Declutter Your Mind

Declutter Your Mind

In this episode, we will discuss the concept of DECLUTTERING YOUR MIND to make room necessary to make a positive change in your life.      

How many of you today are thinking I have so much to do I don’t know where to start?  Or you can’t sleep at night because you are thinking of every item you need to complete?  Are you stressed to the point of being physically ill?   Or do the days and nights just run together, and you see no end in sight?  Have you just given up?  Are you mentally hoarding every idea and task you need to work on, complete or think you are responsible for completing? 

I talk to a lot of people who have a CLUTTERED mind of tasks, projects and to-do’s that go on forever and forever.  They can’t think straight and have no focus or clarity in their approach to life.  They are paralyzed in their lives.   

As I have always said, if you don’t know what road to take in your life it doesn’t matter which one you choose.  A cluttered mind distracts you from taking the right road you need to be traveling on in your life to enhance it and make it the life you want to lead. 

So, why don’t people take the time to clear their CLUTTERED mind?  Well, how many people do you know that need to clean out their closet or garage and say I will get to it tomorrow but never do.   

Many people are like the show HOARDERS who just hold on to everything they need to do before someone from the outside comes in, intervenes and helps them declutter and clean it up.   

Remember this important statement:  Your MIND is meant to create ideas not hold them.  Your MIND is meant to create ideas not hold them. 

Hello Ladies and Gents, Today’s episode #039 is titled – DECLUTTER YOUR MIND. In this episode, we will discuss the concept of DECLUTTERING YOUR MIND to make room necessary to make a positive change in your life.    

How many of you today are thinking I have so much to do I don’t know where to start? Or you can’t sleep at night because you are thinking of every item you need to complete? Are you stressed to the point of being physically ill? Or do the days and nights just run together, and you see no end in sight? Have you just given up? Are you mentally hoarding every idea and task you need to work on, complete or think you are responsible for completing?

I talk to a lot of people who have a CLUTTERED mind of tasks, projects and to-do’s that go on forever and forever. They can’t think straight and have no focus or clarity in their approach to life. They are paralyzed in their lives.

As I have always said, if you don’t know what road to take in your life it doesn’t matter which one you choose. A cluttered mind distracts you from taking the right road you need to be traveling on in your life to enhance it and make it the life you want to lead.

So, why don’t people take the time to clear their CLUTTERED mind? Well, how many people do you know that need to clean out their closet or garage and say I will get to it tomorrow but never do.

Many people are like the show HOARDERS who just hold on to everything they need to do before someone from the outside comes in, intervenes and helps them declutter and clean it up.

Remember this important statement: Your MIND is meant to create ideas not hold them. Your MIND is meant to create ideas not hold them.

Your mind needs to be decluttered to permit you to have clarity and focus on the ideas, tasks and activities that improve and make your life GREAT!

As an entrepreneur for 20 years, I remember the days I thought my brain was going to explode or run out of memory because it was so cluttered with personal, professional, and social to-dos I couldn’t keep up with it anymore.

I was forgetting things or intentionally not wanting to take the next step whether it was something as easy as I could do in 2 minutes, ask for outside help or just need needed to plan a project to get it done. I was OUT OF CONTROL to put it nicely. How many of you feel like this right now?

So, you ask, what is the solution: DECLUTTER YOUR MIND

Decluttering your mind is like doing a spring cleaning of your house or storage shed. You look at the mountain of clutter and slowly break it into groups of KEEP, THROW AWAY or DONATE. The same goes for your mind and the endless list of ideas and to-do’s.

So, what are the steps to DECLUTTER our mind. Here are the steps to making this happen:

STEP 1 – DO A BRAIN DUMP

Plan for an hour to two to get this done; I spent 2 hours the most recent time I did this

Sit in a quiet room with no interruptions (family, friends, technology, etc.)

Get multiple blank pieces of paper to note what comes from your brain dump

Now sit down with a pen/pencil

Note down everything in your brain you need to accomplish (personal, professional, social) that you are responsible for now and in the near future and/or believe you are responsible for making happen. I mean note everything you think you need to get done over the next 3 to 6 months.

It should take time to go through every recess of your brain and identify everything you need to do and/or believe you need to do personally, professionally, socially, etc.

I considerable myself to be well organized and yet my last brain dump took up 5 pages of the all of items floating around in my brain that were each flashing signs of pick me, pick me!

It should take you time (an hour or more) to get your brain dumped. If you can’t get it done in an hour, schedule another hour to get it done.

STEP 2 – NOW ORGANIZE THE BRAIN DUMP

Now that you have the multiple pages of to-dos and you should have multiple pages of items from your brain dump; if you don’t you aren’t thinking hard enough and searching every area of your brain.

Once you feel comfortable that you have emptied your brain, let’s look at the list and categorize each item into one of these three groups:

Keep

Donate

Throw Away

Look at each item you identified intensely and decide what to do with it (keep, donate or throw away).

KEEP items are those that are key to making you successful in your life personally, professional or socially and align with your vision of who you are and want to be. You have to get these items done to succeed.

DONATE items are those you thought you needed to be responsible for but can donate these to someone else to do and take off your hands. For those of you who take on too much responsibility or try to do everything yourself, you should have quite a few items in this category.

THROW AWAY items are those that have no bearing on your life and level of success personally, professionally or socially. There may be items you shouldn’t be doing and are caustic to you and your life (scheduling time to meet with negative people, etc.) Get rid of them like the plague.

STEP 3 – IDENTIFY THE NEXT ACTION STEP

You have dumped your brain and organized it into Keep, Donate and Throw Away piles. We only need to focus on the Keep and Donate piles.

For each item in the KEEP and DONATE categories:

What is the immediate next step for each item; is it an email, phone call, schedule time to assess/plan, etc.?

Can I get it done in 2 minutes or less? If yes, do it and get if off your list right this minute.

Do I need to schedule a time to address it? If yes, schedule it right now.

Will I need a project to get this done? If yes, schedule a time to build a project plan right now.

Who can I identify that I could donate the item to get off my list and let them handle it for me?

You will be amazed how many items can be completed in 2 minutes or less and/or progress made towards completing. A lot of good can be accomplished in 2 minutes or less, so use the time for good not bad.

STEP 4 – INTEGRATE KEEP AND DONATE TASKS INTO YOUR SCHEDULE

You have dumped your brain, organized it by need and identified the immediate next step for each item. Now that have your cluttered brain dump is organized you can take the KEEP and DONATE tasks and integrate the items into your daily schedule to be completed.

Break out the lists into manageable pieces and put the items with high priority into your daily and weekly schedule for completion before those that have a medium or low priority.

It’s not about getting everything done all at once; it’s about getting something done every day. Consistency in daily action leads to future success; it’s that simple. Build on small pieces of success every day.

STEP 5 – REFRESH THE BRAIN DUMP

Dumping the brain of its contents, organizing it and acting on it is a liberating feeling that gives you back control of your life. You eliminate worry because it’s now organized in a way you can focus on what is right for your life.

So, how often should I do a brain dump? I would recommend that you dump your brain on a regular basis at least every couple of months. I personally do this once a month but that works for me and the number of areas I am working in personally, professionally and socially.

So, I leave you with a quote from Lisa Shultz who specializes in decluttering your life:

“We all have a million things vying for our attention. If you tell yourself that you don’t have enough time to clear out your junk, you might be delaying the well-being and relief you could experience by tackling it. If not now, when?”

― Lisa J. Shultz, Lighter Living: Declutter. Organize. Simplify.

Go out, lighten your mental load and focus on building a better life.

Episode 39: The Reality of Success

The Reality of Success

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