If you’re anything like me, you probably deal with clutter in your life. Even though I try to stay organized, I often find my home office in some state of mess. Oh, and my garage, my truck, my storage shed…you get the picture. And what about our minds? Any crap cluttering up our thoughts like anxiety about tomorrow or worries about past mistakes? Perhaps lingering bitterness around a relationship gone bad or a job that’s gone downhill? Personally, I was hanging on to some regrets about my past and the decision to work in the nonprofit sector (more on that below).

But you know what? Keeping all the clutter around doesn’t do us one damn bit of good. It just takes up valuable mindspace and heartspace that could hold the greatest stuff in our lives. So, let’s do this instead:

Let’s think of all the crap that’s cluttering our lives and tell it to get the hell out of here! When we do that, we create a vacuum in which we can replace it all with joy, passion, appreciation, and perhaps most importantly, hope.

If we have a client that’s just not working out for us, let them go. When we do, it means we now have space to bring in clients who will bring out our best and pay us fully what we’re worth.

If we’re feeling anxious about what tomorrow holds for us, for our family, or for our career, let this anxiety go. Yep, I know it’s hard, but what’s that feeling getting us besides headaches and ulcers? What would happen if we replace that anxiety with hope and a firm belief in our ability to be prosperous?

If we’re living in regret for a decision we made in the past, it’s definitely time to let it go. When I got out of college, I bounced briefly around minor jobs until I landed in nonprofit membership management. Nearly all of my 12 years of professional experience has involved nonprofit work, which is fine except it can be considered a liability when you want to move on to the corporate world of multinational brands. Just last week, I even cursed my youthful ignorance for not having the sense to work for a Fortune 500 company at the start of my career. But that’s not only holding on to crap, it’s denying all the good I’ve ever done in my career and all the good I can now do as a professional. It ignores the fact that I learned fundamental principles and developed successful programs for creating remarkable customer experiences from my work in the nonprofit sector – the same programs and strategies that any Fortune 500 will benefit from.

So, let’s take some time today to think about all the crap cluttering our life. Then, tell it to get out. Make room for the good stuff in our head and heart. We might just find that once we create a vacuum from where all the crap used to live, we can hold way more good than we ever knew possible.