Clutter affects more than your physical space
Your thoughts affect your ability to focus and be effective.
This is a busy season. The end of the calendar year coincides both with the new year and some major holidays. 2022 goals are coming due (and next year’s need to be set) and holiday parties and gift wrapping and social gatherings and shopping and cleaning and goal setting and annual reviews and a million other things all need to be completed before that calendar ticks over to 2023.
It can be stressful and overwhelming. But does it need to be?
What can you do to help ease the stress and activity? How can you make the coming new year your best year ever?
The answer is to declutter your mind.
Clutter does more than just clog your closets and drawers. A cluttered mind can be as destructive – even more so – than a desktop where you can’t find anything, a basement you can't walk through, or a drawer full of jumbled clothes.
Ruminating on things already past. Worrying about things you cannot change. Rehashing negative conversations. Endlessly scrolling your mental To Do list. All these things can interrupt your sleep, your productivity, and your peace.
What better time than the end of the calendar year to try some new ways of using your mind?
I promise that addressing this type of clutter will absolutely change your life.
1. Protect your sleep
When I set out to be more productive, I start by setting an earlier wake-up time. I've found that the only time I can "add" to my day is on the front end.
But it is easy to forget that an earlier alarm should correspond with an earlier bedtime. Do not burn the candle at both ends. If you are a night owl – most productive in the wee hours – you need to plan to have a later start-time in your day.
Either way, you need sleep. According to the National Institutes of Health, most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a night. "Sleep affects almost every type of tissue and system in the body – from the brain, heart, and lungs to metabolism, immune function, mood, and disease resistance. Research shows that a chronic lack of sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, increases the risk of disorders including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity."
Sleep is the number one thing you can do to calm your mind. Find ways to develop it, protect it, and nurture it. Sleep heals.
2. Write down your thoughts
If the mental To Do list is unending, write it down. Physically getting it out on paper or captured in a Notes app lets your brain release it. You can literally tell yourself, “Self, you don’t need to worry about forgetting that now. You will find this later.” Then, when you’re back at your desk or with your calendar, transfer that To Do into your regular productivity system.
Getting it out of your head lets your brain let go of the responsibility you have to remember it, thus removing one little piece of clutter.
3. Journal
Capturing your To Do list and tasks onto a written tally does not always clear the mind of ruminating thoughts. When you find yourself rehashing a situation, a conversation, or a conflict, write about it.
Old-fashioned journaling works great for this. If the blank page intimidates you, set a timer for 15 minutes (so your brain knows there’s a limit to this), write the date at the top of the page, and start writing whatever is in your head. It doesn’t matter if it is coherent – no one will ever see this but you – but the act of writing will start your brain moving and before you know it, your timer goes off and you’ve written all about your overwhelming deadlines or your frustration with your boss, and you feel better.
Sometimes I come up with ideas on how to resolve things simply by writing about it – things I didn’t even know were bothering me.
You may even keep going for a longer time. Choosing a time limit for when you are going to write relieves the pressure, but you can always choose to extend it.
4. Meditate and/or pray
This does not have to be long, involved, or formal – though of course it can be.
There are several fantastic apps available to do both. Test a few to see which you like. Over the past few years, I have used Insight, Calm, and have settled on Headspace for meditation. For prayer, I have tried Daily Prayer, You Version, and have settled on Pray As You Go. I am not an affiliate of any of these. Do what works. Set aside time to settle your mind for a few minutes and focus on something other than the chaos of your daily life. If there is one thing, I have done that has helped the most, this is it.
Start by taking a few slow, deep, cleansing breaths. Bring awareness to where your body is sitting and how it is feeling. And let your mind rest.
Training yourself to purposefully protect your thoughts is the single most important thing you can do to declutter your mind.
5. Schedule time to worry
This makes me chuckle each time I think of it, but it works!
It is entirely normal to worry – we all do it, no matter what we might say. But the thing about worry is that it can eat up all your mental bandwidth while simultaneously being pretty useless. Worry does nothing.
Years ago, my then life coach Natalie Gahrmann taught me the mantra “Worry = Action”. If you find yourself worrying about something, figure out if there is anything you can do about it. If there is, add that thing to your To Do list. If there isn’t, worrying is a complete waste of your energy so stop it.
Either way, blocking out time to specifically worry will allow your brain to offload, and you can rest assured that by concentrating this time, you are capturing the most important aspects of your worry, and you can tell your brain to quit worrying. You’ve got it.
6. Go outside
It has been proven scientifically that being in nature has mental health benefits. If nothing else, force yourself to step away from your screen - your desk, your phone, your tablet - and go outside. Take a walk around your neighborhood; touch a tree; take some deep breaths. Let your mind literally step away from your racing thoughts and get some (even brief) perspective.
According to the American Psychological Association, spending time in nature can act as a balm for our busy brains. It is linked to both cognitive benefits and improvements in mood, mental health and emotional well-being. And feeling connected to nature can produce similar benefits to well-being, regardless of how much time you spend outdoors.
7. Confide in a trusted person
Call a friend. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Talk to someone you trust and tell them all about it. Meet up with a friend and ask them to listen.
Be sure to tell the person that they are not responsible to develop solutions to solve your problem and that you just need them to listen.
People who love you will be happy to help you talk it out and find some solutions.
8. Exercise
Exercise is the answer to so many problems!
We all know we need to do more of this but it is hard to find time and it is so easy to find excuses. But there really is nothing better for overall well-being. Exercise has been proven to decrease anxiety and depression and can help you concentrate and feel mentally prepared to deal with all the things you need to face.
Do you need more benefits to make this a part of you life? According to the National Institutes of Health, health benefits from regular exercise that should be emphasized and reinforced by every mental health professional to their patients include the following:
Improved sleep
Increased interest in sex
Better endurance
Stress relief
Improvement in mood
Increased energy and stamina
Reduced tiredness that can increase mental alertness
Weight reduction
Reduced cholesterol and improved cardiovascular fitness
... and that is a directly quoted list!
I mean, I understand that exercise is not always fun and can be hard to do, but the data is clear. Get off the couch and start moving!
9. Reduce multi-tasking
In 2022, it feels pretty normal to try to do several things at once.
I have written about this before and I promise you, our brains are literally wired to do one thing at a time. Multitasking reduces productivity. I am as guilty of this as anyone, so this is not meant to shame. But truly, our brains cannot think about two things at the same time.
We may be really nifty, well kitted-out humans with lots of apps, charts, technology, and tools to help us be productive. But at our core we are still animals and we do better when we honor how our brains were built.
10. Declutter your environment
This is, of course, my favorite. My clients don’t reach out to me because they are feeling settled and unworried, free from distractions and distress. They contact me because their space feels overwhelming.
If your environment, whether it is a home or an office, is cluttered that chaos constantly competes for your attention and restricts your ability to take in and process information. Having clutter around you, whether you realize it or not, is stealing your attention and focus.
If you want to improve your mental state and effectiveness, organize and clear out physical clutter. And if you want some tips on how to do that, contact me.
When you're ready to tackle your tough organization project, I am here to help you learn how.
Let's RETHINK organization together.
For more information, visit the RETHINK website today.
Mandy Thomas is a professional organizer fulfilling her lifelong passion for creating order out of chaos. She finds joy in helping people tackle their most overwhelming spaces and collections to create the optimal living space and enjoy their homes.
RETHINK organization is on a mission to help you develop long-term patterns of organization that you can maintain and feel good about long after our work together is done.
Comentários