Secrets to Clear the Clutter

By Jackie McKay

Did you know that what is happening on the outside is usually a reflection of how good or bad you feel on the inside? To help you free up space for the new and get in tune with your emotions, take a look around your home, office and car. You will likely discover how tidying some areas of your life will not only free up attention units in your brain but will also leave you feeling lighter and energized.

Clutter literally takes up space in your brain. You only have so many attention units in your brain to focus and as a result when you find yourself surrounded in a ton of clutter or incompletes, you're probably not working at an optimum state. Your mind may feel foggy, messy, confused and overwhelmed. As a result, it's challenging to do a good job with the present moment to-do's and virtually impossible to take on more - successfully. Can you relate to this?

Clutter will stop you in your tracks. It zaps energy. The worst part about it is that when you find yourself bogged down by too much, you just start to feel bad about yourself. And ultimately clutter can affect your self esteem and therefore the choices you make in your daily life.

In order to get a handle on your messes, I'm exposing some of my own secrets. Some may call this an uptight approach; however, I'm happy to say that this is a major reason as to why I wake up every morning feeling excited about my day and ready to take on more.

Systematizing your clutter will take some getting used to in the beginning. Just try this system once. Let me know how it goes okay?

Jackie's clutter secrets - get systems in place!

Put your keys in the same place every time - have one place for your keys in your purse, and in your home.
How do you organize your mail? Â You shouldn't touch it more than three times. Once to open it, the second time to pay it and lastly to file it immediately upon being paid.
Recycle mail immediately after being read.
How is your email inbox? Give yourself a day to organize your files and delete any messages that haven't been read. It's likely they don't need to be read if you haven't already.
Do yourself a favour and organize your office so it works for you. I've got great contacts for professional organizers (I've added their info below!). I can't say enough about how valuable it is to have someone help you!

Tackling those nasty to-do's:

Write down your entire list of incompletes or to-do's. I know it's going to feel overwhelming at first but I promise you'll feel better after this exercise!
Look over your list. Take a breath. It's all out of your head, freeing up your attention units!
Decide what you can delegate. Decide what you can delete. Decide what need's to get done by you. Decide what you need to get help with. Label these as "delegate", delete, done by you, help.
After you've created your list of incompletes and determined what you can delegate, delete and need help with, create a yearly filing system. Use the entire year to address your incompletes.

The System:

Get 12 file folders
Label them by month
Get 12 pieces of paper. Label each piece of paper by month and put it in the proper file for that month.
Create enough lines on each paper for the amount of days in that month.
Go through your task list and determine which to-do or incomplete must be done first, second, third, etc.
Go through your list and schedule the day or days you'd like to tackle the mess.
Write it down on your month's list of to-do's.
Transfer the to-do into your calendar.
Schedule out the amount of time you need to address your to-do's. Be realistic! Give yourself lots of time!
Do this for each task on your list of incompletes.
Schedule the most pressing items first and leave the not so urgent until later.
As a new task comes up, schedule the "to-do" in the folder for the month you plan on addressing it.
If you don't complete the task that day, reschedule the time to complete it and don't move on to any others until you have finished each item.
For fun, plan a couple of weekends with friends and let them know what you're up to. Invite them to tackle their to-do's as well and then have a celebratory party at the end of the day!

Even if you only do 4 or 5 in one year, that's still a great success!

Your Success Assignment

If this article makes you aware that there are lots of items in your life to tackle, then go slow. Schedule small chunks of time each day. It takes time to be clutter-free! But the new found clarity and lightness are worth it! And, as a result, you will feel so well taken care of, highly organized and in control of your life. You will be left with much more mental and emotional space to welcome in more energizing and uplifting activities.

Now, if you'd like to make some big time shifts in your life and find yourself overwhelmed and not sure where to start then let's change that ASAP.

About the Author:
Jackie has been a successful entrepreneur since 2002. She completed more education hours than needed in massage therapy and filled her massage practice in less than a year. That same year she trained and became certified as a Stott Pilates Instructor and a faculty member of The Foothills College of Massage Therapy. Her keen curiosities for the mind body connection lead her to deepen her learning with Bowen Therapy, Neurolinguistic Programming and Co-active coaching. Jackie is the founder of Your New Face of Success. She currently uses her life to support professionals who are struggling with feeling "stuck in a rut". As a result, clients re-connect back to themselves, re-evaluate priorities, and then re-orient their path towards taking actions and creating positive changes they so deeply desire. She has a white hot desire to help other professionals experience true freedom on the inside and outside.Whether focused on career success, career transition, stress and anxiety management, physical health or balanced well-being, Jackie coaches you to arrive at a new level of mastery, success, joy and balance. Jackie's signature style combines a mix of stimulating and thought provoking questions, mind/body release techniques, assessment tools, accountability and support, with her own personal and business expertise to give her clients satisfying results in the time that works for them.

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