In 2015, most of my days were cluttered with endless meetings and a relentless race to meet targets and deadlines. Like many, I was being pulled in all directions. Like many of you, while growing my business, the first thing I pushed aside was my relationships.
Clutter to me is ‘shunned confrontations’; something I was doing subconsciously due to an obsolete mindset that was no longer serving me. As I decided to outgrow this clutter, I embarked upon a journey to identify and eliminate all the clutter holding me back from living my dreams and enjoying a healthy and meaningful life. I will share how to declutter the four key dimensions of your life-mind, body, relationships and material world- to gain diamond-grade clarity to scale summits of success faster.
Declutter the mind
People keep talking about physical well-being very often but few speak openly about mental health. Even if you try to talk it out, they only say, ‘Think positive’. This just suppresses the emotion, which can be referred to as energy in motion. This energy just keeps churning inside and affects your body as a whole.
Find someone you can speak to, find that courage to talk about it and let the energy flow. I read somewhere that over 90 per cent of the illnesses are based on lifestyle, and unfortunately, a lot of them are based on high levels of stress and anxiety.
Declutter the body
Most people check their phones first thing in the morning. I too was one among them, but I realized that whatever news or message I read impacted my mood throughout the day. If the news was bad, my energy levels went down and would take hours to bring it back. Basically, the external triggers were driving my body’s energy and my performance.
The following is a morning ritual I follow, to raise my energy levels before checking my phone:
- Do any form of movement for just 15 minutes. Do deep breathing for 10 minutes so that oxygen reaches all my cells.
- Meditate for 20 minutes.
- Journal for the last 15 minutes of the hour. I write down things that I’m excited about and for a positive affirmation.
- Implement a morning routine; just do something and take control over your mornings and your day alike. This is the first step in decluttering your body for a productive day ahead.
Declutter relationships
Let’s look at expectations vs. acceptance. What do expectations do?
Expectations put a lot of pressure on the other person. They may be doing things just because you expect them to do it, but do they want to do it? Expectations put undue pressure on the other and if those aren’t met, leads to disappointment.
Expectations create a gap in the relationship. Even if small, this gap tends to grow over time. The journey of bridging this gap is not easy, but will draw you close to your ability to accept people for the best of who they are instead of being disappointed in them.
Acknowledging your comfort quotient with voicing, meeting and managing expectations, will empower you to slowly but surely heal the possible rift in relationships.
Declutter your material world
Our material world is a complex mosaic of prized possessions that include our luxuries, our necessities and, of course, our technology. Conscious consumerism however will help you take a more thoughtful approach on the significance of your possessions. Ask yourself, are you currently happily possessing your precious assets or are they actually possessing you?
A way to declutter your materialistic lifestyle is to detach and donate to those less fortunate. Do you identify your success, happiness and peace with your possessions? How has that worked for you in the past?
It’s your journey, after all, you decide what your summits of success are. How you are going to scale them and how you wish to make it a success story worth celebrating…
