Chapter V.
Organise your life
Order is our organisation of life. Order for a man is a self-management.
When we feel supressed, having ill mood or stood out of our inner compass due to the influence of the unfortunate events or people on us, our inner mood starts reflecting on our outer world as accumulation of clutter and mess around us in our house and work desk. This, in turn, slows down our productivity, reduces further motivation, leads to more stress and inability to concentrate. This is a vicious circle and there is only one solution to break it. When you feel down or empty, start making order in your personal space: at your home and your desk. Move the furniture, get rid of old things that are no longer useful and place around valuable and useful things with care and love. Put the rubbish away, declutter your personal space and dopamine will be released in the brain. You will feel happier immediately. The dopamine will be released and your mood will be elevated, you will feel burst of energy. The more we start to bring order and discipline in our life, the easier and more pleasant it will be to live.
Sherry Carter, professor of psychology states that mess overwhelms all our senses making us feel that our tasks are unnecessarily complicated, difficult, or never end. It also reflects in the feeling of helplessness. We get tired more quickly because we have to engage all our systems to get through the mess to find what we are looking for.
Clutter and mess in our personal space can play a significant role in how we feel about ourselves too. Messy homes and workspaces leave us feeling anxious, helpless and overwhelmed. It constantly signals to our brain that our work is never done. We feel anxious every time we have to search for something because we can never be sure what it is going to take us to get through to the bottom of the pile. This also relates to our computer and mailboxes. Mess creates feelings of guilt ("I should be more organized") and embarrassment, especially when others unexpectedly drop by our homes or workplaces. But most importantly, mess in our life dramatically increases the possibility of negative events and consequences occur in our life. With every moment the number of unfortunate events will only increase. Thus, the very first step in order to take control and change your life is to declutter and make order in your personal space, in your thoughts and organise your life.
Every person with their thoughts and actions creates a layer of his own world where he lives. Your world becomes exactly how you imagine it. By getting rid of clutter in your life and in your head, you will discover that your reality becomes brighter, warmer and cosier.
To live the life of your dreams you need to design how it would look like on a daily basis because the vast part of our life consists of routine. You would need to create or recreate your ideal day. Think creatively what would it look like? What things/events would it consist of? Is there a new amazing habit you wanted to implement in your life that you know would get you closer to your dream, make you happier and proud of yourself, but could never do? Take a pen and paper and start developing your ideal routine day that would make you super-happy and help you to excel in achieving your goals.
Design one day of your life from the moment you wake up (including the time of your alarm) to the point of you falling asleep. How would it look like? Write down your ideal routine hour by hour. What would be the best thing for you to do as soon as you wake up? What would you want to do next? Did you always want do meditate but could never find time for it? Forget to take those supplements that will make you glow? Would you like to have your evening routine or change it for a happier, more productive one? It takes about 66 days to make a habit. There are various apps that offer you to set you to your ideal routine. However, the problem with them is that they are limited, not flexible enough and for this reason I suggest to do it in the following way:
· First write your perfect routine day on a paper and then,
· Set alarm reminders on your phone.
This way once time comes for a certain habit to take place, you will get an automatic reminder on your phone which will make it very easy for you to remember. You don’t even need to think. All you have to do is just go and do it on an autopilot mode. It is once you live through your ideal day doing all the amazing things that you always wanted, your dopamine levels will raise by the evening and you will feel great every day of your life.
Always wanted to plan your forthcoming week on Sunday? Just set a reminder on your phone to do it at 7 pm every Sunday. Does your brain automatically slip into the grey area or starts remembering past resentments during the day? Set a reminder on the phone for the afternoon to consciously control your thoughts and to think positively. This way you will train your brain to go back into positive mode, developing it as a habit. Even if unpleasant or unfortunate events hit your day, you will now get an automatic reminder on your phone to consciously control your thoughts and not letting them get into you. Keep forgetting feeling grateful for all the wonderful things that are in your life that you have? Set a reminder on your phone. Train your brain to stay in dzen all the time constantly experiencing the ecstatic feeling of joy and happiness through gratitude.
Always wanted to do a charity work as your contribution to the world but keep forgetting or never seem to have time for it? Take a calendar and decide which day of the month and for how long you can do it. It might only take you 3 hours in the whole week or a month to do a charitable act but how great it will make you feel that you are doing something good for the world, while building your good karma for the future. Set a reminder on your phone with a specific repeated day and time for all your important activities and habits you want to develop.
Always wanted to learn a new sport or hobby but feel your life is too busy? Look at the calendar and see when you could find those 3 hours in your life to start that first lesson. The thing is, once you do what you wanted for such a long time, your dopamine levels will raise adding to your happiness and self-esteem.
By the evening when you write in your gratitude diary all the great things that you did and experienced during the day, you will gradually train your brain to see the good side of life. All adds to the piggy bank building your happiness. Once you start, you will understand that you are the creator of your life and of your happiness, and that happiness is not some slippery elusive Chimera but a manageable and exciting process. Planning, implementing and experiencing the benefits of your creativity and organisation of your life will make you see that your happiness is in your hands and has always been at your feet, you just couldn’t see it.
Tip 1:
If you want to feel happy all the time, you would need to equip yourself with the supportive mechanisms, like automatic reminders on your phone that you always carry with you. They will support you and prevent you from slipping and falling back. They will also help you to build the core habits that will get you to the life you want.
Tip 2:
Revise your routine regularly (at least) every 6 months to be able to effectively adjust to new changes, circumstances and opportunities. Over time there will be habits you no longer need to be reminded of because they will have become a part of your identity. That is when you will reap the benefits of new opportunities you did not have before.
Tip 3:
When you wake up, first thing, start your day by taking your diary and read your goals you wrote the night before and positive affirmations that you wish to become a part of your identity, visualise your dreams. Fill in your 6-minute diary to step in to positive vibes at the start of your day. Look at your goals and planner for the day– all the wonderful exciting things you will be enjoying today.
This is not esoteric. This is programming your brain to concentrate on the positives and prioritise yourself. Your hormones in the morning and your virgin state of your brain will allow you to better set your true goals and priorities for the day. Morning sets the mood for the day.
In the first hour after you wake up you must not look at your messages, emails, social media or news. This is the best decision you can make. If you take your phone in your hands - you will get carried away and will forget your dreams and goals because in your phone others constantly fight for your attention trying to steal it and make you serve their needs and their goals: news, media, social media, marketing and advertising, other people. They will drag you away from your goals, stealing your focus, time and energy. Once you stripped out of your focus, it will be very difficult to get back. Thus, first hour in the morning make it for your own needs: read your goals, aspirations, positive affirmations, where you want to be and the person you want to become, read your gratitude diary to set your positive mood and vibes for the day. Do the things for yourself first, and then move to the duties and responsibilities, if you have.