Our culture tells us we have to do everything or else we are a failure. You don’t have to feed into that idea. When you try to multitask, it is often to the detriment of your mental and physical health. Focus on one thing at a time, and you’ll be less stressed, healthier, and even more productive!

If you are holding onto something as ugly and painful as hate, your mind must be a terribly cluttered place to live.

However, I’ve found hate is less common than you might think.

Take a moment the next time you think “I hate…” or “I hate it when…”, and ask yourself if hate is really the right word for what you’re feeling. Or is it really frustration? Or annoyance, resentment, sadness, hurt, or any other painful feeling?

When you stop using the word “hate” you become more truthful with yourself.

Although this isn’t a traditional decluttering project, choosing to declutter your mindset before and during the holidays is very important.

Try to let go of any unrealistic standards or expectations you’ve set for yourself during the holidays. Embrace a “perfectly imperfect” mindset during the holidays instead.

Cut yourself some slack and create a holiday season both you and your family can enjoy, instead of trying to live up to some impossible standards of perfectionism that will only leave you overwhelmed, burnt out, stressed and exhausted.

Not everything that is going on in your mind is of equal importance. It is necessary for you to figure out what matters the most. Certain things might be bothering you because they are actually of relevance while others can be sometimes just figments of your imagination.

Separate out what matters the most.

Let go of the rest.

Anything that you deem to be not as important you must let go. It can be a very difficult feat to achieve, especially if you are anxiety-prone. But, with practice, you will find it easier to manage.

Even the toughest things become doable with practice. If you can persevere and stick to it then it will become a habit.

It isn’t easy to admit and accept our feelings at all. So, it is very important to remember to breathe. Most of the times we function by mindlessly taking shallow breaths. But our systems are meant to be so much more.

Hence, take some time and take a deep breath. Be aware of what emotions are going on inside you.

So go ahead, take that deep breath in and release it out. Repeat and see how it becomes a tad bit easier to deal with all that clutter in your mind.

Why is it that we find it so difficult to acknowledge what we feel? Most of us put our feelings on the backburner. However, the first step to decluttering our minds involves understanding our innermost feelings.

What are you feeling today? Stressed? Anxious or simply tired? Or are you feeling happy?

Whatever it is, be true to yourself and acknowledge it. Only then will you be able to follow the next steps to successfully declutter your mind.

When you try to remember everything that needs to get done it all tends to whirl around in your head making it hard to get to sleep at night.

Writing out a master task list (I’ve found a white board or phone memos work best) puts all of those to-do things in a safe place where they won’t get forgotten so you don’t have to keep thinking about them.

Take a few items off the list now and then as that day’s tasks. The master list will always grow, but you’ll at least have clarity as to what continues to need doing!

Usually, we think about consumption as being about food. In this case, it refers to all that we see, read or listen to during the day. Today’s world of constant digital connectivity means that we are always being fed information- some useful but most non-essential.

One of the critical ways to declutter our minds is to be very careful about what we consume. This may mean that you select the videos you watch on YouTube or even monitor your social media habits.

Going on a social media detox is a great way to reset things and clear your mind of the junk.