Tips for mental decluttering

With her series on Netflix, tidying-up expert Marie Kondo has inspired many people to tackle their own clutter. What many of us don’t realize, is that you could declutter your mind too. Flow’s Alice van Essen shared a few of her tips and tricks with Popsugar.com, related to the release of our The Big Book of Less.

Let go of control

It’s only logical to want to have some control over things, after all, this is how we get things done. But we often only allow ourselves to relax after everything is done, and these days you can’t ever be finished with everything. So why not let things take their own course more often? It is worth exploring what happens when you stop ticking off lists and loosen your grip on the reins a little. Having less control is good for your brain, and you might even experience more fun, energy and creativity.

Focus your attention

Every day you encounter hundreds of thousands of things that you could respond to. They distract you from your environment, from the things you had planned on doing and from yourself. According to neuropsychologist Margriet Sitskoorn, we can take charge of our lives again by learning to direct our attention where we want it. If we fully focus on things, we’ll have less trouble completing tasks and won’t waste so much time on things that don’t really matter.