I’ve been right where you are and it seems like you’ll never fully clear out your mind, but that isn’t the case.
The key to decluttering your mind and living intentionally is by creating systems that support you. Odds are you haven’t had that until now, and the change you’re about to experience through implementing the things within this post is going to be life-changing!
It is possible to have an uncluttered mind. Let me show you how!
How to declutter your mind
There are nine key things you need to do to declutter your mind. The best way to implement them is one step at a time.
You’ll start with the first step, conquer it, then move onto the next step. This takes time, so don’t rush it.
1 // Start uncluttering your mind with a thought download [brain dump]
Grab a notebook and start writing anything and everything that comes to your mind. What thoughts have been on repeat in your mind and what just randomly surfaces?
Keep writing it all out until you feel like you’ve written every thought possible.
Once you finish writing, start crossing off things that isn’t actually important and let release them.
By writing it all out, your brain knows it doesn’t have to keep it on repeat for you. The action of crossing off anything that isn’t important helps the thought loop complete, which is a very important step.
For the things that feel important to you, write them out in list format so that it is easy to prioritize how you will accomplish them.
Evaluate what is on your list to see if there is anything else that doesn’t really matter and cross them off.
Next, you’re going to prioritize everything that made it through two cuts and give them a time frame to be completed.
The time frame helps you feel in control of the things you believe are important. This process will take a big chunk of clutter from your mind and you may already feel complete, but there is something else you need to do to ensure you complete this thought download.
Is there something on your list that leaves you saying, “I don’t know how to do this”?
This is detrimental to the process, which means you need to take one additional step to completing the process.
You want to be decisive when planning out the things on your list, and with the thought of “I don’t know”, you’re allowing yourself to stay in confusion, which isn’t helpful at all!
All you have to do is ask yourself, “If I did know how to do this, what would I do?”
Odds are you already know, but your brain likes to keep you comfortable and doesn’t just easily deliver the answer.
By asking yourself this question, your brain searches for the answer and helps you complete your thought download.
2 // Declutter your home
Have you ever noticed that your home is a direct reflection of your mind?
If it is cluttered, odds are it is because your mind is cluttered. If it is clutter-free, odds are you feel clutter-free.
With your thought download complete, it is time to bring your home up to speed with your mind.
This is a powerful step, because you’ll feel in control of your internal and external states. It also prolongs how clear your mind is, because you aren’t worried with what all you need to tidy.
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What are your priorities? Does everything feel important to you and you feel like you cannot remove anything from your plate?
I ask, because my life gets the most hectic when I lose sight of my priorities.
Taking a few minutes to ask what is important to me and if I only had one hour each day for each priority, what would I accomplish, I easily see where my hang up is.
For a quick example, these past couple of months, my fur baby, Chevy has been my main priority. She’s gone through two surgeries and the healing process has been very slow.
I hadn’t realized the emotional toll caring for her was taking on me and still filled my work plate as if everything was normal. Within two weeks, I reached full exhaustion, but couldn’t figure out what to do about it.
When I took a few minutes to look at what was actually happening in my life, I realized I needed to change up my schedule to allow more room for my personal life.
Since then, I have taken a full day off work [which is rare for me], asked my husband for more help, and actually slept a full 12 hours to allow my body to recover.
Now that I have realigned with where my priorities actually are versus where I want them to be, I feel renewed and accepting of that.
I removed a big project from my plate until my fur baby is healed, because she is higher on my priority list. This allows me to have the room to care for her and still do things that have to get done in my business.
Sometimes it is hard to see where your priorities need to be versus where you want them to be. However, once you align with where things are and plan accordingly, things are easier.
When you determine what your priorities are for your current place in life, ask yourself what can be eliminated from your plate.
Eliminating just one thing from your plate can provide a lot of benefit.
4 // Create a schedule
Want to keep your mind clutter-free? Then you need to create a schedule that supports you!
I posted the following post on Facebook that explained how I’m now planning my weeks to support my mental health above everything else.
You cannot help others without helping yourself first, so you have to remain your #1 priority!
Step 1: Schedule breaks
The first thing you should schedule on your calendar are your breaks. This ensures that you actually do things to help you feel your best.
This is the best thing I have ever done for my mental health!
Schedule in the following: Sleep Vacation Self-care time Relaxation time [TV or reading a book] Meal time
Putting each of these things on your calendar FIRST, ensure that you don’t over commit yourself. You won’t want to break an appointment with yourself, especially if that includes vacation time or enjoying a massage.
Step 2: Schedule in work time
Obviously, you don’t want to book anything during work time, so put that on the calendar next.
If you have children that have extracurricular activities, you’ll want to put that on the calendar as well.
From here, you can see what time you have left to commit to other things.
What about the tasks that are repetitive?
For things that you do weekly, like cleaning, meal planning, and/or grocery shopping, you want to plan them to where they run efficiently and as simple as possible.
I like to clean and tidy my home daily. It usually takes less than 30 minutes a day, so I don’t have to use an entire weekend day cleaning my home. You can learn more about that here.
Ask yourself what is the simplest and quickest way to accomplish these tasks.
Does meal planning and ordering groceries on Sunday, then picking up groceries after work on Monday seem rather simple? If so, put that on your schedule and see how well it works.
If you find that doing it differently would work better for you, change it up and give that a try.
Keep fine tuning your repetitive tasks until you feel you’ve got your system down to a simple science.
I will say that meal planning is definitely the best, because it reduces how often you think about what to cook and ensures you have everything you need to execute your meals for the week!
#DeclutterYourMind
