Becoming an organised person doesn't happen overnight.
It takes months or even years of building certain habits to keep your environment neat
and organized and be able to manage your time well.
Even if you consider yourself an organized person, there is always space to improve your
methods and routines and try new things that help you stay on track.
Since this is the first video for 2020 I thought it would be a good idea to present you "One
Year to an Organized Life" by Regina Leeds.
The special thing about this book is that it doesn't feel overwhelming.
Instead of trying to teach you everything about organization, it divides different topics
for the course of 12 months, giving you simple weekly and monthly projects to follow so you
can tackle different areas of your life and home separately.
The other good thing about this book is that you can adapt it to your learning or reading
rhythm.
You'll probably feel like you can't adapt some of these chapters to your life (for instance
September focuses a lot on back-to-school season for kids), but that means that you
can go through the index and decide to extend some of the chapters throughout a wider span
of months.
For example, if you feel like you have a lot of the so-called hidden areas, like basements,
garages, laundry rooms, etc, you'll probably have to dedicate more than one month to cover
the organization of those spaces.
The book also suggests a bunch of new habits to implement for at least 21 days straight
each month.
This can be a little bit of help if you're struggling with implementing certain routines.
Even if you can succesfully organize everything in your house, you won't be able to keep that
organization for long if you are unable to build strong habits.
Since I don't want to spoil the book for you, I'll cover the January chapter for this video
so you can get some motivation to start this transformation in 2020.
In January, Regina Leeds suggests you to focus on 1) understanding time management and 2)
working on the kitchen.
Regarding habits, the author suggests you to pick at least one of the following, and
sticking with it for 21 days straight:
- Wash dishes rather than leave them languishing in the sink;
- Put your clean dishes away immediately; - If you use a dishwasher, unload it when
its cycle is complete; - Wipe of the counters after each use;
- Once a day, take out the garbage.
On the first week of January, your should be understanding where your time is going
and understanding how to use it.
You can use a journal or a notepad for this exercise.
Tracking how much time you're spending on cleaning, sleeping, commuting, scrolling through
social media or watching Netflix is a good way to have a good look at how you‘re spending
an invaluable resource that could be used to reach other goals.
Maybe you've always wanted to write a book, do some volunteer work or learn a language.
Cutting back on what's non essential and redirect that time to more essential tasks is a sign
of organization, too.
In week two you should be working on creating schedules and routines.
The goal is to create your ideal planning system by setting up a calendar, planner or
other type of organization method, and then by using that tool, create a routine that
is both effective at tackling all of your to-dos and also giving you enough time to
either work on personal projects and taking care of yourself.
Part of this job includes 1) delegating tasks to someone you trust, 2) cutting back on activities
that aren’t giving you joy or are useless for your daily routine and 3) living your
day-to-day life taking into account your future wellbeing.
This last step can be tricky but it’s a change in your mindset that can be incredibly
useful in the future.
It can apply to incredibly simple things like laying out your outfit the night before or
organizing a project or a trip step by step six months ahead before you engage in that
activity.
Life can be unpredictable and saving planning, organization or working for when they feel
“appropriate”, near the deadline, can give you a lot of trouble if something else
comes up.
Take pleasure in preparing for the unexpected and you’ll have more leverage to work around
problems when they arrive.
Week three and four are dedicated to the kitchen and you should be asking so-called “kitchen
questions”.
Since it’s the first week of January I haven’t started the organizational section of the
book myself so I’ll leave you with a few topics you can start working on or planning
for:
1) You should be analyzing the space around you and understand how you currently use your
kitchen and how you would like to use it.
2) You should then perform a speed elimination of items that you no longer need or use and
3) set up different areas in your kitchen according to your needs.
4) Regina Leeds also suggests you to organize your pantry so it supports your kitchen activities,
even if your pantry is just a few shelves and, finally,
5) Create a shopping list and an emergency contact list to keep nearby.
If you are interested in delving into these kitchen questions and start working I recommend
you to get the eBook version or physical version of “One Year to an Organized Life”.
I’ll be posting updates over the year on how I’ve been adapting the contents of the
book to my own organization methods.
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I hope you enjoyed this video and I will see you next week.
Bye guys!