I don’t know about you, but because of winter I’ve spent a lot more time indoors at my home over the last month. This has made me exponentially aware of just how much clutter I have lying around my house. I by no means aspire to be a minimalist, but I’ve definitely tried to Mari Kando on numerous occasions and consider our home to be a relatively clean and simple space.

Yet, regardless of my best efforts, clutter just happens. More stuff always seems to come in the house then goes out. We acquire stuff every day: junk mail, free t-shirts from events, magazines, random gifts, hand-me-downs, that thing you hold on to for an unplanned future “potential” use, and so on...

It can feel like a never ending battle.

But recently I’ve become aware that the clutter you have to watch out for isn’t only the kind that happens to our physical spaces. We can just as quickly collect clutter in our minds, and this “stuff” that we fill our heads with can really start to weigh us down and impact our creativity and productivity. For example, a little mindless blog reading here, some unproductive gossip there, worries, fears, too much news and information...it all takes up space and starts to make the mind messy.

To keep creative, we need to consider regularly purging and decluttering both our physical and mental spaces!

In my opinion, it’s never too early for spring cleaning, so for this week’s Monday Motivation Challenge, instead of sinking into that mid-February stir-crazy mood, I recommend you do some decluttering - of your home and your mind. To help, I’ve included some prompts below to get you started.

Spring cleaning checklist:

What does your workspace look like today?
- Assess your desk...
- Are there things taking up space you can get rid out or donate? (Post-its, bills, random papers, junk…)
- Can you clear out and/or organize the “stuff”?
- What can you do to make your space less stressful and more inspiring?
What do your digital desktops look like today?
- How many unread/junk emails do you have in your inbox?
- How many old/unneeded files do you have?
- Do you have photos/apps/contacts you can delete?
- Is there something you can do to declutter your digital life?
How is your mental space today?
- Do you have any thoughts that you could get rid of?
- Are there things you regularly consume that just add “junk” to your mind?
- Can you take some of your mental clutter and better organize it by putting things into a calendar or task management system?

I hope a little early spring cleaning leaves you feeling lighter and re-energized. If you could use help doing an even deeper clean to get clarity and focus around where your time and energy would be best spent for your creative business, I would love to work with you. Schedule a free 30 min intro coaching phone-session.

We’re in this together,

Ashley