Ever felt like if you had to make another decision your head would explode? That’s sign you need to declutter your mind.
Decluttering your life and becoming organized starts with one important but easily-overlooked step. You need to declutter your mind first.
If your home and office looked anything like mine last week, it is long overdue for a declutter. While my office isn’t as neat as I’d like it to be, it’s as neat as it’s going to be before I move back into my office in the city. Research shows that if the spaces you inhabit are cluttered and disorganized, chances are your mind is too. Mental clutter creates restlessness, moving between brooding over the past to worrying about the future. You know it’s cluttered when you go through your mental to-do list and are overwhelmed at the thought of what you need to do. And that’s not all, mental clutter is exhausting and fruitless. It stops you from getting things done.
Here are 5 tips for getting back in control and decluttering your mind.
1. Declutter your environment
If all you can see is chaos, your mind will be in overdrive all the time as there’s always something that needs doing. You might not notice it at first because it’s whirring away in the background, until it isn’t. When you tidy up your space, things stop being overwhelming and you will feel more organized and in control. That will be a good time for you to see if in fact anything needs doing.
2. Start keeping lists
Free up your mental space and keep anxiety at bay by writing lists. Checklists and to-do lists will keep your tasks ordered and allow you to prioritize. Use whatever method suits you best – a notebook, diary, wall planner, smartphone app or online tool. Lists decrease the background whirring your mind needs to do.
3. Write it down
Get all those worries, ideas and what ifs out of your head by writing them down. That’s especially useful if you can’t sleep because your monkey mind has gone into overdrive. Keeping a journal will help you work through whatever is worrying you. Often things look a lot less worrisome when they’re on paper. In fact, studies have shown that writing problems down helps the brain to process and find solutions.
4. Leave the past behind
A lot of mind clutter is caused by brooding over past events, whether it’s past hurts or things you wish you had said or done, opportunities you wish you had taken or actions you regret. All of these preoccupations take up space and energy in your mind that could be available for much more creative projects. Worst of all, and I know you know this, but mulling over the past is fruitless. You can’t change the past, but you can let go of things that are distracting you by recognizing you did the best you could at the time. This allows you to focus on your in your present, and be in the moment.
5. Focus on one thing at a time
Lets’ face it, multitasking is overrated. Trying to answer an email, take a phone call and do your monthly budget all at once is likely to leave you with lots of things half-done and feeling exhausted. You’re much more likely to make mistakes and become overwhelmed. I know that was true for me when I multi-tasked and I didn’t even do it well! There were lots of started projects and few completed ones which only made me feel worse about myself. Focus on doing one thing at a time, and you will be calmer and have a completed to-do list of tasks completed properly.
In summary, if you want to declutter your mind so you have energy and enthusiasm for the projects you really enjoy, then for best results you should be using all 5 of these strategies regularly. I do, and I credit them for a great deal of my own success. So, give them a try and see what they can do for you too
