Streamlining Your Life via Minimalism
The opposite of clutter is minimalism and to achieve this, the rule of thumb is to have no more than 100 items to your name.This might feel a little scary but it's time to do some inventory of what you have in your space. Remember not to beat yourself up for all of the things you've accumulated. You're probably going to be surprised how much "stuff" you have. Make a plan to tackle one room at a time and give yourself a deadline.It's possible you may become overwhelmed when you begin the process of streamlining your life. There is often a psychological reason you have difficulty letting go of material items. You may find it hard to let go because of the sentimental value or perhaps you spent a lot of money on something. Even if you haven't used the object in a long time, you have an emotional reason to hold onto it. Researchers of Yale have recently discovered that areas of your brain that associate with pain give the same response to giving up an object as real pain. You connect to these material items and letting them go can feel like losing a part of yourself.
Note that everyone has a different tolerance for the clutter around them. Researchers have discovered that some people even thrive well in a work environment that has a little bit of clutter. This can be attested by a picture of Steve Jobs work space. Yes, clutter has been proven to show a negative effective on job performance but it's how you look at your clutter that matters more. Say you have photos of loved ones on your desk because it makes you happy, that's not clutter. Your space, above all, should make you feel calm and happy.
Why Streamlining Your Life is so Important
When you have "stuff" everywhere, it's difficult to process information properly. Neuroscientists at Princeton University have compared an organized and unorganized person's task performance. What they found was that clutter is distracting and takes attention away from performing well and it can cause stress. UCLA researchers found that a mother's stress hormones will increase greatly when they have to deal with their things. It's the same effect on the brain as multitasking is as the clutter stresses one out with an overload of sensory data.
Beware of the Digital Clutter
Most of you don't even realize how many messages are being thrown at you from your digital devices. Notifications noises and visuals from social networking are distracting you from sticking to one task. The digital clutter deteriorates your ability to perform any one task to the best of your abilities. Mark Hurst, a New York Times best seller author spoke of the problem we face dealing with the incredible amount of information thrown at us constantly. The amount of to-do items are overwhelming so you have no way of investing your energy into any one thing. This causes a problem with your ability to filter information, bounce between tasks efficiently and keep a strong memory. It's called physical clutter which is varied between people
Turn off your devices when you have a task to do and also when you go to bed. Give yourself a specific amount of time to complete tasks and don't deviate from the task. Don't check your email, don't answer the phone, shut your door and focus on one thing at a time. Of course, this isn't always realistic but one of the things you should always do is turn off notifications on your mobile device.
