I always thought of my mess as a form of creative expression but the truth is that unorganized
spaces are productivity’s worst enemy.
Before I made micro-habits my daily routine, my desk was not a desk.
It was more of a battlefield.
It used to be so messy I could not find a pen when I needed one.
I would wake up, look at my messy studio, and find myself procrastinating and hanging
in other rooms to avoid the clutter.
The problem was not my lack of organization.
The problem was me not making small changes to practice my organizational skills.
When I think about success, I think about the top of a mountain.
It takes planning, effort, skills, and time to get there.
You can’t just pack and go.
You have to do the work first.
Just as you need to be able to walk before you can run, so you need to start with small
changes before you can see larger improvements.
As the old saying goes: “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”
Breakthroughs don’t change your life.
Micro-habits do.
To create lasting change you only need to work on your habits.
Positive big shifts or major achievements are usually a consequence of small acts repeated
every day.
The trick to getting a habit to stick is starting now rather than tomorrow, starting micro rather
than big, and mostly just starting.
You don’t need to start meditating for an hour everyday or exercise 6 days a week overnight.
What you need are little changes that don’t require too much effort on your part.
The great thing about habits is that they are contagious and just changing a few micro
ones, like substituting a cookie with an apple, can lead to a larger lifestyle overhaul.
Micro-habits you can stick to is what will lead you to the most important ones and eventually
bring you closer to the big achievements.
These are the ones I’ve been implementing and that significantly improved my productivity
and overall wellbeing, while making my life a lot easier.
Hopefully, they’ll have you feeling more focused and in control in a hopelessly chaotic
world.
Whenever I’m presented with a new task or obstacle, I’ll do my best to get it out
the way on the spot if it’s something I can do in a couple of minutes.
Answer that email, look up that word in the vocabulary, respond to that text, close that
drawer, put that pen back where it belongs, and so on.
While it may seem unharmful to delay such insignificant activities and carry on with
the most important tasks at hand, it can become a real problem over the long term as the unanswered
emails pile up and your anxiety grows.
If it takes you less than two minutes, do it now, not later.
Now that you have decluttered your desk, why not spend one more minute organizing one folder
on your desktop?
Maybe you resolved to write a sentence every day.
Why not add one more today?
Don’t stress over getting your 8 glasses of water if that’s too much for you.
What about drinking just one more?
Instead of worrying about exercising daily for at least 45 minutes, focus on moving your
body for a few more minutes today.
If healthy eating is not your thing yet, just focus on eating one less unhealthy meal.
If you are unhappy with your Netflix binge habit, cut down one episode, or an hour, or
half an hour.
Do what you can.
Make a point to stretch your limits just enough to gain some valuable benefits without going
the extra mile.
Read one more line tonight, add one more celery stick to your dinner plate, learn one more
french word.
Once these one-mores become part of your routine, add another.
If I didn’t bring at least one thing with me every time I take a trip to the kitchen,
my desk would become a nasty pile of junk.
Anytime you find yourself with an empty hand, ask yourself what you can take with you to
clear your space.
Be it your office, car, or any other room that can easily become overwhelmed with clutter,
think about easy ways you can keep it tidy before it gets to the point where you need
a day off to clean up.
Bringing something with you when it’s most convenient doesn’t require any extra effort
and it saves your time and peace of mind.
How you spend a few minutes every day can change the next hours, weeks, and years of
your life.
You don’t have to go the extra mile to see big improvements.
All you have to do is to start with starting and let the small changes lead you effortlessly
toward the bigger ones.
Most importantly, get out of the mindset that you have to get through the day and get in
the mindset that the coming hours are filled with endless potential for you to take actions
that could change your life forever.
Breakthroughs don’t change a life.
Micro-habits do.
Start from those.