For this week’s Mental Sunshine tip, we are returning my positive word cloud.
Today our word is Organised.
You might think being organised has nothing to do with Mental Sunshine… but I believe the two are linked.
When you feel disorganised, everything feels a bit chaotic.
You can miss things, forget things, and generally feel like you’re running around, constantly playing catch up.
When you feel organised, there’s that feeling of contentment that you know where you are with everything.
Being organised doesn’t mean you’ve done everything on your to-do list, or that there’s no massive job hanging over you.
It just means that you know where all of the moving parts are.
That feels good; it takes a load off your brain.
So how can we be more organised?
A lot of that is down to personal preference – finding an approach or system that works for you.
Here are some tips to get you started:
- Make a habit of writing down everything you need to do. Don’t rely on your brain to remember something, however small – that takes up vital space in your brain that you could be using for other things.
- Use an app to keep track of what needs to be done and when
- Create a routine – instead of thinking to myself “I should write a Mental Sunshine email this week at some point…” I write and schedule it on a Wednesday. I know that this is just what I do on a Wednesday, and so I don’t have to try and remember it at other times during the week.
- Delegate. Do you really need to do all of those things you’re tying yourself in knots over? Could you get someone to help? That might mean getting someone else to run a weekly report, sharing school runs with another parent, or hiring a cleaner.
- Be strict about your phone and email. They can take up loads of our time without allowing us to actually achieve anything.
- Find a calendar/planner that works for you. Is it Google Calendar? Outlook? An old fashioned paper diary? Use whichever one you find most helpful, and use it as much as you can!
How organised do you feel?
Do you think there’s anything you could improve on?
Let me know…
