Often when we hear declutter, we think of our outside environment and surroundings, but decluttering includes our internal space as well. If you’re a parent, or live a busy lifestyle, you can probably relate to feeling overwhelmed and like your brain is on overload trying to keep track of all the tasks, activities, appointments and responsibilities, especially as we head into the holidays.

Today I have three quick tips to help you declutter your mental space for a sense of inner peace instead of feeling like you're constantly forgetting something.

Stop overbooking yourself

Seriously, stop it. In mental declutter mode, the calendar becomes sacred. My favorite methods for cutting back on the overbooking is just checking in with my priorities and before saying yes to anything, asking, "Is this something that I really want to put on my plate right now?”

Questions to think about….Are you allowing space in between your meeting, appointments and extracurricular activities? Are you allowing room to get where you need to be early or are you just running in? Are you allowing room to breathe? Are you allowing space enough in between all of these obligations that we have when we're adulting? Are you giving yourself enough time to process what just happened?

Pick a system and stick with it

What I’ve noticed is that when I get into ‘go' or ‘autopilot mode’, if I'm not mindful, I lose track of the things that help me manage it all. Sticky notes are all over the place. Notes are jotted down on napkins and land at the bottom of the purse or in the car. Things just kind of become everywhere with no specific home. Having two simple things in place- a home, or system, for your time-based appointments (calendar), and a home for your tasks/ to-do’s- helps cut back on feeling scattered and give us some mental RAM back.

Brain dump

Grab a pen, paper, set your timer, and go. I recommend at least an hour if you have it but use what time you have. Shut the dings off on your phone, shut out the outside world, cut on some relaxing music (check out my faves on my YouTube playlist here) and write down everything that’s been swirling around in your mind that you haven’t had a chance to tend to yet.

Don't stop and analyze the things that you wrote down, don’t try to create an action plan on getting those things done, just get them out and on paper. Our brains are not meant to hold all of the things that we try to keep track of, so just dumping it on paper is an immediate way to relieve stress and tension.

I highly encourage you to do a mental declutter on a regular (and physical declutter as well if it calls you) and let go of the unnecessary so that we can spend our time focused on the things that are the most important to us.

What do you do to help you declutter your mental space? Share with us in the comments.

Xx,

Coach Reita

3 Quick Ways To Declutter Your Mental Space