It’s that time of year… what I call “new pencil case” season! ✏️🖊️📏
September has just begun, and it’s a typical time for new beginnings. From a new school term to new enrolments, you may be thinking about what you want to achieve by the year end. The 31 December deadline is looming; after all, it is only four months away. Eek!
Now is the perfect time to make those changes you’ve been putting off.
It’s also an ideal time to declutter and get rid of what is holding you back.
In reality there is no perfect or ideal time to do anything except starting today is probably better than waiting until tomorrow. From a brain-friendly perspective, the best time to do anything is when your motivation is high. You will accomplish a task much faster if you get started on it when you think about it.
If you are struggling with beginning or consider yourself a reformed perfectionist like me, this will take overriding your urge to procrastinate until the “conditions are right.” This is why I am a fan of taking a small step to get started, because when you begin something, your brain will have an ‘open loop’ that it will want to solve – and therefore, receive the warm glow of a rewarding release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and the resulting ‘high’ of accomplishment.
Another Brighter Thinking strategy which has a massive payoff for peak performance and surprises my coaching clients who deploy it, is having a physical clear out.
On a recent return train journey, I took advantage of the opportunity to continue with a decluttering task that I find rather dull and time-consuming: deleting old digital photos, especially duplicates and other people’s that previous smartphone changes had automatically uploaded onto the hard drive alerting storage limit notifications. I was tired and captive on transport: I’d set myself the challenge of tackling it during this transportation. I managed to get in the flow of this boring activity and made satisfying progress. As a result, I noticed that space opened up in my head to work on the bigger work projects.
This is the major benefit enjoyed following a declutter: whether it is digital stuff, clothes, books, or beliefs or dare I say it, commitments, (or people!). When you get rid of what is unconsciously blocking up your thinking, confidence, and creativity you suddenly get the urge to take action on the things that really matter to you. These are the things that are much more important than an overflowing email Inbox, apparel that you no longer love or wear or the junk drawer with the wires, bits, and instruction manuals for appliances that you don’t even own anymore!
Which brings me back to why this month is a great time to tackle where you may have a tendency to hoard. September is synonymous with starting new things including a new season.
There are loads of decluttering methods, however, I recommend keeping it simple. Use a window of time to contain the activity and choose one specific ‘area’ to complete. This could be an email or file folder, drawer, or bathroom cabinet.
Asking any or all of these five questions for the items that feel more difficult to throw will help make the decision on whether to keep much more obvious.
Does this lift my energy?
Does this feel more like the past, than the present or future?
Would I buy this again?
Would I save this in a fire?
What is it costing me to store this?
Making decisions is energy intensive for the brain, which also explains why you might avoid decluttering. Reward yourself afterwards accordingly.
Set yourself free from stuff. Even greater brain-friendly peak performance and confidence will follow.