A major contribution to us leaking energy is the ‘amount of clutter’ in our lives – it can form mentally, emotionally and physically.

What are you holding onto, what makes your mind race around and prevent you starting, stopping or completing projects and keeping your life organised? That elusive sense most of us search for, being on top of things. It can be the little day-to-day things, but after a while the big things stop getting done too.

There is a well-known insight that ‘your surroundings are a reflection of your state of mind’. Is your desk at work stacked high with folders, papers, used plates and day-old coffee cups. What about your house, are you hoarding old clothes that no longer fit you, is the washing up done, is their laundry laying about waiting to be washed, hung, folded…? Often it’s all the domestics and to-do’s that can clutter our life and leave us leaking energy into areas of our life that’s not really worth the amount of energy it receives.

Have you completed your tax return for last year, or the year before? Do you find your thoughts wandering away to an ex that you should really clear from your mind? Are you obsessed with procrastinating any kind of exercise and prefer to try ice-cream instead? Perhaps it’s about saying you’ll stop drinking mid-week but you can’t resist a beer or wine after a tough Tuesday at work. Are you the slack friend that never seems to return calls and emails, and even misses a birthday as your priorities are elsewhere?

One of my favourite examples of my own (ridiculous) personal clutter is the tossing out of an old vacuum cleaner. Going back a few years my vacuum gave up its life and I let it sit next to the front door of my apartment for close to 9 months. Every day, and often more than once a day, I’d walk past that vacuum and say to myself, ‘I will get rid of it next time I head out’. If I add up the amount of time I spent saying that, beating myself up for not doing it upon return home, and just generally leaking thoughts and energy towards that vacuum I think it would be hours, rather than the 5 minutes in took to lug it downstairs and place it in the bin. This is an example of how I leaked energy to unnecessary to-do’s in my life, it also includes putting off making beds, cleaning the bathroom, unloading the dishwasher, cleaning out the wardrobe, filing emails, all those things that we can’t be bothered to make time to organise, but plague our thoughts and time.

Reframing our lives and to-do’s

Here is an interesting reframe I’ve used successfully… I’ve stopped seeing housework as a chore, I see it as taking care of myself. If I do a little bit each day it saves the mammoth task every few months. I prefer to wipe than scrub. I enjoy throwing things out too, it’s a cleansing ritual I do every 6 -12 months. I collect up all the things I really don’t need and pass them onto friends or donate them to charity. I know friends who sell used things on e-bay to get some dollars back (but for me I don’t let that become another stagnant item on a to-do list!)

Today, or this week, I want you to do an audit

An audit on all the areas you can get organised and take action on removing the bigger to-do’s from your life. Tap into that amazing feeling you get when your life feelings sorted out. I know you’ve felt it before, but the pressure of what you need to do to get there often feels too much. The change in seasons is also a perfect time to get organised (there is a reason they call it spring cleaning!). Plus the quicker you get it out of the way, the more time you’ll have to get onto the things you love doing…

Experiment a little…

Set aside some time, you’ll need a couple of hours for this one, where you won’t get interrupted and stay strong in not being tempted by offers of more fun social things!

Work through this inventory list or add your own ‘energy zapping items’. Once you’ve done the exercise schedule time in your diary to chip away at the items on there. Give them a time limit and stick to them. Trust me the feeling of freedom you’ll get when this is completed will be worth it.

Here’s the list! Energy Leaks Inventory

I’m going to leave you with an old adage from Nike, ‘just do it’.

Seriously.