How to Kick Mental Clutter to Touch

Have fun freeing yourself of mental clutter!
Let’s turn our focus to the subject of de-energisers, which represent a great opportunity to free yourself of mental clutter and improve your energy and motivation levels. If you’re one of my coaching clients, a smug little smile may be creeping across your face as you think of all the de-energisers you’ve already kicked to touch, or you may be grimacing thinking of all the ones you’ve uncovered that you know are requiring attention! This article is a great reminder for you to keep zapping your de-energisers. For those of you who aren’t already being coached by me, let me first explain what I mean by de-energisers.

De-energisers are all the things that you have been procrastinating about or putting up with, which represent mental clutter and drain your energy each time you come across them or think about them.

Clearing your de-energisers serves to replenish and restore your energy reserves, freeing you up for greater clarity, creativity and resourcefulness in ways that are useful to the results you want in life.

De-energisers encompass everything, from the smallest annoyances like owning a pair of scratched sunglasses that bother you each time you put them on, the cupboard drawer that you wrestle with each morning as it sticks upon opening, the phone call you’ve been meaning to make, the pile of paperwork that awaits your sorting…to even larger things like the conversation you’ve been meaning to have with your manager about wanting to take some leave or the friend that you feel the need to speak with about your relationship etc.

A personal example that I’m very pleased to have sorted is my filing cabinet. I was getting really bogged down by the pile of paperwork requiring attention, and finally I realised it was a de-energiser that just needed sorting! Now when I think of my filing cabinet I experience a sense of relief and quiet satisfaction knowing that I’ve done something about it, rather than my previous sense of frustration.

Take some time to brainstorm a list of everything you can think of that is currently draining you of energy. Come back to your list regularly as you are reminded of other things. You’ll find that it is a work in progress, so just add to it as you reveal new things. Remember to consider all the different areas of your life.

Once you have your list, identify the items that you want to give immediate attention to. I recommend starting with the easy ones first to build up some positive momentum and then tackling some of the more challenging tasks. Be sure to break any that are sizeable items down into manageable bite-sized chunks and schedule when you are going to work on each chunk.

Have fun freeing yourself of mental clutter!