This article originally appeared in The Simplifier #40. 

Clearing Your Way to a Brighter Flame 

By Shawn Tuttle

(Ed. note: This article is part of a series. The previous article (“Getting Started with the 5 Core Concepts”) appeared in The Simplifier #39.)

Are you caught up in so much busyness that you don’t have time to make progress on your goals? The more commitments and stuff in your life, the more there is to manage. It’s easy to bring something into your life without thinking about how much time and energy it will take to deal with down the road. Even something as simple as signing up for a magazine subscription means that you’ll later need to deal with the magazines coming into your house (not to mention renewal notices, invoices…you get the idea.)

I’ve been amazed at the insistence of clients to hang on to clutter and packed schedules, despite a desire to simplify. They think they can do it all. They insist on believing that if they try harder, they will somehow figure out how to do everything easily. This approach hasn’t worked in the past—why would it work in the future? I think they really want the mythical, magical Simplify Pill, popular with alchemists of days gone by. I’m afraid to say, that pill has been discontinued. (It was found to be addictive.) We humans living in the material world have to deal with the various “stuff” In our lives, one way or another.

When you engage in the same actions, you will produce the same results. Your life is the way it is because of decisions, habits, and actions in the past. If you want to simplify your life, something’s got to give, something’s got to change. It’s up to you to do the work of clearing the obstacles in your way.

But it doesn’t have to be that hard. There is a way to minimize time spent managing your stuff, so you can do what you love! 

Expand your flame by clearing the playing field
Earlier in this series, I invited you to identify heartfelt, specific goals. (See “Creating Meaningful Goals”, The Simplifier #38.) The focusing power of goal setting gives you another benefit, in addition to understanding where you are going—the brightness of the goal sheds light on the obstacles in your way.

Obstacles are entities (generally: physical stuff, commitments, thoughts, habits, or relationships) that do not contribute to making progress on your journey. Instead, they demand your time and energy without giving anything back; they are energy drains. The more time and energy sucked down the drain, the less you have for your dreams and goals. Simple as that. The faster you clear the energy drains from your life, the faster you make progress towards your goal.     

Clearing is a huge part of simplifying. How many things are in your life is only a small part of this discussion. Your focus should primarily be on the quality of the things in your life.

How do you identify the obstacles that are ready to be cleared? By…

…Observing your relationship with your things
What in your environment makes your energy drop every time you look at it or think about it? What consistently takes up your space while contributing nothing to you? Our things either support us or they take from us. Attuning yourself to this difference and setting the dial to “support” will help you remove or let go of things.

…Evaluating your commitments 
Are there any responsibilities that you shouldn’t have taken on? Ones that have run their course in your life? Any that you feel negatively towards? When you identify commitments to disengage from, do so conscientiously and with adequate communication with the others involved. Responsibilities that you don’t enjoy and that bring you down are net-negatives. Ditch them.

…Identifying self-defeating thought patterns
Do you catch yourself saying:
    -“I can’t (fill in the blank)” or “I’ll never be able to_____”
    -“I feel guilty when I work on my stuff”
    -“I’m not good enough to____”
    -“I don’t have enough experience to ___”
    -“If I do this ____ (goal) then that (something negative) will happen”
Since these thoughts, upon reflection, are often irrational or downright contradictory,  they can often be eradicated by vigilance. When you hear your mind start playing one of these self-defeating thoughts, press stop and replace with a positive visualization.  (See the Visualization section in my previous article for more on this.)

Each of these methods hone in on distractions fighting for your attention.  Imagine yourself as a flame that expands or diminishes. The things that support you expand the glow of your flame. The things that drain you diminish your flame.

Now you have the tools to identify the obstacles in the way of your goal. The intention is to select the ones that are ready to be cleared and not get carried away with everything you’d like to fix in your life. Grab your handy 5 Core Concepts worksheet (click here to download) and write them in the area labeled “Clear”.

Removing those limiting forces can be challenging—but overcoming challenges is not only rewarding, it also frees up precious time and energy for your journey’s momentum. Opportunities previously hidden by the shadows of obstacles will be revealed. As you clear the playing field, stay on track with continued, daily visualization of your heartfelt goal. Let the process be easy—it’s part of the journey!

In the next article we’ll present the magical Progress Pill—just kidding, that pill was discontinued for throwing people into shock. ;-) But seriously folks, we’ll start laying out the plans to make measurable progress towards your goal. See you then!—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.