If life was flying by way too fast #beforecorona and you used to wish for everything to stop so that you could catch up, then ‘your wish is granted’!
If you know the feeling of being at capacity, feeling frazzled and overwhelmed, then it’s time to get organised and recharge, so that you can be ready to take off after Covid-19.
We can’t control the events unfolding in the world right now, so it makes sense to turn inwards, and put your management hat on with the things that you can control – and improve!
I’ll cover the benefits of decluttering, four areas to declutter that will ease the sense of overwhelm, and some strategies to re-charge so that you’re ready to hit the ground running.
The benefits of decluttering
1. You feel more confident and competent
When your feel organised and clear of #allthethings that are getting in the way, then you can
- make decisions quickly and with more discernment;
- have everything at your fingertips (Bonus time saver!);
- have more time to do the things you love – definitely an awesome confidence builder!
2. You feel more energised
As a systems thinker, who likes structure, I don’t often talk about energy but I absolutely have to agree with this benefit of decluttering.
When I feel overwhelmed, I procrastinate, I can’t think straight, I can’t make a decision and I feel very flat.
However, when the path is clear, I have space and time – I am on fire – and that feeling is so addictive, because it’s like a burst of inspiration – energising & productive…like nothing can get in the way.
I want more of that!
3. You feel less stress and anxiety
When you’re in a mess, chaos reigns. When there’s so much to do you feel out of control, then you feel scattered and anxious.
This chips away at confidence, productivity, and your mindset – all of the things that you work so hard to achieve so that you can have a life that you love.
4. You can think clearly and make better decisions
When you have a clear schedule and organise time for the important things your life you feel much more positive.
Let’s look at some strategies to help you get organised and clear the clutter, so that you’re ready to go after Covid-19.
Declutter your brain
I don’t know about you, but I keep A LOT of info in my head. There’s a lot to stay on top of and it can be mentally exhausting. Errands like buying milk end up having similar bandwidth as strategies for important work conversations – totally disproportionate to the importance of the milk!
Fun Fact: Your brain can only carry 6 key pieces of information in it at one time before it starts fatiguing, and not working at it’s best..
Any more than that, and it will struggle – and this looks like getting distracted, getting tired, not listening well – your brain working overtime.
Getting it all out into a ‘brain dump’ is a great strategy, to help reduce the overwhelm and start to prioritise the important tasks and organise the errands.
You can also supercharge your brain dump by categorising as you go. You can use categories such as home, family, marketing, emails, follow up, errands, ideas, things to do, get organised, things to remember, shopping, who to ring.
I try and do this every week, so that I can get it all out, see a tangible list so that I know where to start without the overwhelm.
Review your subscriptions and costs, so that you know what your base line costs are monthly.
If you have them all listed in one spreadsheet, it can be easier to track and monitor them too. There are a lot of good deals, so it can be a good time to do some research.
Review your online storage, folders, and tidy your desktop.
This can be a mine-field, but feeling disorganised and not knowing where to find anything is one of those low lying stressors that can be easy to address with some decluttering.
Tidy up your cloud storage and hard drive so that it’s organised. Don’t be afraid to create folders and subfolders with clear titles.
I like to create a ’superseded folder’ for things that I’m not sure I want to delete, but they can be removed from my day to day file management system.
This is probably one of those jobs you never get round to, and now is the perfect time.
Pro Tip: My foundation for staying organised digitally is the same as for my living room, kitchen or toys in the bedroom. Everything needs to have a home. If it doesn’t then you can’t put it away, and it can end up lingering around where you don’t want it, or where you can’t find it. Give files a home straight away so that you know where to find it.
Declutter your Goals, To Do lists and sticky notes
If you have lists/ reminders/ sticky notes in notebooks, scraps of paper, on the fridge, in your Notes app, on the kitchen bench, in your ‘other’ notebook, on your desk….. then it’s time to consolidate and declutter.
The Pro Tip applies to this one too – everything needs to have a home. When you reduce all of the places you keep information/ to do’s/ goals/ ideas, then it can be easy to focus down and start achieving them – when it’s safe to get out of the house!
As you can see there are so many more areas that could be decluttered! Facebook groups, apps, Inbox, email newsletter subscriptions… the list is endless. It will help you create more clarity around all the things that are important to you.
Time to Re-charge
Once you have cleared so much away, you can take some time to reflect on how you want to spend your time once life becomes busy again.
Resetting boundaries around your time, your screen time, your health and wellness can help you stay focussed on how you want to spend your time – as opposed to just floating along in the busy current of work and life.
Some of my favourite recharging activities include morning walks, listening to meditations and music on the Insight Timer app, and journalling on my reflections, and to help me stay clear and focussed on my goals.
Getting through this won’t be easy, but taking this time to declutter, review what’s getting in your way and recharging could help you create your vision for the future.
By Aerlie Wildy
As a Business Efficiency Consultant, I help service-based small businesses improve their customer experience and bottom line with systems, processes, and productivity tools by providing customised strategy, implementation and training.
My clients have felt overwhelmed, with their business in their head, systems in a complete mess, and they have transformed their days into feeling calmer and focussed. I am a natural problem solver and create structure for business with a supportive approach so that my clients can connect, be visible, scale and grow their business.
I am an Asana Guru, ClickUp Preferred Service Provider and Certified Evernote Consultant, and specialise in designing business hubs, mapping the client journey, systems and automation, outsourcing strategy and customer experience.Visit https://aerliewildy.com for more info