I talk a lot about getting rid of clutter. When some people hear the word clutter, and they immediately think stuff. And certainly in my definition of clutter, physical stuff is included. But if you hang with me for any amount of time, you realize a lot of my discussion of clutter focuses on things that are not tangible— things that you don’t hold in your hand.

That could be digital clutter; you knowI am very focused on digital decluttering as a way to bring a freedom and liberation to your daily life. I also talk about food as part of clutter. When we’re not in check with eating well for life, it’s very likely that that clutters our day-to-day existences. I also reference clutter as what’s going on in our minds—when there’s too much chatter, too much input from so many different directions. It can really lead to mental clutter that can slow us down and impede us from progressing, reaching goals, and becoming who we really want to be. There can be clutter in our relationships, in the people that we have in our lives. A lot of times, there can be clutter in terms of conversations that bring you down, interactions that don’t challenge you, that kind of thing.

Clutter can take on so many forms. So I’ve talked a lot about that and I even have a previous blog cast that covers it. And I’m sure I’ll cover it again many times over because I think it’s so important for all of us.

However, today I wanted to talk about a beautiful byproduct of cutting clutter in your life: quality. When you cut clutter, you make room for quality.

What is quality? Quality in this context is something of exceptional value, of worth, of great input into your life.

I’ll give you an example out of the gate, because this happened for me and I was not even consciously seeking to improve the quality in this area of my life. It was just a beautiful by-product of action that I took when I digitally decluttered my life. Many years ago, I made room in my day in my brain for better things. So at first, after I digitally decluttered, there was such an immediate relief that I found. Just sitting in silence and enjoying some extra time during my work day was a gift.

That changed time that had been spent busily, hurriedly trying to manage what was in my inboxes or scrolling on social media habitually. It changed those moments that had been used really in not a quality way into time that I could just be peaceful. And that time became much higher quality for me simply because I got the reins on my digital life. So I immediately felt that relief. I knew there was improved quality to the time in my day.

And then I was able to transform that time from just being amazingly peaceful and not cluttered with digital drama to use it to learn new things. I found myself opening myself up to opportunities to do personal development, professional development stuff that I honestly had not even thought about or considered in years prior, because I was so burdened and busy because of my digital clutter.

So that was one example. From the quality time that I was granted because I conquered this part of my life, I just started putting in good things, and my hunger for those good things increased because that capacity in my brain was at last freed up to welcome new, good things in. As a matter of fact, in that season of my life, I went from being someone who on occasion would just leave the television on for the sound. I’ve always been somebody who’s pretty good with silence. However, if I were doing housework or fussing around the house, I would just leave the TV on a lot of times. And sometimes it would just be inane junk, honestly, just for the noise of it. And I got to a place where…again, this wasn’t outright intentional; it’s not that I had any agenda about deleting that part of any activity in my life…but I just ceased turning on the television for noise. I found myself listening to more good music. Sometimes revisiting music you love is like getting reacquainted with an old friend. I started listening to great podcasts. We all know our world is filled with many podcasts, and some of them are so educational and inspirational. And so I found myself hungry for that, I didn’t even have the desire for the lower quality of inane, seemingly pointless television, just blaring in the background.

So with those kinds of quality inputs, that expanded brain as well. And guess what? When you put in quality, you output quality.

Over time—beyond my digital decluttering, then I made room in my brain to learn how I successfully digitally decluttered so well, and, because of the great quality of content that I was hungry for and finally receiving, I was able to very intelligently do the reverse engineering on my digital decluttering and understand the neuroscience behind it, how my nervous system played into the effectiveness of what I did. I always had some slight interest in brain science and how our brains function; I’ve always thought that was fascinating. But I’ve never taken time to do a quality deep dive on that topic that slightly interested me. After I digitally decluttered, I became hungry for quality, and I made time and room for great quality information that really propelled me forward.

Within a year after digitally decluttering. based on quality inputs, I gained intelligence that helped me conquer those recurring pounds that had plagued me throughout my adulthood, the up and down weight. Again, applying so much of that quality learning that I received because I finally had time and energy to receive it, I was able to apply that to another area of my life that literally changed my day-to-day life in a very positive way.

I thought of this topic and wanted to share it with you because just this past weekend… I had added something to my coffee—some extra stuff in the the fridge—for a little splash of flavor. It did not set well with me. I rarely have issues with my gut or anything, and I thought about what would cause the problem. At first, I wasn’t putting two and two together. I had to hit pause and go “what’s different?”. And I realized that stuff I added was a poor quality. So I’m not doing that anymore. It’s a pretty simple decision, but I love that my body literally rejected lower quality.

I have found that since I changed the way I eat well for life, my tolerance, my palate, my desire for lower quality foods truly does not exist. This is interesting. I used to buy these protein bars, low carb protein bars, and just keep them in the cupboard, handy ass a fill in the blank. Back then, I would eat between meals on occasion, so they were a go-to snack, or sometimes they were breakfast. I liked him pretty well; obviously ,I kept him in the house. When I changed how I ate… Again, I never set out and said, “I shall delete those items from what I put in my body!”… Just naturally over time, they became ‘not food’ to me, and I never even thought about buying them to keep in the house anymore. It’s so interesting to me. My husband and I were chatting one day, and we realized there used to be this corner in the cupboard where we kept those bars. And I was realized it has been ages since we even thought about buying those bars that used to live in that same corner, because guess what? I don’t even perceive them as food anymore. It’s so fascinating.

In m approach to weight loss, you cut out some things, but you do so very intelligently, and you also never decree that anything is officially off limits. But over time, when you improve how you eat, you lose the desire for some of that stuff.

For example, in the way I eat, good fats are not the enemy, and I keep butter in the house. Through the quality inputs I was bringing into my life—the really great learning, so many great sources out there for learning how our bodies really work and receive food fuel—I appreciated and came to learn that grass fed butter was much better for me as a better alternative and more satisfying alternative than other kinds of butter that had been common in my life prior. No more margarine, no more…Remember the spray butter stuff?! I used to do that in college, in my early adult life; I used to use spray butter, which is really just plastic. But anyway, I, I upgraded, I brought in better quality butter in my life.

Sounds kind of menial, maybe simple, but I upgraded. And over time I realized: how did I ever eat the other stuff? I would rather have a little bit of good quality grass fed butter than junkie spray plastic butter, for goodness sakes. And as a matter of fact, over time, I came to realize, when I was in situations where the ‘other’ butter was all that was available or someone else had had prepared food for me, I truly didn’t even find it appealing; my body doesn’t perceive it as actual food.
Very interesting how upgrading the quality in your life can actually remove the desire for the junk that used to be in your life!

I’m so appreciative of this natural, basically evolution for me—not only for my food intake but for the quality of information I receive and choose to seek out; it helped me. You know, obviously I’d already digitally decluttered, but to revisit social media and do a mindless scroll is so much less appealing to me now because so much of that content is really of not great quality and I’m able to more quickly discern what I find appealing and only go to that information when I amusing social media for either entertainment, business, or gain information. My discerning of what’s quality is better; my radar for what’s good stuff has improved dramatically.

So—as you look at your life and the various aspects of it, how’s your quality input? What’s that quality of what’s coming into your life, be it food, be it information and learning, be it business opportunities, being it interpersonal connections? How is the quality and where do you desire improvements in that?

Again, a lot of this happened to me as a natural byproduct of decluttering, the various aspects of my life. But now that I am aware of the beautiful byproducts, I can now be more intentional as I continue to develop and grow personally and professionally. It’s actually incredibly fun to see it happen really naturally, but, then, heightened through the intentionality that I can now bring to it because I’m so incredibly aware.

The quality of your relationships, the quality of your food, the quality of your learning is going to define your life, you guys!

There’s an interesting study that I’ve learned about where prison populations received better quality food, and the behaviors and interactions of the folks in the prison were greatly improved because the quality of food that they were eating improved. I can be a personal example of how all that education and good learning has improved my daily life and allowed me to be here, speaking with you today to bring better quality into your life that I have gained in my life.

So—as you look at your life, be very honest and objective and realize that just starting very functionally with one area of your life to declutter can open up amazing possibilities you probably don’t even know how to imagine.

I recently cleaned out my closet. I love clothes. Where a lot of folks say they want to wear the same thing every day to eliminate the decision of what to wear, and many very well-known tech company leaders wear the same thing every day and wear the same thing when they give company addresses and that kind of thing because it eliminates a decision for them. I actually really love clothes, so I don’t want to eliminate that decision. I actually have time to think through what I wear because I’ve decluttered in other areas of my life and I’ve decluttered my food intake so I’m able to wear the clothes in my closet and enjoy them. But every now and then a gal who likes to shop needs to purge. And I realized in this very recent purge—the urge to purge was answered—that, as I was cleaning out that closet, he things that I was ready to part with were of lower quality. They were items that I had purchased because they were on big time sale so it was very low barrier for purchase, and the decision was made perhaps more hastily because it was such a bargain But when it came time to decide what to keep and what to let go, those items of lesser quality filled the bags that go to the charitable organization.

I really took note because I am aware and I’m paying attention now, and I’m going to take action accordingly. As I look to get new clothes, always go for that quality, the stuff that’s lasting, that’s going to go beyond the test of time. Quality matters.

Quality is something that can become more innate and natural to you as you declutter. Let’s stick together. Again, this decluttering thing is really big for me because it’s been so foundational for me to achieve success in other areas, in all areas, of life. And I’m here because I want to share that capability with you.

My goal is to bring you great quality and get you through to the other side so that you can focus on things that really really matter.

oxo,
Irene