Declutter 5 areas of your life

Spring cleaning is something we usually associate with our closets and windows. Once the Spring equinox arrives and our daylight lasts a little longer again, we instinctively know it is time to scrub off winter’s grime, pack the warm layers away, and freshen up our environment. But how often do we apply this annual ritual to all areas of our lives? Let’s be honest … with as busy as we are these days, how often do we even take time to spring clean our closets and windows?

While our Concierge Ambassadors are helping many of our clients arrange to have professionals assist them with these sorts of seasonal home and office cleaning tasks, we thought it would be fun to consider how else we can help lighten life’s stressful loads with some Spring-cleaning attention. We’ve consulted a couple of today’s best-recognized personal development professionals to come up with a solid list of suggestions and organized them for you using our Balance Concierge Circle of Well-Being categories: Personal Resources, Lifestyle, Mind & Spirit, Body, and Purpose.

Enjoy and feel free to reach out to us on our Facebook page at @BalanceConcierge or via email at info@BalanceConcierge.com to let us know which of these ideas proves to be the most helpful to you!

Personal resources:

Education, Finances, Communications, Insurance, Retirement, Home, Purchases 

With income tax season upon us, Spring is a perfect time for a review of all your resources from day-to-day cash management to insurance, retirement investments, and asset management. A simple place to start is looking through your credit card statements for any automatic payments and renewal charges that are easily committed to throughout the year for subscriptions and services that seem like a great idea but are rarely or never used. If you aren’t taking advantage of something you are paying for, declutter your expenses by calling to cancel. You’ll save yourself money and a few emails in your inbox at the same time.

lifestyle:

Relationships, Living Environment, Routine, and Activities

Jack Canfield, of Chicken Soup for the Soul acclaim, recommends ruthlessly decluttering your home and office by putting everything you own through the “Love it, sell it, or toss it” test. Tossing includes, of course, recycling and giving to someone who might be in need. The point is to clear your space of old, broken, and unused items that no longer serve a meaningful purpose in YOUR life. Some nostalgia may be healthy, but excess is only distracting you and crowding out opportunities to welcome new and more relevant things into your life. Canfield says, “Release them with gratitude, and enjoy the space that opens up in your life when they’re gone.”

He says the same of your relationships. We often spend time with people who "prevent us from being the best versions of ourselves." If you can, gracefully shift your routine, so your paths do not cross as often, or at all. In our workplaces, it is more difficult to cut these people out of our daily lives. We can, however, limit our exposure and be extra conscious of their adverse effect on our attitude and behaviors. With recognition, we can instead focus our energy with confidence to our positive attributes, goals, and tasks at hand. The quicker we can drive through the time needed with the folks who tend to bring us down, the more time we’ll have to surround ourselves with the type of relationships that support us in moving forward.

One more decluttering suggestion related to relationships, routine, and activities is finding a way to say “no” more instead of being rushed and overloaded with too many commitments that do not allow us to be our best selves. We need to clear that clutter so we can say “yes” to the things that matter most to us and do a great job with the commitments we make. Unfortunately, rejection is challenging to deliver. We don’t like to disappoint anyone primarily because we don’t want to be disappointed ourselves. It’s not fun to hear someone tell us no, so we hesitate to do it ourselves.

Here is a tip for getting the message across with integrity. A great way to say “no” is by saying “yes” along with an alternative suggestion that works better for you. Confusing? It doesn’t have to be. For instance, when you know there is no possible way to fit one more major project into your schedule for the week, instead of saying, “Yes, I can present this new program to the director of Department X by the end of the week,” say, “Yes, I can visit with the director of Department X by the end of the week to discuss a date that would work for both of our schedules to review the new program in detail.” Alternatively, you could also say, “I’m glad the director is interested in the new program. I can email a summary this week as an introduction and schedule a full presentation within the next week or two when we can both give it our full attention to ensure the roll-out is as successful as possible.”

What else can you clear out of your lifestyle to find balance and well-being?

MIND & SPIRIT:

Engagement, Creativity, Learning, Attitude, Emotions and Inner Peace

Do you ever feel like your head is too full? In today’s world of streaming news, entertainment, and information on every device from our desktop computers and televisions to our smartphones and wrist watches, our brains are bombarded.  We are constantly receiving messages and ideas that are often not consistent with our values, beliefs, and general desire to be hopeful and positive people who are kind to ourselves and each other. As a result, it is easy for our thoughts to fall prey to being focused on what’s wrong with life instead of being grateful that we live in a time on earth that has never been better for humans – especially from a life expectancy perspective.

One way to declutter is to take time away from all the media. Seriously. Turn it off for a while. Just 30 minutes a day away from all electronics, magazines, and newspapers will do wonders for your brain and outlook on life.

Decluttering our mind and spirit with meditation is another great way to sweep away useless and self-defeating thoughts that hold us back according to Canfield. His description of meditation is one of the most immediately applicable resources we’ve run across on the topic. He explains why it is powerful for accessing your inner wisdom, creativity, insight from your own higher unconscious (often referred to as God, Universal power, Infinite Intelligence, Universal Consciousness, or Source); how to practice it without feeling it is “too weird;” and, when it can be most helpful. You can visit Canfield’s blog post at  https://www.jackcanfield.com/blog/how-to-meditate/ to learn more.

BODy:

Exercise, Diet, Rest, Stress Management and Overall Health Tips

Cleaning up our diet is one decluttering recommendation about which we hear a lot. We may have even made it a resolution at the beginning of the year and are either feeling great about sticking with our healthy changes or guilty for not. Whether you want to drop a few pounds or gain energy to accomplish your goals, a proven powerful strategy is simply cutting out unhealthy sugar- and salt-laden food and beverages that add unnecessary calories to your daily diet. By focusing on nourishment and nutrition instead of consumption habits and craving satisfaction, you’ll find yourself wanting healthier choices because they make you feel better.

Exercise routines can also become stagnant over the winter months. A great way to declutter this area of your life is to think about what you are doing that is producing the results you desire and what isn't worth the effort. Do you enjoy your workout? Does it make your body feel energized and refreshed? Are you motivated to stick with your routine or is it a chore?

Mix it up and try something new that is fun, exciting, and physically challenging enough to be a benefit. You will sleep better and be more prepared to handle whatever stressful situations come your way throughout the day when you are balancing a diet and exercise routine that is simple and effective for your unique body and personal preferences.

PURPOSE:

Career, Accomplishments, and Volunteer Service

The last area in Balance Concierge’s Circle of Well-Being relates to your professional and personal goals and dreams. You may be the sort of person who feels a need for more direction in this area and would benefit from working with a life coach to help you focus your energy on a specific path instead of spending time and effort in too many different directions that aren’t moving you forward.

You may have so many goals and aspirations on your to-do list that accomplishing them all at once is most likely impossible. Taking a serious look at your list and prioritizing them into a list that helps you logically pursue them following Stephen Covey’s advice of “First Things First,” will declutter your attention. Focusing on what needs to happen first for the next thing on your list to be more successful will allow you to progress faster and with greater ease than being overwhelmed with the clutter and chaos of trying to do everything at once.

Happy Spring!

If you’d like to learn more about how Balance Concierge, contact us at  877.502.2201 or Click Here.