8 Ways to Declutter and Destress Your Mind

Our lives are filled with clutter, whether it is a desk covered with papers, a kitchen drawer stuffed with items that do not seem to belong anywhere else, or an overwhelmed mind trying to deal with too much. If you have ever struggled to fall asleep because your mind is racing, it might feel like your mind is cluttered.

If you are like me, sometimes 3 AM is when your brain decides to relive every unresolved issue in your life, starting when you were in kindergarten. A cluttered mind is fatiguing and can result in less-than-optimal performance and may lead to poor decisions.

I researched this, and discovered that yes, you CAN declutter your mind, just as you can declutter your kitchen drawer. (Now, as I write this, I want to go clean out that kitchen drawer.)

How can we declutter our mind and gain clarity so that we sleep better, prioritize better, and accomplish more of what is important?

1. Simplify your life. You might just have too much going on. Cut out activities that do not add significantly to your life, your career, your family, or your enjoyment. It is easy to become bogged down by things that do not matter. Ask, “what is the best use of my time and resources right now?”

2. Create positive habits. Habits eliminate the need for making decisions. Habits streamline your thoughts. For example, my friends comment that all my travel day pictures look the same. They are right. I learned in both Catholic schools and in the Navy that wearing a uniform saves hour of planning and time, so I have a travel “uniform.” It is always a black tee shirt under a black turtleneck, black pants, black boots, and a black jacket. I do not have to think about what I am going to wear on travel days.

Mark Zuckerberg wore gray tee-shirts. Steve Jobs wore black turtlenecks. Eliminating the need to make decisions that ultimately do not matter much frees up your brain to focus on what does matter.

Simultaneously, once habits become ingrained, you no longer have to think about them either. You probably brushed your teeth in the morning without thinking too hard about it. That is an ingrained, positive habit.

What other decisions can be simplified and made into a habit that no longer requires thought?

Create daily and weekly habits that take care of basic needs.

3. Use lists. The military has checklists for all kinds of jobs. Airlines require pilots to review checklists before every flight, so you see pilots walking around airplanes with their checklist in hand. Checklists are created so that we do not have to think about every detail, and instead, we can focus on what is important.

Creating mental notes to yourself to do something at a later day or time requires a lot of mental resources. You have heard people say things like, “Remind me to pick this up later” which is a mental note. Mental notes create stress. It is always in the back of your mind, taking up part of your attention.

Do not rely on your memory to get things done. Make a list, instead.

By writing things down and making a list, you eliminate the stress from your awareness without worrying that it will be neglected.

By routinely using lists, you create the habit that relies on the list, freeing your brain up for other activities.

4. Practice single tasking. Multi-tasking is often a mistake. Studies show that it is more effective to do one thing at a time than try to think about multiple tasks at once.

Yes, you can walk and chew gum at the same time, as long as your brain does not need to focus on either one. Most people cannot effectively focus on more than one big-brain activity at a time.

When you review your email, do you methodically go through each one, addressing each one at a time, or do you “triage” your email, getting rid of the ones that are easy to delete and then going back to work on the ones that require thinking? If you are like most people, you go through the easy ones first, leaving the emails that require thinking for later, or a time when you can more fully focus on responding.

Whichever method you choose, complete the job, and then move on. You will stay fresher mentally and get more accomplished each day.

5. Make decisions quickly. Dolphin Fin Gray is the paint color I chose to paint a bedroom in the house. (Yes, that is a real color at Home Depot.) I grabbed four paint samples, took them home, and decided in about 1 minute. I have friends who spent months trying to decide on a paint color for a closet.When studying successful people, I learned they make decisions quickly and stick with them until a better option is proven. Unless you need more information, make a decision. Decisions that you put off pile up in your mind and take up valuable space and resources. The way I look at it, I will not be any smarter tomorrow or next month, so make the decision and move on.

6. Rest your mind each day. Reading, watching TV, or surfing social media may be relaxing, but it does not count as resting your mind. Meditation or sitting alone is rest. Walking outside and enjoying nature is rest. Getting a massage and not talking is rest.Whatever you do to give your mind a rest, avoid allowing your mind to think about anything other than your surroundings. Consciously give your brain a rest from thinking to help your mind declutter and reset.

7. Prioritize your time. There is a limit to how much anyone can do in a day. The secret is to get the most important things accomplished. The easiest way to do this is to make a schedule and stick to that schedule. If you are scheduled to make phone calls from 1-2 PM, then that is what you do. Decide what is most important, put it on the calendar, and start there.

8. Focus on other people. Many people get myopic when they are in a crisis, experiencing a challenge, or during a time of change. They focus on controlling what they can control, and they dismiss people and issues outside of their world. Give your cluttered brain a break by helping someone else. The result is a clearer thinking and a refreshed perspective. Just two hours of volunteer activity per week can have a profound effect on improving your attitude.

Clutter and distractions are everywhere. Some are controllable, and some is not. The clutter you have in your mind is under your control. Simplify your life as much as possible. The less you must deal with, the easier it is to avoid mental clutter. Give your mind regular breaks through the day. Use your time as advantageously as possible. Prioritize. You will enjoy more peace and productivity.