What is a Head Trash Clearance To-do List?

I often talk about adding things to your Head Trash Clearance To-do List, so I want to explain more about what this is and why it’s important.

What is a Head Trash Clearance To-Do List?

Quite simply, it’s the list of things that you’ve identified that you want to clear using Head Trash Clearance.

There are 3 main categories of items that appear on our clearance to-do lists, and these are:

1. Triggers

These are things that trigger an emotional reaction in you. In other words, things that wind you up or annoy you. Or, things that stress you out or making you feel anxious or fearful.

These could include things like

  • lying or dishonesty – you hate it when people lie to you
  • needles and injections – you panic at the thought of having injections
  • being ignored – you hate it when people ignore you

This is a good place to start with your head trash clearance to-do list because it’s easy. If I asked you to come up with ten things that stress you out or annoy you, I’m sure you’d find it pretty easy.

2. Emotions

These are the emotions that you struggle with regularly or the ones that you find it hard to let go of (they just hang around all the time). Emotions like

  • anger
  • frustration
  • overwhelm

Doing a clearance on an emotion doesn’t mean that you’ll never experience it again. That would be terrible. We need our emotions. They are an essential guidance system to help us navigate through life and survive.

The problem is that sometimes our emotions are out of balance. It’s like someone’s left the tap on. When we do a clearance on an emotion, we’re simply restoring balance. It’s a bit like restoring your phone to factory settings and getting rid of all those unused apps that are clogging it up and slowing it down.

Emotionally speaking, this means it will be much less likely that you’ll be triggered at the drop of a hat. And, if you are triggered, then it will be easier to let go of whatever emotion that came up. Emotions are meant to pass and not hang around. The quicker your’e able to let them go the better.

3. Values

Our values can be the biggest source of our head trash, so this means they will feature heavily on your head trash clearance to-do list. There 3 ways that your values will show up as needing to be cleared;

They are triggering you
They sometimes crop up on your triggers list.

For example, if you hate people lying to you, then the chances are that you value honesty. It’s because you value honesty that people lying to you is so triggering for you. Once you clear dishonesty AND honesty, you’ll less likely be triggered as easily. It doesn’t mean that honesty will lose importance to you, just that people being dishonest won’t stress you out as much. It also means that you’ll be better able to handle situations where you’re being lied to, and respond more calmly. A win-win!

They’re in conflict
Our values also make it on the list when they are in conflict. For example, you might find that your need for freedom and independence is clashing with you desire to be there for the family.

They’re fears in disguise
The final way that values appear on our list is when they show up as fears.

For example, you might not want to do a Facebook live in case you look or sound silly. Your fear of appearing silly is what’s stopping you. And the reason that this is a thing for you is probably because it’s important for you to be taken seriously and to be credible. So seriousness and credibility are values for you.

See how that works?

Why is a Head Trash Clearance To-do List important?

Oh, so many reasons, where to start!

1. It WILL improve your life

It’s the ONE list that is actually worth prioritising, especially if you suffer with stress or anxiety, or you self-sabotage.
The great thing about your Head Trash Clearance to-do list is that ticking things off means moving the needle on your mental health, which can only mean good things for other aspects of your life.

The more head trash you’ve cleared, the less stress and anxious you are so you’re going to have smoother relationships with less conflict and arguments. This is because you’re less prickly (less easily triggered).

You’ll sleep better, and probably even need LESS sleep.

You’ll be more focussed and effective. Those other to-do lists that you obsess over will become much easier to tackle AND you’ll get through them quicker.

2. It shows you mean business

The second reason why it’s important, is like with any other to-do list that you come up with: it sets an intention to tackle something. It’s like you’re making a commitment to yourself to DO THIS. This is powerful and not to be underestimated.

3. It keeps you focussed and on track

There’s nothing better in life than ticking things off a list.

I love doing this so much that I add things to my to-do list AFTER I’ve done them, just so that I can tick them off and see all the things I’ve completed. Nuts, right? But the satisfaction that this gives me fires me up and motivates me to continue… and that’s a good thing, right?

Using your Head Trash Clearance To-do list

When I first started clearing my head trash, I would use the notes app on my phone to maintain my list. Back in those days I would be adding to it all the time and my phone was the one thing that I always had with me. Today, it’s less like that for me because I’ve cleared a lot.

Now I have my Head Trash Clearance notebook, where I keep all my HTC notes;

  • my clearance to-do list
  • the notes I make while clearing

Today I try to be a bit more strategic or organised with my clearance and focus my attention on certain aspects of my life that might need some HTC action. Then I make clearance lists for each one. So now I have groups of lists. All in one notebook.

When it comes to doing a clearance I reach for my notebook and see where I’ve got to and pick the next thing to clear. Nothing quite beats doing the final clearance on a life theme I’ve focussed on.

This obsession I have with ticking things off and lists is what inspired me to add mini-lists and checkboxes to The Clearance Club.

The Clearance Club

The Clearance Club is my Head Trash Clearance membership where I provide you with a vault of Head Trash Clearance mantras and tracks organised by theme. Each theme is a collection of clearances, which you can do by using either the mantras or the tracks provided.

Here’s a snapshot of the checklist in the Food & Eating collection.

See what I mean about ticking things off? I’ve even added this cool pie chart to show your percentage completion (because I’m a nerd like that!).

If you want to take your head trash clearance seriously, then I’d love you to join me in The Clearance Club. I’ll be adding new themes and collections every month so there will always be new aspects of your life for you to clear the head trash from. Find out more about The Clearance Club here.

Alexia Leachman
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