what my bookshelf told me about my life.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

DEEP DIVE

Have you ever felt overwhelmed, anxious, and tired?

I know I have, especially since I started my YouTube channel back in September 2023. The constant stream of ideas, videos to watch, and books to read ‘someday’ has cluttered my mind and left me feeling burnt out.

I realised that holding onto all these future plans took up valuable mental space. My brain literally feels like this my cluttered bookshelf, filled with things I intended to get to but never have.

You have to understand this though: the longer you hold these ideas in your mind, the more space it takes up in your brain.

I think of it like this:

If you want to free up space in your brain, you need to put it to use.

If that's knowledge, put it into practice.

If you have practiced it, then teach it.

If you've taught it, then repeat.

Before I bought my bookshelf from Ikea in 2018, I had a messy line of books stacked downstairs. It gave me anxiety each time I looked at it! So, when I had a new space to place these books, I felt a sense of relief.

However, out of the 50+ books sat on my bookshelf since 2018, I hadn’t touched over 30 of them in six years! Many were books I bought during university, thinking I’d read them ‘one day’ for my degree.

This hit me hard. I understood that just as my physical space was cluttered, so was my mind. I needed to take action to clear both. So, I made the tough but necessary decision to sell over 10 books that I no longer had an interest in reading. It feels amazing to let go and say, “I’m not going to keep this.”

Here’s the key lesson: It’s one thing to recognise when you have clutter (digital, mental or physical) but taking action to remove it is just as important. By doing this regularly, we can free up mental space to use on more important things.

I want to ask you: What’s one area of your life that feels cluttered right now, and how do you plan to tackle it?

Have a good weekend and remember, every step (no matter how big or small) is progress.

TIPS & TRICKS
TAKE ACTION TODAY

1. Take 10 minutes to declutter one small area of your life.

   • It could be your desk, a drawer, or even your email inbox.

   • Notice how much lighter and more focused you feel afterward.

THIS WEEK’S RECOMMENDATION

Marie Kondo, a master of decluttering, is someone to follow if you want to explore this further. Here’s a quick video of Marie bringing decluttering to life. It may inspire you to do something similar today.

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