How to Organize Life
With summer coming to a close, let’s review some tips to help you decrease anxiety and get in gear! Do you ever feel like you just aren’t getting any traction? Stuck on the same tasks? Let’s review some ways to get going!
1.) Plan your week. Setting a weekly plan can give you a direction for the week. Much of the time we get in a rut of just going with the flow letting life control us rather than identifying what is important and urgent, needing to get done. You can start by writing down all the tasks you need to do, like a running to do list. Next, you can divide your tasks into important, not important, urgent, and not urgent, highlighting the important and urgent tasks for the week.
2.) Set achievable goals. After you identify your tasks for the week, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Are your goals achievable? Are they so overwhelming that you keep putting it off? Can they be done in the time frame you’ve set? Goal-setting issues arise when we give ourselves too many little tasks or list a single task that’s too big! Both of these cause us to freeze, spending hours scrolling on social media or binging Netflix. Andddd later feeling guilty because that time could’ve been used more wisely. Meanwhile, the tasks sitll don’t get done. Make your goals achievable. Don’t bite off too many tasks for the week. Get serious about estimating the time each task takes. Break it down into one day, one hour at a time if needed. For larger tasks, break them into smaller, less overwhelming things and give ample time.
3.) Build in rewards! When you’re planning your week and setting goals…. how many of those items are exciting, fun, refilling? Yeah, there might be the occasional vacation, but how are you rewarding yourself through the week? And not just rewarding, but refilling. How are you refilling your cup on the daily? For those mundane tasks with low motivation that HAVE to get done, set a reward for yourself! Or, just schedule something that refills your cup every or every other day, no achievement beforehand required. Once it’s on your actual to-do list, you get refilled AND you get the thrill of marking it off your list!
4.) Be in the moment. I saw a post about “glimmers”. They are the every day moments that often get overlooked when you’re busy jumping from one task to the next. Build mindfulness or deep breathing breaks into your day. Notice your present moment and hone in on what is right in front of you. Enjoy those little moments- the stars on a clear night, the smile of a loved one, every bite of your food… LIVE!
