Know What You Want | The Critical Step in Mental Decluttering

If you don’t know what you want, it’s nearly impossible to move forward — in your space, your habits, or your mindset. Mental clutter loves confusion. But when you get honest and finally admit what you want, everything starts to shift.

Stop spinning in circles and reacting to everything around you. That kind of mental chaos keeps you stuck — and it’s often the real source of both your physical and emotional clutter.

To create the life (and space) you actually want, you have to slow down and get intentional.

Even after decades in recovery and teaching others how to reclaim their lives, I still catch myself stuck in indecision. The difference now? I notice it, and I know how to cut through it.

Here’s how you can, too.

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The Mental Clutter No One Talks About

If you’ve ever said:

• “I’m still figuring it out.”
• “I need more time.”
• “What if I choose wrong?”

Then you’re not deciding—you’re avoiding. And that avoidance creates noise. Loud, overwhelming, paralyzing noise.

A woman in my 52-week course told me she’d been “thinking about decluttering” for seven years. SEVEN. Once we got honest, she admitted she had no real vision for what she wanted her space to feel like.

Without a vision and a plan, you are just dreaming, not manifesting change to transform your life which is what decluttering is.

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Step One | Dump the Mental Trash

You can’t make clear decisions from a cluttered mind. Period.

That’s why I swear by Morning Pages—three pages of longhand stream-of-consciousness writing every morning, no edits, no filters. Just a mental purge.

It’s like taking out the mental trash before it stinks up my whole day. If you won’t commit to writing 3 pages, commit to 1 page or 1 paragraph.

Change requires new habits anf new habits require a commitment.

When you dump all that noise onto paper, you start to see the excuses, loops, and fears for what they are: mental junk, not truth.

No matter what method you use—Morning Pages, Neurographic Art drawing, audio notes, scribbled thoughts on napkins—you need a daily way to clear your head.

Neurographic Art is one of my favorite new things! I wrote several articles about it and am finding it is helping many people…

Create Your First Neurographic Art Step-by-Step for Beginners
How Neurographic Art Helps You Declutter Your Mind
Why Use Neurographic Art Drawing For Mental Decluttering

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Step Two | Get Brutally Honest

What is the difference between a reason and an excuse? One tool to use to get brutally honest is the Excuse Buster Cheat Sheet.

Once the noise is down, it’s time to look at what you want. Not what you should want. Not what someone else told you to want.

Here’s a quick tool I use in workshops:

“What I really want is __________, but I’m afraid that __________.”

Fill in the blanks. Don’t overthink. Just be real.

This is where truth hides. One man in an Artist Way group realized he’d stalled on a career move—not out of fear of failing, but fear of outgrowing his current life. That’s the kind of honesty that gets results.

Write it down. Be bold. You can’t create what you want if you won’t admit what it is.

If you can’t put into words what you want check out the the Reboot Tool I made for you.

Talk to this Bot the way you would talk to your BFF. It is simple, easy and fun to gain clarity! I programmed this tool with all the information I used to transform my life!

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Step Three | Choose One Next Step

Now that you’ve named what you really want (and admitted what’s been holding you back), it’s time to shift from insight to action.

This doesn’t mean overhauling your whole life today. It means picking one small, doable step that moves you in the direction of your truth.

Think about…

• One decision you’ve been avoiding?
• A boundary you could honor?
• Something you could release to make space for what’s next?

Clarity without action just becomes more noise. But even the tiniest action — one text, one journal page, one drawer decluttered — creates momentum.

Don’t aim for perfect. Aim for honest and doable. That’s enough to get unstuck.

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Step Four | Action = Antidote

The best antidote to fear is action!

Knowing what you want is powerful. But it’s useless without movement.

You don’t need giant leaps. You just need to keep stepping forward.

That’s the shift clarity creates. The work still happens, but now it means something.

Some days you’ll make big moves. Others, it’ll be one tiny decision. Doesn’t matter. What matters is staying in motion, aligned with your clarity. Keep moving forward!

Most of us know what we don’t want, learning what we do want can be more of a challenge. Life Hack offers you 7 Ways to Find Out What You Really Want in Life

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Knowing What You Want Requires Maintenance

Just knowing what you want isn’t a one-and-done deal. Mental clutter creeps back in. Life gets loud again.

When it does, don’t spiral. Go back to step one. Clear your head. Reconnect to what you want. Adjust your plan if needed. Think of it as a mini boot camp!

Even now, I repeat this process regularly. I have been stalled on a creative project since last summer. I know why and it is perfectly valid.

If you are wondering I was feeling uneasy about not finishing a rug I designed of my beloved soulmate puppy who died last fall. I am not ready to pick it up yet, it is is still too raw.

I write about it and make Neurographic Line Drawings with these pain points in mind. It helps a lot. If time is an issue like it is for me, set a timer for 5 minutes.

5 minutes of doing something intentional can break the pattern of mental clutter hanging you up.

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Your Turn

If your mind is noisy and your space reflects it, you don’t need to reorganize—you need to get clear.

Start by dumping your thoughts. Then get honest about what you want. Make a simple plan. And take action—imperfect but consistent.

I went from living in chaos (mental and physical) to creating a calm, creative life—not because I had it all figured out, but because I practiced clarity over and over again.

Don’t wait for a lightning bolt. Clarity is built, not granted.

So—what do you really want?
And what are you afraid of if you get it?

Write it. Draw it. Dump it.
Then take one step forward. That’s where your transformation begins.