“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Confucius.

The world is changing at a fast rate.  Change is all around and happening faster than at any time in history due in part to the development of technology and communication methods.

Many years ago, a trip to Australia from England would have taken weeks by boat.  Now it takes seconds to connect to someone on the other side of the world and have a face-to-face conversation via video conferencing.

We have access to more information and sources of entertainment and distraction than any other generation.  The pace of change is phenomenal. In my job as a coach, I see so many examples of people feeling overwhelmed, whilst still seeking to sustain high levels of performance, juggle many different priorities and have a balanced and happy life.

In their book, Sort Your Brain Out, Dr Jack Lewis and Adrian Webster state that in 1984 there were 1000 devices hooked up to the internet across the globe. Eight years later in 1992, the number hit the 1 million mark. The 1 billion mark was crossed in 2008. There were 4 Exabyte’s of new data created in 2012, that’s 4 billion billion bytes, more information in a single year than in the 5000 preceding years put together. We live in an information rich and time poor world.

The pace and scale of change is touching every facet of our lives – for example how we work and communicate with each other and stay in touch with family, friends and our contacts. The way that we shop, gather information and learn. It impacts us in so many different ways.

Technology is amazing and one thing that I am very grateful for is that I have my entire music collection on a gadget smaller than the size of a wallet. However, it brings its challenges. Our brains can feel overloaded. We may become distracted and as a result we can lose focus and sight of our key priorities and what really matters to us.

Our brains have had to learn to adjust and find a way of filtering the million bits of information that hit us every second and are available to us. It is said that the conscious brain can only handle 7 bits of information at any one time.

Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission and the time to reflect, re-energise and work on our most valuable asset – ourselves!  We take our car to the garage regularly, so that it can be serviced.  We do this so that the car can continue to work at peak performance levels and not suffer from breakdowns.

We don’t always afford ourselves the luxury of taking some time to reflect, clear our mind and tune up our own performance levels!

Here are my top tips to declutter your mind:

Journal regularly

This allows you to externalise your thoughts. Downloading stuff from your brain onto a piece of paper brings greater clarity and calmness.

Reduce the size of your to do list

Long to do lists can be counterproductive. We can end up worrying about the stuff we haven’t done rather than the stuff that we have completed. Spend a few minutes at the start of each day getting clear on your top 5 priorities for the day and focus your energy on completing those first.

Check emails less

Resolve to check your e mail at specific times during the day, for instance first thing in the morning and just after lunch. This stops you constantly checking your inbox and being distracted from the task at hand. Turn off notifications from your pc and phone.

Daily walk

Take a walk at the end of the working day to unwind and reflect on all that has happened during the day. You can get clear on any insights and lessons from good and challenging situations. You could also use this time to think about three things to be grateful for from the day.

This week, why not take a few moments out to reflect and consider what you need to do give yourself more time to reflect and to declutter your thinking.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk