Whether it’s spring in the Southern Hemisphere or Autumn up north, a change of seasons is the perfect time to generate new energy and reclaim your focus on your goals.
Paying attention to your environments is the fastest and easiest way to achieve your goals. When you’ve got less gunk distracting you and dragging you down – whether that is a cluttered desk or toxic relationships – then you are more free to focus on your goals.
Before you start pulling out your carpets and beating them over the back fence, there is a particular method and process you can implement to make the results more effective across the broad spectrum of your work and life.
Step 1. Start with an intention. In your journal write the answers to the following:
- How do you want to feel at the end of your spring spruce up?
- What new people, things, or experiences do you want to attract in the next few months?
- What do you want more of?
- What do you want less of?
Step 2. Zero In on the physical area that will give you the most relief. Maybe it’s the pile of filing on your desk. Or the cupboards in your bedroom with your clothes falling out of them. Or the junk drawer in the kitchen. Focus on one area that won’t take more than 45 minutes to address.
Step 3. Implement the Five Ps for clutter management:
1P – Pull it all out.
2P – Put it in Piles that make logical sense.
3P – Purge what you don’t need or want anymore – give away, recycle, or throw out.
4P – Plan where you are going to put it. I make a mud map of the drawers/cupboards and allocate where things might fit better and be most convenient to access.
5P – Place it with love. You shouldn’t have anything left that you don’t either love or make use of.
Step 4. Cleaning from the Inside Out
Once you’ve got some clarity in your external space, it’s time to do a little physical inner cleanse as well.
I am not an advocate of stringent detox programs (never been able to complete one myself). However I do recommend a mini-makeover of your current nutrition plan.
Whereas I also recommend seeing a nutritionist for specific guidelines on portion sizes and customising your nutrition plan to your lifestyle and preferences, the basics are pretty straightforward:
- Reduce processed foods of all kinds.
- Increase fresh fruit and vegetable intake.
- Drink plenty of filtered water (two to three litres per day).
- Focus on lean proteins – chicken, egg whites, tuna, salmon, nuts, legumes, low fat cottage cheese and low fat regular cheese.
Dump One Thing: Take a two week break from ONE thing that you know has a detrimental effect on your health (alcohol/cigarettes/coffee/sugary desserts).
Add One Thing: Add a new nutritional habit that will boost your energy results. Drink three more glasses of water. Have salad at lunch. Have green tea in the afternoon.
These small changes can create strong positive momentum.
Step 5. Conduct a Mindset Audit. When you’ve purged a few areas and freshened your nutrition, you will start to feel lighter and more relaxed. This is the perfect time to reflect and review your goals and achievements and look at how your mindset is or is not supporting you.
In looking at your goals, ask the following:
Do I still want this? Sometimes what once seemed important changes over time. It’s OK to let goals go if they no longer inspire you.
However, clarify your intentions by asking, how do I feel about this goal? If the answer is ho-hum, then you have two choices – let go of the goal, or makeover the beliefs associated with the goal.
If you want to keep the goal, then this is how you makeover your mindset:
Ask, why do you want it? Reconnect to a powerful ‘why’ that feels good and exciting.
Create a sensory rich picture of you achieving that goal: What do you see yourself doing when you’ve achieved it? What do you hear yourself saying? What do others say? What do you feel? Where do you feel it most in your body? Describe that feeling in terms of colour, touch, temperature, shape, and motion.
Review and rehearse the picture of your goal as you move the rest of your spring clean. Add some funky tunes to get you bopping to a good beat, and you’ll be become a manifesting maven in no time.