De-Clutter Your Mind

Professional success requires clear thinking. There are numerous books, websites and workshops on de-cluttering your physical surroundings. But if the inside of your head is messier than your closet, housecleaning may not accomplish much. Tidy up your psyche, and you’ll accomplish more in every aspect of your life. Here are some suggestions for clearing your internal hard drive:

Pare Down That List. Multitasking is overrated. It creates a lot of mental activity – but often few results. What is the most important thing that needs to be done in your life? Think about that task – and only that task. Make a plan and follow through. Tomorrow, you can think about one more important thing.

Learn to Say No. You want to be a good citizen, a perfect daughter/mother/partner, everyone’s friend. That’s too much for one mortal to accomplish. Say no upfront to commitments you know you can’t keep. Then your mind won’t be filled with worry about disappointing others.

Give Your Mind Some Time Off. The phenomenal success of Eat, Pray, Love is due in large part to its recognition of a secret female fantasy. To take a sabbatical from life itself – your own life, with all its demands and responsibilities – sounds like a dream come true for most women. Maybe you can’t swing a year abroad. But you can give your mind permission to think about nothing. Whether you do it by praying, performing yoga, or taking a walk in the woods, recharge your head by giving it a well-deserved rest.

Tell Somebody. Unburdening yourself can do wonders. Tell someone you trust about what’s really bothering you. You can cleanse your mind of that anger, worry or frustration by sharing – and abandoning it.

Try Something New. Sometimes our minds are cluttered with stale thoughts and projects in which we’ve lost interest. Eleanor Roosevelt advised that we should do one difficult thing every day. So do something hard – or do something fun. But do it for the first time, and stop thinking about the old stuff.

Science writer Susan Allport says that studying the brain is “a little like entering a blizzard, the Casbah, a dense forest. It’s easy enough to find a way in – an interesting phenomenon to study – but also very easy to get lost.” De-clutter your little grey cells, and you’ll find your own way out.

By Paula Damiano, Editor – National Association of Female Executives.  <a href=”http://www.nafe.com”> NAFE News & Notes</a>