I’ve long been captivated by the ideas presented in books like Essentialism and The One Thing. Keep it simple and cut out the noise. However, when you’ve been in business for over a decade, you can accumulate business clutter that slowly weighs you down, often without you noticing.
Now is the perfect time to start cutting out what you no longer need or isn’t working. Over here, we cut out mental clutter (cleaned up old tasks in Asana), financial clutter (cut down our subscriptions, are in the process of simplifying our offerings), and some digital clutter (that complicated social media planner is in the trash, we are keeping things far simpler for 2026!)
How to actually do this?
Step 1: Identify the clutter
You don’t have to tackle everything at once. Some clutter will be obvious, top of mind and ready to go. Others you’ll discover as you go through your business.
Start with a simple inventory of what you don’t want to put any more time, energy, or money into. Just as a closet bursting at the seams with junk might seem like it’s not bothering you, once you empty it out, you feel a tremendous relief. Remember: each thing you let go returns energy, time, and resources you can put toward the things you actually want to be doing.
Step 2: Address it
Mental Clutter:
- A to-do list that doesn’t reflect your actual business priorities so you keep having unfinished items. Delete them.
- Ideas you have bookmarked to implement but haven’t. Let them go. If there’s something really good that you don’t have the time to work on right now, put it on a post-it near your desk with a deadline. If you haven’t done anything with it by your deadline, trash it and trust the right idea will come at the right time.
Financial Clutter:
- Software, subscriptions, and services that you are underutilizing because they are outdated, you didn’t put the time into learning how to use or leverage them, or you no longer need. Look at what you are paying for and ask, Do I need this and am I using it? If not, let it go.
- You have too many products or services, products or services that you don’t want to sell, or that don’t make financial sense. Streamline so that you can focus on the things that people most want to buy from you and that you most want to sell.
Digital & Physical Clutter:
- Plans, strategies, spreadsheets that are way more complicated than you can actually implement so you largely ignore them. Delete, trash, archive, or simplify to a useable form.
- Things you meant to review, read, reference, watch, or listen to but never have. Delete, trash, archive, or save with a deadline, if you haven’t gotten to it by your deadline it’s time to let it go.
Step 3: Make a mindset shift
A lot of the clutter that we collect comes from making decisions based on the business person you think you should be, versus the one you actually are. Be realistic with your expectations of your time, energy, and resources.
Less noise, more focus sets you up to make better choices.
When you start to see something shiny for your business, remember that whatever it is, will take from something else. Try this filter:
- Is it in line with my goals and priorities?
- Will I put it to use immediately and consistently?
- What systems do I have in place to make sure that happens?
And just like that you’ve shed a lot of clutter and made a mindset shift that will help keep it from immediately filling back up.
Letting go is often easier with support. If you’d like help identifying what to release and staying accountable to what matters most, private coaching provides a steady space to simplify your business and move forward with clarity and confidence.
