Disorganization causes confusion and chaos! One cannot thrive in an environment where things are disorderly and out of place. We can all agree on that! Without order and organization, we cannot function effectively, and we will waste a lot of time moving aimlessly without a clear mission or the discipline to follow it. Our environment is a reflection of our inner man/woman. If our inner man/woman is organized and orderly, so will our immediate environs be. We will not tolerate prolonged disorder and chaos unless it is entirely outside of our control.

There is absolutely no doubt that we are sacked with tons of things to do on a daily basis from juggling our home, work, relationships, finances, health, errands, and everything in between, life can certainly be hectic. However, if we can put some order to it, we will be better able to find balance and function more efficiently.

Some of us like to leave important things that need to be done for the last minute, and try as we may, we cannot break the mold and nip that habit in the bud. Why? Because habits are the hardest things to break. Without intentional, deliberate, consistent effort to discard a bad habit and replace it with a good habit, it cannot be done.

So how can we organize our life so it work for us and not against us? Here are 5 ways:

1. Create a Mission Statement

The first step in decluttering and organizing your life is to create a mission statement. No! Mission statements are not only for corporations and businesses. In fact, people have been using them for generations and it is one of the main things successful people credit with the level of success they were able to attain. Creating a mission statement helps to give you a clearer and more precision-based focus on what you want and don’t want in your life. It does not have to be lengthy; it just need to have the things you value and want to make happen, and the things you do not value and will not work to make happen. Ask yourself, “What is important to me and what isn’t important to me?” We have designed a workbook to help with this specific task of figuring out what you want and does not want. It’s called our Dream Lifestyle Designing Workbook. It is geared towards you thinking about and answering questions that are vital to you deciding what you want to keep in your life right now, and what you want to get rid of. It could be things, people, environment. Whatever is not serving your higher purpose, now is the time to dispose of them.

Example of a Mission Statement

“I aspire to inspire others with my actions but will never forget the power of my voice. I will laugh at myself and help others experience joy. I will use my time mindfully and not allow anyone to mindlessly use my time. I will give and I will receive. I will not fear mistakes but will work earnestly to avoid them, and if they do occur, I will use them as catalysts to my advancement. I will create a welcoming home where peace, love and joy abide. I will love and nurture my family and do everything in my power to protect them. I will pursue my dreams with passion and allow nothing and no-one to deter me. I will seek out opportunities that can enhance my life and secure my dreams, and ensure opportunities find me ready. I will honor my commitments to myself and others, and align myself with people who do the same. I am committed to contributing to my community, growing as a person, finding and loving someone wholeheartedly, and building a business from the ground up – with integrity. I will travel the world and share experiences with people that will allow me to see life from another perspective. I will no longer tolerate or involve myself with people who help to bring about conflict, deceit, and frustration in my life. I will no longer feel sorrow, or regret my decisions – regardless of their outcome; I will either celebrate or deduct the lessons then toss them. I will no longer be bound or defined by my past, but will be emancipated and refined by my future.”

Yes, that was way long, but yours don’t have to be. Just make it inclusive and direct.

2. Set SMART Goals

Use the information from your mission statement to set some clear and specific goals for the things you want in life. Goals will help you to further your agenda by giving you a target of what you’re aiming at. Now that you understand the things you want and don’t want in your life, put some spatial recognition to it. Figure out when you want them by, so you can be able to measure your progress towards them.

Goals are important to decluttering your mind and organizing your life because they give you something to move towards. Goals that are SMART will define what you want and ensure you have the best chance of accomplishing it. For example, if you want to start your own business, you will want to decide “what kind of business it is” and “when you will open up shop”. You will also need to ascertain what you will need in order to achieve that goal, and the key people or institution that are necessary components to you accomplishing your goal. If you want to travel the world, how many cities do you want to see? and by when? Specifically write out all of the cities you’ll visit in your life and when you’ll do it. This way, you have a moving target. Your goals can also then be broken down into milestones that will help you to see what you need to achieve this week, month, and year. It’s so important to organizing your life. Without a concrete set of goals we’re like ships without sail.

3. Develop a Routine & Stick to It

Life is a series of routines that are based on habits. These habitual sets of behaviors are aggregated to form our typical day. For the disorganized person, routines are generally interrupted by unexpected occurrences that result from either a lack of planning, some form of procrastination, or the result of some constant or on-going emergency or crisis. For example, when relationships, health, or financial problems reach epidemic levels, life tends to get more chaotic and less organized. Some things we cannot control and they demand we disrupt our routine, however, we still need to have structure and guide to our day in order to be productive. Start with a morning routine and a nightly routine, and organize the other important things in between. That way you create structure and organization that help to command your day.

When you’re so busy dealing with something that’s taking so much of your mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical resources, it’s difficult to get centered and make any progress. However, by creating routines and sticking to them, you can help to manage the day-to-day chaos and help bring some order to your life. Without established routines, life merely becomes a set of responses to stimuli that are hurled from every direction. Without a routine in place that will help to promote both a happy and healthy lifestyle, along with a positive response to things outside of our control, life can take on a very disastrous tone.

4. Manage Your Time

We cannot stress enough how important effective time management is. Carefully and intentionally manage your time by using the Eisenhower principle which Stephen R. Covey elaborated on in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Everything is categorized by its level of urgency and importance and can fall into 4 quadrants – 1) urgent and important, 2) not urgent but important, 3) urgent but not important, 4) not urgent and not important.

When you can organize your daily tasks and look at things that come up as fitting into these four quadrants, then you can better tackle the things that are important to you. Most of us are busy responding to things that are urgent but not important. We’re also usually busy doing things that are both not urgent and not important, such as mindlessly watching television for hours on end.

The goal here is to tackle the not urgent but important quadrant of things that need to be done in your life. These are what help you to strive towards your long-term goals. So, to better declutter things and organize your life by using your mission statement and goals, you can help to make daily lists that will allow you to more effectively manage your time.

5. Minimize Stress

Stressors are everywhere, and everyone experience stress at some point in their lives. In fact, we can’t simply say that we’ll eliminate all of the stress in our lives because we’re at the mercy of external forces at times that includes other people and situations and are beyond our control. However, what we can do is minimize stress. We can do the things that are relevant and vital to our peace of mind, and ensure our immediate environ is welcoming, relaxing, and nurturing. We can be at the mercy of others but it doesn’t mean that our mental state has to suffer because of it. We can create individual spaces – both physically, mentally, and spiritually, where we can escape the stressors that are so pervasive, and be at peace. If you can setup systems to avoid or minimize stress, then you can better function and focus more on the things that matter to you.

One of the biggest stressors many people face, is lack of financial stability and the constant battle to fulfill their obligations and make ends meet. This is why we have created so many programs here at My Blooming Biz International to help women combat financial lack. Programs such as our: UPPPP Your Genius, WERK Your Money Making Genie, and MASTER Your Finances were created and developed to ensure women get to live and enjoy what we call, “the empowered woman lifestyle”. They are at the center of what we do here, as we recognize that financial independence is the cornerstone to anyone enjoying a high standard of living and a good quality of life. Being financially secure is a huge hurdle in avoiding unnecessary stress, and we should all make it our priority to become financially secure. When your finances are in order you are better able to afford those things that are necessary for full organization. You can shop and stock your home well, eat well, acquire the things for your comfort, and better keep things in place.

When you have a mission statement, and you use it as a guide, it can help to put stressful situations into perspective. If there’s a problem on the horizon, think about how you can resolve that problem while adhering to your mission statement. Your mission statement will be like a constitution for governing your life; you can see what things fit and what don’t, and for the things that don’t fit, you can craft some policies for eliminating them from your life. In order to avoid stressors, you must organize your life. There is no way around it! Organization helps us to not lose sight of what we’re reaching for, and keeps us in the know of what we are doing vs what we should be doing.

6. Home & Office Organization

A clean home, office, and overall environment invoke a clean clear mind. In order to declutter and organize your life, you have to organize your surroundings. When your home is messy, cluttered, with things strewn all about, it is difficult to have any sense of mental organization or purpose. Unfortunately, many of us live with clutter surrounding us; we bask in the chaos and plead that we have our own system when in reality it doesn’t serve us in the least! To organize your life, do a deep clean from top to bottom; everything from your house, to your car, to your office, all needs to be cleaned and fully organized, and make every effort to maintain it.

If you don’t organize and clean your surroundings, your mind has a funny way of cataloging your to-do’s in the depth of your subconscious and using it to help you put other things off. If you have trouble with procrastination, decide that you will spend just 10 to 15 minutes each day cleaning and organizing. For the sanity and clarity organization brings to our lives, that’s the least we can do!

With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,