Bringing Order to your hectic lifestyle can seem overwhelming in itself. Just reading this title can cause anxiety to what might seem a daunting task. Stop freaking out, this is not a task that happens over night or all in one shot. This my friend is a journey! A marathon so to say, with really no end in sight. I probably really made you freak out now and might even make you stop reading past this, but I promise you once you grasp that this is a way of life, you will see how bringing order to your life with just some of these easy tips below will help you create a joyful and orderly lifestyle that will lead to fulfillment and joy in all areas of life.
Let’s define the word order to bring some clarity to this subject: Google defines the word Order as: “the arrangement or disposition of people or things in relation to each other according to a particular sequence, pattern, or method”. You basically are creating patterns that will allow your life to come together in one accord! This is where these tips and tricks will help you reach that goal. You first just have to grasp the concept that this is a journey to a new lifestyle. You will experience guilt and failure. However, you must be patient, give yourself grace and you have to make the decision to persevere. Now I know how excited you are to fail and have guilt for letting things get out of control {insert sarcasm}, but I do promise you this….it will be worth it. Have you ever heard the phrase, “How do you eat an elephant?” the answer is, “One bite at a time!”. “How do you run a marathon?” we all know the answer to this right? “One mile at a time”. Once you have accepted that these methods are all in time and failure, with grace and perseverance, you will see soon how beneficial they will come once adapted into your life.
There is so much research out there on how being organized and having order is so good for your mental and emotional health. Please do yourself a favor and read up on this topic if you struggle with anxiety, depression or any other mental or emotional health issues. I am not a Doctor or therapist to guide or give proper advice on this topic. I did my own research on this topic and saw how bringing order into my hectic life helped my anxiety so much, and it truly brought joy back into my life. So here is my Top 10 tips to restore order back in your life:
- Clean up your work and rest spaces- These are priority areas to clean up and get in order first. You have to create an environment to meet your needs. Your environment at work and home has so much to do with your overall well- being. Create a clean working space and resting place. These are probably the two most important places to start with. Clear desk /Workspace allows for creativity and productivity to be abundant. A clean and orderly rest space allows for peace, clarity and relieves stress.
- Get yourself a planner/organizer/schedule and put it to use- I can’t tell you how much having organization in my life all comes down to my handy dandy little planner. Next to my bible, this is the next important book in my life. Call me old school, but I love me a good old fashioned notebook style planner where I write things down on paper. The teacher in me finds it so dang important to physically write things down on paper. There is a mental connection when your brain uses a pen/pencil to write a thought or plan down on paper. Writing things down enables a higher level of thinking and processing, allowing more focused action. Writing things down can also help prioritize which task we can focus on first. I strongly recommend a physical planner vs. digital planner for this reason. Click here to see a planner I recommend on my Amazon Shop.
- Frequent Brain Dumps- This will rock your world, I promise you! Keep a notebook in your clutter free workspace or close to your rest area. Anytime some random thought or thing to do comes up while resting or working, write it down. Don’t stop what you’re doing to attend to that thought, stay focused, but get it off your mind so you don’t worry about it. If you’re a digital person, you can create a list on your phone. Once you are in a spot of your work where you can stop and look at the list, take it and determine which of these tasks is:
A: Things you must do
B: Things you should do
C: Things that would be nice to do
D: Things you can delegate
E: Things you can eliminate
This will allow you to be productive and focus on what is important to do. Prioritize those things into your planner and see how much more productive you will become. This is a method I gained from a book called “Eat that Frog”, which I highly recommend reading. I have attached a free download of a sheet I use for Brain Dumps.
- Take the 31 Day Cleaning Challenge- now that you got your work and rest area clear, it’s time to move on to the larger declutter projects you have been procrastinating. I created this 31 Day Cleaning Challenge as a way to put order into other areas of your home that might sometimes be forgotten about. This challenge is not intended to do in 31 consecutive days, although if you do it consecutively…. you’re my new hero! Pick a task as you can, and plan it into your week or weekend. As I write this we all are on current stay at home orders due to COVID-19, so you have plenty of time on your hands to do this challenge sooner than later. Click here to download the challenge.
- Schedule Self Love/Care Days- if you have made it this far down the list, you are a champion and already deserve a day off. When we lead chaotic busy lives, it’s hard to stop. I have learned it is essential for our overall joy and productivity. You cannot pour from an empty cup. You have to stop, rest and do something you enjoy for yourself weekly…. YES I said, “WEEKLY”. You need a day of rest each week. Schedule it in and make it a priority. You are worth caring for. You are worth the time and you deserve it! Make it a point to do things you like, get some rest and relax often. Read a book, take a walk, catch up on a favorite show, or do something from your Joy list that will fill your cup for the week.
- Prioritize Moments over Things- so how does the thought of decluttering sound to you? Not so fun right? Maybe a little overwhelming? Does the thought of it make you realize you have way too much unnecessary crap? Well I hope it did, because it’s time to stop hoarding all the crap and put more value into moments vs. things. When my husband and I got married we just kind of adopted this way of life when it came to giving gifts to each other and now that our kids are older, we have done the same to our kids as well. I know you all are going to think we are weird, but we rarely ever buy each other gifts (things). We would much rather spend the money on an experience or trip together, rather than things that will get used, stored away or thrown in the trash. Birthday, Christmas, Anniversary, Valentines, etc., we rarely buy each other things on any of these occasions. We make a plan to do a special experience, trip or date night and create moments rather than buying things. Don’t get me wrong, hubby does spoil me from time to time with special gifts and flowers, as have I with him, but we know that the bulk of our money and time will go into creating moments vs. things. Things clutter your life and environment and will eventually run its course. Moments and memories will last a lifetime. Focus on creating moments and do your best to not collect things that eventually turn into clutter.
- Use the 10/90 Rule- the first 10% of the time you spend planning and organizing your work before you begin, will save you as much as 90% of the time in getting the job done! I spend at least 1-2 hours every Sunday planning my entire week out. I take out my planner and phone and plan the entire week. I include my husband’s schedule (we often do this together), kids schedule and meal planning. We shop for groceries for the entire week based on our meal plan and probably save us hours on end throughout the week. Meal planning alone saves us time and money. This 10/90 rule along with other great time saving tips can be found in a book called, “Eat that Frog.” Shop for it here on Amazon.
- Make that Morning Routine Life- Give yourself the first hour of every morning, even if that means waking up an hour early! Don’t look at your phone, keep it off or in the other room. Do not allow distractions to take you away from what is important first thing in the morning. Use this time for a gratitude journal, devotion, reading and exercise. Everyday make it part of your life and fight for this time. Starting your day off on the right foot every morning sets your day up for success.
- Stop Trying To Do It All- this is coming from the queen of multi-tasking and doing it all. I learned years ago that I am the only one who should control my schedule and that saying “No” doesn’t make me a bad person, it gives me freedom. I also learned that I cannot do it all, or at least I cannot do it all alone. Us women are capable of doing many things, just not all at once. Each day choose 3 things to focus on (family, work, sleep, social life, exercise, etc.) and give each of those 3 areas the best of you. Learn to control your schedule with things you can manage and do not over commit or overextend yourself. Also do not be afraid to ask for help. Barter childcare from other moms, hire help if you can (like cleaning people), and learn to delegate tasks. Stop being a control freak (self-talk here) and start living a more focused life.
- Give Yourself Grace and Dump the Guilt- So you think that the 31 Day Cleaning Challenge was the most difficult part of bringing order to your life? Well, this is why I saved this one for last. This my friend, is probably the hardest of them all. We try to do it all then fail. We start something and never finish. We give up because it seems hard or overwhelming. We compare ourselves to others. We make excuses. Do all these sound familiar? We all have been down that road and then the guilt quickly sets in and we spiral from there. You must dump the guilt and give yourself some damn GRACE!! Failure means we are trying, and we have to keep that in mind. We also have to be patient and persevere. None of this is going to happen overnight. It is a journey and you have to take each day as it comes. Be patient with yourself, do not give up when it gets hard and when you fall down, dust yourself off and try again, and again and again.
Bringing Order into your chaotic life is going to take a shift of mindset, creating some healthy habits, learning to be disciplined and most importantly giving yourself grace. You might read this and be fired up to do all the things at once. Please do not do that, you will crash and burn badly and get overwhelmed. These tips are for you to systematically incorporate over time. Take one, crush it and master the heck out of it….then move on. Through it all, please keep #10 in mind at all times of giving yourself grace and dumping the guilt.
I hope that I stirred up a little bit of passion into your soul to start on a journey to Joy and Order. It changed my life and I hope it does for you as well.
