The Beginner's Guide to Organizing Your Life: Part 2

Organizing your mind

When you are in the process of reorganizing your life, an important step to keep in mind is to organize your mind. Your mind processes hundreds of thoughts, so why not tidy up your mental clutter? Mental clutter can stem from stressing about money, relationships, work, or any chaos that exists in your daily life. If you don’t learn how to organize your thoughts in a positive way, it can have a negative impact on your productivity. Here is how to apply the KonMari method to your mind.

Collect all your thoughts:

Kondo shared with TIME magazine her method on how to declutter your mind. First, you must lay out all your thoughts and feelings in front of you on paper. Yes, it would be easier to place all these thoughts and emotions into a donation bin, but that isn’t how this works. “I write down every single feeling going through my mind”, Kondo says. You can write words or short sentences, whatever you prefer but keep it simple.

Next, write an explanation as to why you are feeling that way. What is causing you to feel worry, stress, insecure, or sadness?

 For some, it could also be the opposite, what is causing you to feel joy, excitement, confident, or relief? If you find yourself fitting into this category, you can skip the following steps on how to find a solution. Instead, write down tips on how to keep those positive feelings and apply them whenever you find yourself in that negative mindset. The goal here is to organize ALL your disordered thoughts, not just the negative ones.

Find a solution that can be your “action item”

For each emotion your write down, you must find a positive solution. For example: Let’s say you’re feeling stressed, a good action item could be “create a stress jar”, or “take a nice hot bath to feel rejuvenated”. You want to find an action item so that you can handle your feelings in an actional-able way.

Kondo suggests writing down your emotions and action items in two different colored pens, so “I have a clear visual cute that I’m finding positive fixed to my problems”.

Set a time and place to complete those solutions

The last step is to set an exact date and time in which you will handle these negative emotions. This process of organizing your mind helps you realize the power that negative thoughts can have over you. By KonMari-ing your mind, you can learn to let go of these negative emotions by focusing on positive solutions and create actual positive change.

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Organizing Your Body to Better Health

Your overall health can have quite the impact on your mindset and daily life. It is important to make a commitment to yourself, and your body, to partake in healthy habits. By incorporating these habits into your daily life, you can create a positive change for your health. 

Eat a Healthy Diet

Eating healthy is not always easy as it seems, but committing to a balanced diet could be one of the greatest decisions you make for yourself and your future. Here are 3 reasons why you should eat a healthy diet:

1)     You will look great in those jeans! No but really, you shouldn’t change your diet for the sole purpose of changing your outward appearance. What matters most is what’s on the inside. For example: Getting the right amount of nutrients, eating foods that can boost your energy levels, and making sure your system continues to run smoothly.

2)     Food can affect your stress levels. If you find yourself feeling hungry, that is your body telling you that you’re malnourished.  As a result, you are more likely to emotionally react to stressors, or may not have the power to handle stress efficiently as you would if you had a full belly of healthy food.  So, it is important to watch what you eat, as it can be used as a stress management tool.

3)     Food can impact your mood. Your diet has a stronger impact on your mood than your weight on a scale. If you consume a poor diet, you’ll soon notice a mood change, feeling jittery or lethargic, all within a matter of minutes or hours.

When you consume a balanced diet, you’ll find yourself feeling more energized, in turn motivating you to eat healthy more often. Utilize that motivation and turn it into a reward for eating well. This makes it easier to stick to a healthy diet.

Create a Fitness Routine

Sometimes trying to fit workouts into a hectic schedule isn’t easy, the key is to add it gradually into your morning routine. Once you make it routine, it builds into a habit.  For example, jogging early in the morning before you go to work. Try doing it 3x a week, once you feel comfortable enough to increase the intensity, add more days into your routine. To make the process easier, listen to music or an audiobook during it. This makes working out more appealing.

Get the Right Amount of Sleep

Whether you are an early bird or a night owl, a major key to getting a better night’s sleep is to go to bed early. Easier said than done, I know. But in the long run, it is only beneficial to you and your health.

These benefits include:

o   Feeling refreshed and energized in the morning.

o   Easier to maintain a healthy weight, due to less snacking at night.

o   Saying goodbye to those under eye bags!

o   Productivity improves at work.

o   Feeling of stress and irritability reduces.

o   Lowers your risk of developing chronic conditions.

If you are a night owl, falling asleep early most likely won’t be easy you. The solution is to start with small changes first. Try going to bed 15 minutes earlier every night or create a night routine. Your night routine can consist of a nice warm bath, reading and journaling, or prayer/meditation just before you go to bed. Continue doing this every night so it becomes habit. This will allow that sleepy feeling to come more naturally to you.

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And there we have it. The Beginner's Guide to Organizing Your Life Parts 1 & 2. Refer to these posts whenever you need a quick refresher or a quick reference to all the amazing resources we included for you. Just remember every element of organizing your life is a process. Be mindful and realistic and stay the course. Organization (on such a large scale) doesn't happen overnight. Build a community, keep each other accountable, make it fun!

We would love to hear your thoughts, be sure to leave a comment below. What are your thoughts on Life Organization? Please share your tips and resources!

The Beginner's Guide to Organizing Your Life: Part 1

 Sources:

Glover, Lacie. “6 Reasons for Eating Healthy.” NerdWallet, 22 June 2017, https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/benefits-of-eating-healthy/.

Osmun, Rosie. “9 Science-Backed Reasons Why You Should Go to Bed Early.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 1 May 2016, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/go-to-bed-early_b_7157026?ncid=engmodushpmg00000005&guccounter=1.

Cutruzzula, Kara. “The Marie Kondo Method For Tidying Up Your Mental Clutter.” Shine, https://advice.shinetext.com/articles/the-marie-kondo-method-for-tidying-up-your-mental-clutter/.

“How Marie Kondo Organizes Her Brain.” Time, Time, https://time.com/collection/guide-to-happiness/4178119/marie-kondo-journaling/.

  

Sander, Libby. “This Is What Clutter Does to Your Brain and Body.” Newsweek, Newsweek, 22 Jan. 2019, https://www.newsweek.com/tidying-marie-kondo-clutter-netflix-life-changing-magic-tidying-mental-health-1299938.