How to Declutter Your Space for Mental Clarity: A High-Achiever’s Guide to Creating Space for What Matters

There’s something about change—a shift in the air, a fresh month on the calendar, or that feeling in your gut—that hints at the need to let go. This isn't just about clearing clutter, it's about shedding the lingering weight of chaos that disrupts your flow. From overflowing closets to crammed fridges and overfilled pantries, these spaces hold energy that can drain your clarity and impact your well-being.

Be honest! You will thank yourself later.

What follows will guide you through the process of clearing clutter from both your physical and mental spaces, aligning with your goals of achieving clarity, energy, and ease. So, take a deep breath, and get ready to clear the clutter!

The Power of Change: Understanding the Need to Let Go

Embracing change is vital for both personal and professional growth. When we feel the weight of clutter, it often signals that our environment is no longer serving us. Just as trees shed leaves in fall, we, too, must release what doesn't align with our current selves. This is especially important for high-achievers and wellness seekers.

A study in the Journal of Neuroscience found that when your visual field is cluttered, your brain has to work harder to focus. When you're trying to concentrate, the noise around you competes for attention—making it harder to think clearly, and even recognize what’s right in front of you.

By decluttering your space, you not only create a more peaceful environment but also carve out mental space—making room for clarity, focus, and the habits that truly nourish you. From your meals to your mindset, small shifts in your surroundings can create momentum toward the life you actually want to live.

The Mindset: Aligning with Your Intentions

Before you start decluttering your space, it's essential to set clear intentions. Reflect on questions such as:

• What do I want to create in my life?

• How do I want my environment to make me feel?

• When do I feel the most nourished?

Answering these helps you tailor your process with purpose. Visualize a serene, energizing environment—one that supports how you want to feel and how you want to live. A study published in Environment and Behavior found that participants in cluttered kitchens were more likely to overindulge in sweets—eating nearly twice as many cookies as those in tidy kitchens. 

Physical chaos can nudge us toward impulsive choices, while an organized space makes it easier to stay aligned with nourishing habits. Approach decluttering not as a chore, but as a powerful first step toward living in alignment with your goals and intentions.

You won’t believe how much you’ve been holding onto—until you start letting it go.

Step 1: Assess Your Space

Begin with an honest evaluation of your environment. Walk through each area of your home and identify places that feel heavy or chaotic.

Common spaces to focus on include:

• Closet: Are there clothes in there that you haven't worn in over a year? The average person wears only about 20% of their wardrobe regularly.

• Kitchen: Do you have expired condiments or leftovers taking up valuable space in your refrigerator and pantry?

• Workspace: Is your digital and physical inbox overflowing with outdated files and emails?

  
  

Reflecting on the impact of your surroundings on your mental clarity can provide insight into what to address. Every space you declutter creates more clarity.

Step 2: Clear and Curate

Give your clothes room to breathe—space out hangers, color-code your wardrobe, and donate or sell anything that doesn’t fit your life (or your closet) anymore.

Your Closet

Your wardrobe is a reflection of your self-identity. Keep items that reflect who you are now, not who you used to be or hope to become. Any item that brings uncertainty or negativity should go. Donating gently used clothing can help someone in need while creating a space that inspires joy and supports your goals.

Start by evaluating your clothing. Ask yourself:

• Does this make me feel confident?

• Have I worn this in the past year?

• Would I wear this tomorrow?

Revel Tips:

• Organize your closet by color and item type. This makes it easier to quickly find items that reflect your mood or intention for the day.

• Give clothes breathing room and space hangers evenly. If your closet feels cramped, consider donating or selling items to create space.

Your Fridge

An overcrowded fridge makes it harder to eat well—it hides the good stuff and leaves you staring, overwhelmed, and uninspired. Start by disposing of expired items and condiments with ingredients that don’t support your goals (bye industrial-seed oils, sneaky sugars, and ingredients you can’t pronounce).

After cleaning the shelves, refocus your fridge with nutritious options that boost energy and clarity. When your fridge is clean and your go-to foods are visible, nutritious choices become second nature.

Organize items into categories, such as:

Wash, dry, and store produce on a reusable liner (or tea towel) in your fridge for easy meal prep.

• Fruits and vegetables

• Healthy proteins

• Snacks

Revel Tips:

• Wash produce as soon as you get home and store it in designated drawers to save time during meal prep—future you will thank you.

• Stock up on clean, supportive stables like avocado oil mayo, sugar-free ketchup, coconut aminos, unsweetened yogurt, kimchi, and coconut water.

This organization can make it easier to reach for healthy options, thereby reinforcing your intention to eat healthy.

Your Freezer

To maximize your freezer space, keep it stocked with essential items that make healthy meals easy to throw together. Loading up on a variety of frozen fruits, vegetables, and proteins ensures you can quickly prepare a smoothie, power bowl, or balanced dinner, even during hectic times.

And remember, items in the freezer don't last forever. Consistently review expiration dates and discard anything that is no longer fresh.

Revel Tips:

• Always label and date items clearly when adding them to the freezer.

• Keep a small inventory list on your freezer door of what you’ve frozen and when—game changer for reducing waste and planning meals.

• Stock up on favorites: frozen berries, spinach, cauliflower rice, green beans, wild salmon, grass-fed beef, organic pasture-raised chicken thighs/breasts, and organic ground turkey. 

A thoughtfully stocked freezer isn’t just convenient—it’s your backup plan for staying nourished, grounded, and ready to handle whatever the day brings.

Your Pantry

Look at your pantry and spot any items that don’t align with your current dietary preferences. When your pantry aligns with your goals and how you want to feel, your meal comes together faster, easier, and a whole lot more nourishing.

Start by evaluating each item.

• Anything expired?

• Do items contain ingredients that no longer serve you—like industrial seed oils, sneaky sugars, or things you can’t even pronounce?

• Are your go-to staples stocked?

Revel Tips:

• Stock up on healthy fats for versatile cooking. For high-heat cooking, use oils like avocado oil, unrefined coconut oil, ghee (clarified butter), and grass-fed butter for roasting and sautéing. Reserve extra virgin olive oil for low-temp cooking, dressings, and drizzling. 

• Stock up on nourishing staples like beans, whole grains (rice or quinoa), unsweetened dairy-free milks, chia seeds, and unsweetened nut or seed butters.

• Group by category and use baskets and jars to keep things visible:

  • Grains & legumes

  • Healthy snacks

  • Cans & jars

  • Spices & seasonings

  • Smoothie boosters (chia, cacao, collagen, etc.)

You’ll save time, reduce decision fatigue, and make healthy and delicious eating feel less like a chore. An organized pantry supports clear thinking, sustained energy, and the kind of flow that helps you follow through on your goals.

Your Digital Clutter

Make space on your screen to make space in your mind.

Digital clutter can be just as overwhelming as physical messes. Start by cleaning your computer’s desktop. Your desktop is the first thing you see when you open your computer—it sets the tone for how focused and clear you’ll feel stepping into your day.

Now, move to your email inbox. Unsubscribe from newsletters that no longer add value. Consider creating folders that differentiate actionable emails from those that are less urgent. Make your inbox work for you.

Revel Tips:

• Set up filters or rules so incoming emails are automatically sorted into folders—like Bills, Family, Travel, or Newsletters. It’s a quick one-time setup that keeps your inbox tidy.

• Don't leave messages unread. If you need to revisit an email later, schedule it as a calendar meeting instead and archive emails you've already read or move them to relevant folders.

• Use tools like Unroll.me to easily view and unsubscribe from emails you no longer read.

A clutter-free desktop and structured inbox minimizes distraction and simplifies your workload helping you focus on what truly matters.

Step 3: Establish Maintenance Habits

After you declutter, you will realize how essential it is to maintain your clarity and keep showing up for the life you’re creating.

Set aside a few minutes each day to keep clutter from accumulating again. Implement daily, weekly, and seasonal rituals dedicated to tidying your space and adjusting your environment as your needs evolve.

By letting go, you create room for life that aligns with your goals and intentions.

If it keeps ending up in the donate pile… maybe it was never a ‘yes’ to begin with.

Embracing the Journey Toward Clarity

The aim is not perfection—it’s about creating harmony with the way you want to live.

Begin today by tackling one area of your home. Each step you take leads you closer to a more fulfilling and purposeful life. As you embark on this journey, you will experience the transformative power of a reset, both in your surroundings and in your mind and body.

So go ahead, clear the clutter, and create a clarifying space that fuels your best self.

Xo Mo