I want you to write down 1 thing in your life, that if it was gone you would not miss it.

Got it? Good...now get rid of it.

Why hang onto something in your life it provides no value to you. Some grab things just to have things. We hoard stuff just to hoard stuff. When we have too much of that stuff, whether emotional, tangible, physical or whatever, we become smothered. We lose our focus. Then we look to hoard more stuff to figure out what we are missing.

Maybe we are missing...missing stuff. That could make sense. Bear with me for just a minute.

I heard a great quote that said, “Is the glass half empty or half full? Neither, the glass is too big for the life that you have.” Wow if that doesn’t hit you between the eyes. Are you choosing a glass that is too big and then work your tail off to fill it?

I went through an exercise years ago where I had to write down the 10 most important things in my life. The first few items on the list were written with ease. I added my kids, my health, financial security, my faith etc. As the list got closer to 10 I was having more difficulty determining if that item was really that important to me.

Once I had my list complete, the speaker asked me and the rest of the class to cross of 2 items. He stated, “life just threw you a curveball and wiped out 2 items on your list”. That wasn’t so tough. He continued asking us to cross stuff off until we only had a few items to choose from. Then, with only 3 items on my list he asked us to pick just one. At the time I thought that was really tough.

I had to choose between my kids, my health and my faith. I pondered each item carefully and selected my kids. I was making the conscience decision to forgo everything else in my life to make sure that my kids were cared for, safe, healthy, and happy. Seems like an easy decision until you look at the rest of the list.

Items on my list I had to cross off included: my home, my health, my mom, dad, brother and sister, my financial health, my pets, my career and a couple other not so important items.

Now when you look back at the one item that you are willing to give up, is it really that important? Can you live without it? Would your life better or worse if that item was missing?

Give it up, unclutter your life and see how much happier you become by making small changes.

Dean Raasch is a business consultant and inspirational speaker. You can reach him at dean@deanraach.com. Follow his podcast Raasch Thoughts on iTunes or iHeartRadio.