Daily life is a constant balancing act between work, family obligations, household chores, and finding time for leisure. As you juggle your responsibilities, you may find your life accumulating more messes, both physical and mental.
Hit the reset button by organizing your life with the help of these simple steps.
Identify Problem Areas
Which areas of your life or living space are the most disorganized? Perhaps your bedroom is littered with dirty clothes, or your weekly planner is covered in illegible scribbles and sticky notes. Write a short list of the messy areas you’d like to tackle, and put the list in a place where you’ll see it every day.
Start Very Small
You probably won’t organize your entire home or calendar in a single afternoon. That’s okay! As you begin the organizational process, find one small corner or area you can tackle in an afternoon. Try emptying out and reorganizing your purse, or take a few hours to sift through the piles of paperwork on your desk.
Create Helpful Habits
Organizing your life won’t stick in the long term if you don’t make an effort to keep it organized. While you tidy up, make a note of the little habits that help you. Many highly organized people find the following habits helpful. It’s okay if you need to alter them to fit your lifestyle, but give them a try:
- Write things down with pen and paper, from to-do lists to daily reminders
- Avoid procrastinating difficult or unpleasant tasks
- Schedule time once a week to tidy up your space
Set Manageable Goals
Do you love to watch home and garden shows about decluttering and overhauling your space? They’re great for inspiration, but remember that your own life will take longer than an hour to go from “before” to “after.”
Break your aspirations up into manageable pieces by setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals. If your monthly goal is to have a clean house, try cleaning one or two rooms per week. Every day, go into that room and spend 10 minutes tidying, vacuuming, or clearing out clutter.
While organizing your life can seem like a lofty objective, you can use these simple steps to start small. Remember: nobody can eat an elephant in a single bite! Divide your goals into smaller steps until you have a list of tasks you can tackle with confidence.