This is a process I run through when life gets a bit too messy. Like when you’re constantly thinking back to a time when “life was better.” Or when your routines fall apart, and all of these little tasks pop up that drain your time in the day.
Take Note Of How You Feel
Pull out a notebook and write down the following:
- Exactly what you are doing daily.
- How you feel morning, afternoon, and night.
Take 10 minutes and get specific. This is important for identifying unconscious parasites (time and energy suckers).
Prioritize, Remove, & Restructure
The reason you aren’t getting the results you used to is because:
- You feel pressed for time
- You don’t have the energy to get results
- You stopped doing the things that got results
Look over your brain dump from above.
What can you change? Prioritize the things that will get results.
Remove the things that snuck into your day (and don’t deserve to be there). Restructure specific tasks and obligations to free up more time. Get the chaotic structure of your mind on paper and reorganize it.
Create A Week-Long Plan
You are in this chaotic spot in life because of entropy.
The organization of your life (and therefore the mind) tends toward disorder if you don’t perform mental housekeeping.
This is dangerous because you can pick up bad habits along the way.
Habits are difficult to break. But you can make the process easier with clarity.
Take 10 minutes.
Write out every single thing you are going to do for the next week.
This shouldn’t sound crazy or difficult. This is how you reduce the friction of making better decisions.
Write out:
- Your morning routine
- Your focused work routine
- Other tasks and meetings
- Nightly routine
You will have to experiment as you go. If the routine doesn’t flow, go back to your notebook and write what you will do the next day.
This is how you create a system for your life. It gets more efficient with time if you make this ‘mental housekeeping’ a regular practice. Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed it, consider sharing.