Exercise #5 (of 30): Hierarchy of Decluttering

Use this to think about how what to declutter, and in what order of focus.

I wondered today – if there was a natural order of priorities for decluttering / detoxing one’s life.

And this is what I came up with… along with a simple explanation:

1. Body – as the saying goes… a healthy mind in a healthy body. If our bodies – specifically, our gut – is clogged up with excesses and toxin, our lose clarity of thought. That leads to poor decision-making etc… and so I’d start a ‘Life Decluttering Program’ with a detox program.
2. Things +Environment – You’d imagine I’d list ‘Mind’ after body. But I think we need to get rid of things that clutter our vision and our environment (desk, study, home, office etc.) in order for our minds to focus effectively.
3. Mind – This includes (but is not limited to) our commitments, tasks and projects, various inboxes etc. Read David Allen’s concept of “Mind Like Water” for a better idea of how to ‘declutter’ the mind.
4. Soul – When the body is functioning well, the environment is orderly, toxic things are thrown away, and the mind is clear… it’s easy to then create time and space to look inwards, and examine things that may be troubling the soul. This is the least visible dimension of our lives, but profoundly important. A walk along a beach, a boat ride into the horizon (without a wild party onboard), mediative exercises are ways we can examine our thoughts, and our emotions; and ‘declutter’ our souls.
5. Relationships – Decluttering our mind and soul would likely lead us to examining relationships in our lives that are either toxic or dying. And if we are freed from the clutter of day-to-day ‘things’; it empowers us to focus on this very important matter.

Was this useful? I didn’t think about this in a scientific manner… it’s pure gut; and it may work for me – helps me visualize the ‘Big Buckets’ that I need to tackle as I ‘declutter’ my life for 2018.

Hope it’s useful for you too.