning the physical space because we can actually see it really clearly. Like looking at my desk now, I can see what I've got on here. We talk about, you know, having nice clean desks, um, clear closets, all fresh start. We talk about all of that. But a lot of us, we might work at a desk or we might not. We work inside our phones, we work inside the computers, inside our inboxes, inside those 10 billion tabs that you've got open. That's actually a thing that my friend came up with, and I loved it. 110 billion tabs open, 110 billion notebooks. We've got that. That happens all the time. And if your digital world is chaotic, then think about it. Your body, your nervous system feels that because your brain is looking at these 110 billion tabs that are open, going, oh my goodness, and then your body kicks in and goes, oh my goodness. And today I want to talk about clearing up your digital energy, not to, you know, like look good, instead to protect your focus, your clarity, and even your energy. You're protecting all of that. When you think about it, your digital space is actually a work environment. Your inbox is like a room. If it's overflowing, your brain registers unfinished business every time you open it. Think about if your closet's overflowing, your brain looks and goes, Oh my goodness. Same thing with an inbox. The open tabs are like open loops. The mental energy leaks when nothing feels closed. Think about that. You've got all of those tabs open. Imagine it like your kitchen, every single cupboard and your fridge and dishwasher and everything is open. If you look at that, imagine the energy that's actually leaking from all that. If your fridge is open, think of the electricity that's being wasted. The same thing with the open tabs. And when you've got all those constant notifications, they actually fracture your energy, they even fracture your authority. You cannot do your work if everything is pulling at you. And before you look at reorganizing anything, you need to understand what it's actually costing you. Now, of course, we all work differently. All our brains work differently. Yet when we think about energy, this is actually correct for you no matter who you are. And I'm saying that, I'm being firm with that. No matter who or what who you are, what you know, whether you've got depression, anxiety, ADD, HD, whatever it is, this still means the same because we all have energy. And that digital clutter drains you more than you think. Decision fatigue builds quietly. Every unread email and random screenshot asks your brain to decide later. Okay, I'm gonna do that later. I'll just take a screenshot and I'll do it later. How many screenshots do you have that are not organized? This visual noise creates background stress. It is unconscious, yet your body is still feeling it. A messy desktop isn't neutral, it's low-level tension. You lose power when you're in reaction reaction mode. If you're constantly responding, then you're not directing, you're not taking action. This isn't about perfection, it's about reclaiming control. Now, some people say they love a messy messy desk, some people say they love having 110 billion tabs open. I am telling you, wrong. Wrong. Your nervous system, your brain, your body, it feels that, it knows all of this because as I said, everything's energy. If there is everything physical and digital that is taking your attention, guess what? It does make it harder to run your business again. It's not about perfection. We want to look at whether it's physical or digital. I'm only talking digital, but let's talk about physical as well. Clean with intention, not obsession. Don't be obsessed about it. Start with one zone, it could just be your inbox, it might be your desktop, it might be your photo role. Pick one and finish it. You might want to do five minutes a day. You look at your inbox and you just do five minutes and you sort something out. You unsubscribe from everything you don't need. That's something I need to do again. I need to do that. And unsubscribe without guilt. Because I can tell you from someone that has an email list, if you're there and you're not opening any of those emails, that is affecting the person, it is affecting their deliverability. If you're not reading the emails, then unsubscribe. It doesn't serve your current season. If it doesn't serve your current season, it goes. Let it go. Delete like you mean it. You don't need digital souvenirs of everything. So if you've got 10 of the same photo, delete them, have one. Because once that noise is reduced, something important happens. You start creating digital boundaries. Yes, you start creating digital boundaries, you turn off non-essential notifications. I honestly have them all turned off. I have everything turned off because that is something I personally need. I don't feel there's anything in business that isn't an emergency. For me, an emergency is something that is life-threatening. That's an emergency. How many times has you know, Facebook has gone down before? Did I care? No. I had other things that I could do. I didn't need any of that. And sent sent response windows. You don't need to answer everything immediately. When you look at your emails, check them twice a day. You don't need to check them any more than that. As I said, as far as I'm concerned, nothing is an emergency. If my website goes down, guess what? Too bad. Too bad. I'll deal with it. I'll figure something out. I'm not going to stress over it. I'm not going to stress over it. Like my podcast at the moment, I'm trying to sort it out. I've lost seasons one to four. It's gone because the transfer from one to another has gone chaotic. Am I so stressed about it? No. I'm letting it be. I'm contacting, I've contacted the people, I'm letting it be. They will come back. My podcast episodes will come back. And I want you to protect the first hour and last hour of your day. No inbox before your brain is online. No scrolling before you sleep. Because guess what it's doing to your body, to your nervous system? It is affecting it. And every time you do this, it builds up and it builds up and it builds up. And you're going to end up burnt out. You're going to end up overstressed and everything. And it will happen. I am telling you point blank. If you don't start doing something now, you will burn out. And you'll you could end up totally throwing out your business. You don't want that. You started this business for a reason. So respect yourself and respect your business. You are not respecting your business by having 110 billion tabs open, by not organizing things. You are not respecting yourself or your business. And this is where the deeper shift comes in. Because digital harmony and physical harmony is nervous system care. We want to care for you and we want to care for your business. A calm screen supports clear thinking. What you see affects how you actually run your business, whether you take action or not. Order creates steadiness. If you need chaos for a minute, then allow the chaos to happen. Clean up though. Your brain doesn't like chaos in the long term. Chaos in the long term affects you. There's plenty of scientific research out there to prove all of this. Go and find it. Go and find it because it's so true. And when your digital space is clean, you feel more decisive. Guess what? When I create an episode, I put it in a folder. I know where it is. And I separate the audio and the visual. I've got transcripts, I've got clips. All of them are in folders. They are organized. Do you know how quick it is to find things? I've got a friend who downloads things. And do you know how long it takes her to find something? It takes her ages. And yet when I do it, it takes me no time at all because boom, there it is. A friend helped me set up the folder system. So I know where things go. If I download something, I know where I'm putting it. Like these episodes, I know exactly where they go. I have them organized. When I create the cover pictures, guess what? They go. I have got order and it helps steady me. I am decisive. I've got things done. Now this is you being the owner of your business, being the CEO, whatever you want to call it, it's not aesthetics. It's not, oh, it's it looks nice. It's nothing to do with that. You're shaping the environment that you operate in. If you operate in chaos, guess what your business is going to be? It is going to be chaotic. You're not going to have a beautiful onboarding system because everything is chaotic. Your clients are going to feel chaotic because your digital and physical space are chaotic. I want you to think about the energy of your business and think about how your clients are going to feel, whether they're free or whether they're paid clients, it doesn't matter. How do they feel when they come into your environment? And if your phone feels heavy, if your inbox makes you tense before you even read it, that is not small. Your digital space is where you live professionally. How do you want to show up? Do you want to show up with authority, with confidence, or do you want to show up a chaotic? I have had on calls where a coach has tried to find something and they couldn't. Guess what I do? I look and I go, you know what? I don't want to be around that energy. I have learned so much about energy in my life that I know who I want to be around. And I don't want to be around people like that. I want you to clean your digital space with intention. Set boundaries firmly. Protect your attention like it matters because it does. Digital harmony isn't about minimization, it's about self-respect. And when your external environment feels steady, then you lead from a steadier place too. And yes, I did get firm with you because I am over people saying things like, I need the chaos, I need this. This is how I operate. Again, how do you want your clients to feel when they come in? If everything is chaotic and you can't find things, that is how your client is going to feel. Something to think about. And I thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode. And I'm wishing you a wonderful day wherever you are in this world.