Declutter Your Mental Space

Springtime is here! Spring is a season of rebirth and growth for so much of the beautiful nature we see around us. The extra evening sunlight often leads to increased feelings of productivity and more movement. As a result of this perfect combination, many people find themselves engaging in spring cleaning to declutter their environment and welcome the warmth and light into their homes. There is just something about a new, fresh living space to motivate us to tackle whatever comes our way. This year let us not forget to also bring new light and clean air to our mental space!

If you find your mind to be crowded and overwhelmed, ask yourself what stressors have invited themselves to live in your mental space. Before we can reset and regroup, we must first tackle our existing tasks and to-dos. Start by making a list of responsibilities in order of importance to organize tasks and obligations. It is important to make a plan for decluttering our mental space so that we can set ourselves up for success! The simplest and most effective way to do this is to set a SMART goal. These goals are:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

Establishing goals that follow this model allows for a realistic plan to act as a catalyst for accomplishing our tasks and working our way to alleviating our mental and emotional load. Breaking down bigger goals into smaller ones and tackling one step at a time is progress! Making progress builds confidence. Having confidence increased motivation. In addition to being SMART about creating a clean slate, there is one more tip I can offer you for decluttering and decreasing mental stress: If it takes less than one minute, do it now!

Eliminating the extraneous tasks and responsibilities like taking out the trash, putting the shoes in the closet, sending an email, goes a long way in decluttering mental to-dos! When shorter, more manageable tasks are completed, more time and energy can be invested in the lengthier tasks. Spring forward into productivity and hit the reset button on your mental load!