How To Declutter Your Mind: 15 Practical Hacks To Free Up Mental Space
Today you’re going to find out how to declutter your mind.
Have you ever felt that you have too many things to consider to think about just one thing? Feeling unfocused? A cluttered mind is unfocused and gets in the way of having the ability to think clearly. As you would clean out a closet and organise it, you too need to do this with your mind. You need to declutter your mind and with only a few easy actions you can begin to focus on the important things in your life.
Here are 15 ways to help you declutter your mind, become more focused and fewer stressed.
How To Declutter Your Mind:
1. Declutter your physical environment
Having quite a lot of stuff around you is just visual clutter and it occupies part of your mind, even if you don’t realize it. When your brain is surrounded by clutter, it interprets that mess as a task that needs to be completed. This is just mentally exhausting. As you declutter your physical space you’ll discover that your mind is also decluttered. A physical clearing can help create space in the mind.
2. Get it written down
Don’t store everything in your brain. Get your thoughts down on paper, an online tool or an app. When I have a thought about something I need to do, I put it on a list on my phone. That way I can return to it and organise my thoughts and look at what I need to remember.
3. Don’t dwell and let it go!
Stop dwelling on the past and wasting your time with thoughts that are cluttering up your mind. Although it’s natural to worry about something and be angry at someone, just see if you can let it go. It can be difficult but it’s worth the effort and can be a stress reliever. We all have dark places we keep returning to: some past mistake, hurt we caused, poor judgment, self-doubt, rage, need for revenge, deep hate.
Just don’t go there. It is useless, counterproductive, exhausting, poisoning and damaging. Every time you feel your mind leaning in that direction, just tell yourself not to go there and let it go.
4. Keep a journal or start a Blog
Stress and pressure can inhibit our brain’s working memory and the act of writing about the stress may help us unload our anxieties and release brainpower. A journal can let you download the inner chatter that’s continuously interrupting your thought process when you’re trying to get important things done. It’s nearly a way of talking to yourself and bouncing ideas off yourself too! You might want to start a blog to unleash your thoughts too.
5. Prioritize your to-do list
Accept that you can’t do it all and choose to focus on the things which are most significant to you. Make a to-do list in precedence order and set yourself a sensible timeframe. By just writing it down you’ll have made a start and you should start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just pick a few things to get done today, and focus on those. Let the rest go away for an additional day. If you do less, you’ll have less on your mind. Don’t be a hero and try to do it all. One thing at a time.
Stop trying to consider everything you need to do without delay but focus on just one single task at a time. Push all mental clutter to the side and think about the task at hand. Then focus on the next task and so on.
6. Limit the amount of information coming in
There is quite a lot of information during the day that comes into your life and too much can clog up the brain. Your mind is bombarded with the information that you take in each day by reading newspapers, magazines, blogs, watching TV, reading Facebook or Twitter, surfing the web on your smartphone and hours on Pinterest selecting that recipe you are never going to try!
Limit the amount of information that comes into your life and create space in your brain. Set a limit on the amount of time that you’re going to spend on social media sites or browsing the internet. Social media is designed to draw you in and spend a long time there. Be strong and keep to a time limit.
Unsubscribe from any blogs and cancel any magazine subscriptions that aren’t contributing to your quality of life or your well-being.
7. Switch off the TV
Stop automatically switching on the tv as “background noise”. Switching on the TV may appear to be a way to destress but it in fact fills your head with noise and more clutter. After a tough day at work, most of us just want to kick back, turn on the TV and relax. It turns out that watching TV after a stressful day at work in fact doesn’t relax or rejuvenate you. It’s worse, according to a recent study.
Watching TV after a stressful day leads to feelings of guilt and failure. It doesn’t provide you with the downtime you need to prepare for the next day, nor does it keep you in a neutral state — it in fact depletes you. Step away from the Netflix binge watching, watch less TV, and you’ll notice your mind begin to quieten. Decide what information is relevant to you and ignore everything else.
8. Simplify routine tasks
Small routine tasks can occupy your mind. Declutter your mind by having an automatic routine for daily mundane tasks. How much time do you waste in the morning deciding what to wear? An outfit is not going to change the world. Many successful people wear the same easy outfit. Barak Obama, Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein all wear the same easy clothes each day. This is all related to the concept of decision fatigue.
This is a real psychological condition in which a person’s productivity suffers as a result of becoming mentally exhausted from making so many irrelevant decisions. Simply put, by stressing over things like what to eat or wear every day, people become less efficient at work.
9. Be decisive
If you put off making decisions your brain will soon be overflowing with all the decisions that you need to make. The solution is to be decisive. If your in-box is stuffed with documents, but you fail to make decisions on what to do with each, what will occur? Soon, your in-box will be overflowing with letters, bills, requests from prospective clients, and so on. The way to clear your in-box is by making a decision about what to do with every bit of paper that’s in there.
For easy decisions create a pros and cons list. If you’re wrestling with a difficult decision, consult a friend or colleague who’s been in your situation before. Their insight will likely be significantly more valuable than nearly any research. Ask yourself if this decision is actually that significant. If it’s not, stop obsessing over it, and just make a call!
10. Learn to meditate
Meditation is learning to focus the mind totally on the present moment. You can even call it deep breathing or total relaxation. We breathe shallow and by doing so, we don’t feed our body the oxygen it craves which increase our stress level. Meditation can improve your focus by honing our innate ability to focus and help reduce mind clutter. When you find out how to place all your attention on one thing, all other thoughts disappear. Just try to empty your mind as much as you can
11. Rethink your sleep
Getting enough sleep doesn’t just make you look better, it also improves your health and helps you stress less. Sometimes we aren’t getting enough sleep, or our sleeping patterns aren’t ideal. Changing your sleep patterns can work wonders. Make sure your bedroom is physically decluttered too. Your bed and bedroom should be a sanctuary where you’re able to rejuvenate your mind, body and spirit.
12. Take a walk
Getting outside and performing some kind of physical activity is an awesome way to get stuff off your mind and a walk is a good start. Going for a walk can even help the brain reorganize itself so that it can better handle short bursts of unforeseen stress. I enjoy a morning walk on the beach with the dogs to help clear my mind and set myself up for the day. By the time we get back, I’m raring to go and they’ll be sleeping peacefully. Whatever you do doesn’t matter, just ensure you enjoy some physical energy to help clear the mind.
13. Unload your troubles
Talking to someone you trust can really help reduce the burden. Whether it’s to get help, advice or even just unload, discussing your problems can help to crystallise what you need to do and may help you put things into perspective.
14. Laugh
Laughter has been proven to be an awesome way to relieve stress. It eases defensiveness, lightens your emotional load, and lifts stress off your shoulders. It brings balance to your psyche because laughter is presence. Practice not taking yourself so seriously and laugh more often. Your body doesn’t recognize the difference between real and faux laughter and will released endorphins either way.
The health benefits are well worth it even if you risk appearing like a fool. There are many other ways to infuse your life with laughter. You know yourself better, determine ways to laugh. Laugh out loud! There is no better feeling and no better medication.
15. Volunteer
Helping someone in need is completely rewarding and an exquisite way to unclutter yourself. It just feels good. Volunteering can give us a deep sense of happiness. Do it when you can and don’t put a firm schedule to it if you don’t have quite a lot of time. Pick a cause you care about and do it with your heart.
Thank you for reading this article about how to declutter your mindand I actually hope that you take action my advice. I wish you good luck and that I hope its contents have been a good help to you.
