Declutter Your Mind to Increase Clarity and Focus

Did you know that your brain can become disorganized just like your home or office can? Much like home clutter, it’s something that you might not notice day to day.

All of a sudden, you find yourself in a situation where you can’t focus or remember something important and wonder why you’re feeling that way. The answer might be mental clutter.

Stop this build-up before it starts by doing a little brain cleansing every now and then. It’s not easy, but the effort will pay off in the form of increased focus and clarity.

Stop Multitasking

One way that brain clutter arises is when we try to focus on too many things at once. The result is that we never really concentrate on any of them and end up with a garbled mess of half thoughts and ideas.

Stop this behavior by choosing one task at a time to focus on and keep that focus for as long as you can, or until it is complete. This applies both at work and at home. It might not always be possible, but you’ll be surprised at how much clearer you think when your brain is not trying to do something else at the same time.

Put Thoughts to Paper

Writing things down, whether on paper or on an electronic device, is the best way to ensure that your thoughts don’t get lost in your brain’s clutter. Think of it as an external hard drive for your brain that can hold all of the things you don’t want to forget or lose track of.

Over time, you’ll also have a nice history of your thoughts that you can reflect on or share with others.

Automate Decisions

Do you spend time sweating the small stuff? Little decisions like what to eat for lunch or what to wear can bog down our brains if we become fixated on them.

Take steps to plan those things in advance so you can put your mind on autopilot. Prep your lunches for the week on Sunday and make a plan for what you are going to wear to work each day.

These are just two small examples, but the formula can be applied to many other small decisions that we make on a daily basis!