How to Spring Clean Your Life (Bonus: TV Appearance)

With the warm weather upon us, spring cleaning may be on your mind. As you break out the Windex and dusters, have you thought about how spring cleaning your life can create more happiness and less stress?

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 74% of people feel overwhelmed with their lives. Between work, life, family, and society in general, things can pile up on us on a day-to-day basis.?So, what can we do to purge, clean, and dust off elements of our daily lives to be more efficient?

How Does Our Life Get Cluttered?

Simply put, we tend to ignore problematic areas of our lives or don’t take the time to manage small issues, so they end up turning into big ones. We take the “I’ll get to it” mentality because we either are afraid of the confrontation involved or the work that it will take to fix it. There’s nothing worse than thinking that a room isn’t as cluttered as it really is and the same goes for our lives. We don’t want to think that we’ve let our lives get THIS cluttered, but the little things will always add up.

How Does This Clutter Impact My Life?

If you think about a cluttered home, it’s not efficient and it’s stressful. You end up spending more time looking for things or reminiscing on something you should have gotten rid of a long time ago. The things that don't bring you joy will bring you down with this mentality. The same goes for our everyday lives. We have e-mails that go unsent or undeleted, to-do lists that collect dust, or annual goals that are really exciting in January, but end up under a pile of papers by March.

Think of your life clutter like a bunch of apps that are running in the background on your phone. They will pull on the battery power and slow down the performance of your phone. By clearing out the things that don't serve you or "You'll get to one day" you will immensely improve your life overnight. The graphic above shows a small handful of benefits to removing these unnecessary components.

How Do I Start?

First, understand that any change or overhaul starts with small steps in a consistent manner. This won't change overnight, so don't expect it to. Your behavior has created the scenario over time and it will take some time to undo what's been created.

That being said, here are a few simple things to start your new journey of self-care and satisfaction:

1.?????Clean up your inbox - Delete emails that have no relevance, are outdated, or at least file them away in a proper system. Even a large number of read emails in your inbox will cause minor subconscious stress.

2.?????Use the 6-month rule - This is the new version of the 1 year rule sped up due to being home more often thanks to the pandemic (always look for the silver lining). If you haven't attempted to read that book in the last 6 months, get rid of it or make a dedicated plan to do so. If you have articles or magazines lying around, recycle them.

3.?????Close open tabs and erase bookmarks - If you're like me and have lots of bookmarked website articles or saved LinkedIn articles, read and/or purge those. Also, pay attention to how many pages/tabs you open up at one time. Limit the number to maximized your attention span.

4.?????Purge your social media connections - There is no shame in the disconnect game. If there are people that you're connected to that don't serve your positivity, make you feel bad about yourself, or that you're keeping due to some story you've created in your head that creates obligation, it's time to go. Another example of how small changes can increase your happiness.

5.?????Set a clear intention of efficiency daily - Control the day instead of letting the day control you. If you set an intention of being efficient, cleaning up and out as you go, and focusing on the things that serve your goals and happiness that day, then you will drive the energy throughout your day. Don't open your phone, inbox, or social media until you've declared your intention of efficiency and focus for the day.

Now, if you've gotten this far and would like to hear more, I encourage you to watch this video of my recent television appearance talking about how this approach can help you live a better life. Plus, I wore an apron on TV for the first time.

Rich Bracken?is an energetic keynote speaker and marketing executive who blends data and research with emotion and case studies to share insights and strategies on how to implement sustainable positive change. His focus and passion is to help individuals and organizations perform at a higher level both personally and professionally. He has served numerous Fortune 100 clients and global organizations as a keynote speaker and consultant and is a Professor of Leadership and notable media personality appearing in such outlets as ABC, ESPN, Thrive Global, Vice, and Goalcast, and this fall he will be presenting on the TEDx stage.

To inquire about Rich's speaking availability for your next event or conference, contact him at [email protected].