CREATE NEW HABITS AND YOU'RE ON THE WAY TO A NEW LIFE
First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Octavia Butler
If one of the goals of your life is to live a well ordered life, there are new habits you will need to develop.
As the above quote tells us, habit is more dependable than inspiration. So let's start developing those habits that will lead to the life we want!
We all have times when we get really inspired by; pictures of neatly organized homes, the dream of living a more calm and serene life, being able to slow down, the peace offered by a decluttered home, etc. Many things such as this can inspire us to begin to want to make some changes in our lives. But then we have a day where we don't feel such inspiration. Maybe we're tired, unmotivated, whatever it is, it keeps us from the inspiration we first felt. So we give up and go back to old habits! And there's that word... Habits! It all goes back to habits! And that's what it's really all about!
If you can begin to take small steps to change your habits, you'll be well on your way to the orderly and balanced life you've always wanted. Studies say that it only takes 21 days to change your habits. Habits are really the things we do on a regular or daily basis that we do without thinking about them. Like brushing your teeth, brushing or combing your hair, etc. Whatever you do without having to think about it has become a habit. The issue becomes in what kinds of habits you have developed over the years. Are they habits that will lead to living an orderly and organized life? Or are they the kinds of habits that keep you in a state of disorganization, chaos, messy spaces, and no order in your life?
Sounds simple and it can be but it does take an intentional change in your habits. I used to be very organized when our kids were growing up as I've mentioned in previous posts. But after retirement I changed... and not in a good way. We stayed up too late, snacking in the evening and piling these dishes in the sink. Being too tired to even put them in the dishwasher we left them overnight and woke up to an untidy kitchen which I hated. Getting tired of waking up to that mess, I made an intentional decision that I needed to get back to cleaning up right after we made the mess. So every day, no matter how I felt, I got the dishes put away! It became a habit! In fact it became so much of a habit, that even when I'm tired, I just can't go to bed without cleaning up! It did help me to remember that I would have to wake up to a messy kitchen in the morning if I didn't do it. Now, once again, I wake up to a tidy kitchen and it makes a big difference in my mornings!
And you can do the same thing in whatever habits you'd like to develop to help you get your life more organized and orderly.
While the new habits that you want to develop might be a bit different than mine or others, at some point, there are some simple steps everyone can take to develop new habits that will make a difference. These are just starting points to get you to begin to realize how small changes can begin to make a big difference in your life.
Let's begin creating new habits with tidying the spaces of your home. I'm going to list 10 habits you can develop to start you off to living a well ordered and organized life. These are habits that you will have to be intentional about on a daily basis for 21 days. After that time they will become habits that will lead you into desiring to develop more positive habits into your life.
Write them down so you remember to do them every day. If you happen to miss a day, get right back on track, but remember to tell yourself every day that you are doing this just for today. Take one day at a time! You have probably heard some of these before but if lots of people are saying them then that means they must be important, right? Are you ready? Then here they are!
10 SIMPLE STEPS TO CREATE ORDERLY HABITS
1) Every day make your bed. Yeah, you've heard that before, but just do it!
2) When you take your clothes off; hang them up, put in a drawer, or put in a basket for dirty laundry.
3) Sweep the kitchen before you go to bed.
4) Wipe up spills as they happen.
5) Empty the dishwasher every day.
6) As soon as mail arrives, put it in its "home". If you don't have a "home" for your mail, find one.
7) With a wet-wipe, wipe off bathroom sinks every day.
8) Wipe off kitchen counters every night.
9) Help the kids put their toys away after playing with them. Or have them do it themselves.
10) Keep a box somewhere and every day add one thing that you want to give away. ( With this step you are accomplishing two things: decluttering and donating )
Each of these simple steps takes one minute or less to accomplish. This will take about only 10 minutes out of your day. But not even all at once! You'll spread these 10 minutes throughout the day! Does this much effort seem worth it to have a more orderly home?
Now you might be thinking, "But you don't know what a mess my house is! It will take more than that to get things straightened out and orderly!" As I said this is just a beginning. But a beginning that can be simple enough for a start. After you develop these habits ( remember you need to do these for 21 days to develop a habit ) you can take the "next steps" which I will share later in another post. But each "next set of steps" will be easier as you enjoy more and more of your new orderly home and see how developing new habits will help you in reaching your goal of having a well ordered home.
If this list seems overwhelming to you, pick out a few or however many you think you can handle and then conquer them first. Add the rest later. You can go at your own pace.
Try all of these for a day and see how you feel. Do you feel as if you made a step forward in becoming orderly in your home? Even a little bit? Don't forget what the quote says, " A little by little a little becomes a lot."
There are many more facets to living orderly and balanced, including your time, your mind, your relationships, your job, your activities and more. But starting with the spaces in your home will help clear your thoughts as you tidy up. This blog will be about more than being organized and tidy but we'll begin here.
la det skje! Norwegian for "Make it happen!"
Thanks for stopping by! Sandy
If one of the goals of your life is to live a well ordered life, there are new habits you will need to develop.
As the above quote tells us, habit is more dependable than inspiration. So let's start developing those habits that will lead to the life we want!
We all have times when we get really inspired by; pictures of neatly organized homes, the dream of living a more calm and serene life, being able to slow down, the peace offered by a decluttered home, etc. Many things such as this can inspire us to begin to want to make some changes in our lives. But then we have a day where we don't feel such inspiration. Maybe we're tired, unmotivated, whatever it is, it keeps us from the inspiration we first felt. So we give up and go back to old habits! And there's that word... Habits! It all goes back to habits! And that's what it's really all about!
If you can begin to take small steps to change your habits, you'll be well on your way to the orderly and balanced life you've always wanted. Studies say that it only takes 21 days to change your habits. Habits are really the things we do on a regular or daily basis that we do without thinking about them. Like brushing your teeth, brushing or combing your hair, etc. Whatever you do without having to think about it has become a habit. The issue becomes in what kinds of habits you have developed over the years. Are they habits that will lead to living an orderly and organized life? Or are they the kinds of habits that keep you in a state of disorganization, chaos, messy spaces, and no order in your life?
Sounds simple and it can be but it does take an intentional change in your habits. I used to be very organized when our kids were growing up as I've mentioned in previous posts. But after retirement I changed... and not in a good way. We stayed up too late, snacking in the evening and piling these dishes in the sink. Being too tired to even put them in the dishwasher we left them overnight and woke up to an untidy kitchen which I hated. Getting tired of waking up to that mess, I made an intentional decision that I needed to get back to cleaning up right after we made the mess. So every day, no matter how I felt, I got the dishes put away! It became a habit! In fact it became so much of a habit, that even when I'm tired, I just can't go to bed without cleaning up! It did help me to remember that I would have to wake up to a messy kitchen in the morning if I didn't do it. Now, once again, I wake up to a tidy kitchen and it makes a big difference in my mornings!
And you can do the same thing in whatever habits you'd like to develop to help you get your life more organized and orderly.
While the new habits that you want to develop might be a bit different than mine or others, at some point, there are some simple steps everyone can take to develop new habits that will make a difference. These are just starting points to get you to begin to realize how small changes can begin to make a big difference in your life.
Let's begin creating new habits with tidying the spaces of your home. I'm going to list 10 habits you can develop to start you off to living a well ordered and organized life. These are habits that you will have to be intentional about on a daily basis for 21 days. After that time they will become habits that will lead you into desiring to develop more positive habits into your life.
Write them down so you remember to do them every day. If you happen to miss a day, get right back on track, but remember to tell yourself every day that you are doing this just for today. Take one day at a time! You have probably heard some of these before but if lots of people are saying them then that means they must be important, right? Are you ready? Then here they are!
10 SIMPLE STEPS TO CREATE ORDERLY HABITS
1) Every day make your bed. Yeah, you've heard that before, but just do it!
2) When you take your clothes off; hang them up, put in a drawer, or put in a basket for dirty laundry.
3) Sweep the kitchen before you go to bed.
4) Wipe up spills as they happen.
5) Empty the dishwasher every day.
6) As soon as mail arrives, put it in its "home". If you don't have a "home" for your mail, find one.
7) With a wet-wipe, wipe off bathroom sinks every day.
8) Wipe off kitchen counters every night.
9) Help the kids put their toys away after playing with them. Or have them do it themselves.
10) Keep a box somewhere and every day add one thing that you want to give away. ( With this step you are accomplishing two things: decluttering and donating )
Each of these simple steps takes one minute or less to accomplish. This will take about only 10 minutes out of your day. But not even all at once! You'll spread these 10 minutes throughout the day! Does this much effort seem worth it to have a more orderly home?
Now you might be thinking, "But you don't know what a mess my house is! It will take more than that to get things straightened out and orderly!" As I said this is just a beginning. But a beginning that can be simple enough for a start. After you develop these habits ( remember you need to do these for 21 days to develop a habit ) you can take the "next steps" which I will share later in another post. But each "next set of steps" will be easier as you enjoy more and more of your new orderly home and see how developing new habits will help you in reaching your goal of having a well ordered home.
If this list seems overwhelming to you, pick out a few or however many you think you can handle and then conquer them first. Add the rest later. You can go at your own pace.
Try all of these for a day and see how you feel. Do you feel as if you made a step forward in becoming orderly in your home? Even a little bit? Don't forget what the quote says, " A little by little a little becomes a lot."
There are many more facets to living orderly and balanced, including your time, your mind, your relationships, your job, your activities and more. But starting with the spaces in your home will help clear your thoughts as you tidy up. This blog will be about more than being organized and tidy but we'll begin here.
la det skje! Norwegian for "Make it happen!"
Thanks for stopping by! Sandy
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I enjoy reading every comment and will respond to them all! Thanks for taking the time to stop by! Sandy