Life is exhausting and overwhelming, at least it is if you don’t do something! An organized life is more than just check lists and due dates, it’s an empowering sense of stability that brings progress, accomplishment and peace of mind. Everyone deserves a well-structured world, but sometimes it just feels impossible to get everything back in order. Just in case you feel like you’re starting to flounder, here are 4 of our favorite ways to keep life under control.
Take A Good Nap
While it might seem a bit counterintuitive at first, a good nap is often exactly what you need when you’re feeling stressed out, disorganized and frazzled. Naps are the human equivalent of hitting the reset button, and even if they only last a few minutes, naps can lower blood pressure, decrease stress and protect against both short and long-term anxiety. Naps that are 40 minutes or less also improve mental concentration and performance anywhere from 30% to 100% without affecting your sleep schedule.
Perhaps most importantly, while your body may be inactive during a nap your brain is hard at work. The brain utilizes sleep to organize and store information and to convert temporary short-term memory into lasting long-term storage. In fact, a recent study by German neuropsychologist found that taking a nap after learning a skill made recall five times easier. A quick snooze will help your brain get everything stored and mentally in order, making future organization easier more logical.
Dedicate 10 Minutes
Staying on top of all of your tasks can be incredibly overwhelming, and unfortunately, household chores and other little tasks often fall to the wayside. Organizing and improving your environment will make you feel better, think clearer and can be tackled in short increments. The next time you need a break or have a little extra time dedicate 10 minutes, and 10 minutes only, to loading the dishwashing, taking out the trash, or some other simple or neglected household chore. You’ll be surprised by much you can accomplish in a short amount of time. A few minutes of dedicating cleaning makes your space more inviting and successfully completing a task, even if it’s only as simple as making the bed, can boost your sense of accomplishment and self-esteem, encouraging more productivity and organization throughout the day.
Prune Your Life
The next time your life needs some serious organization take a little advice from a gardener and give it a good pruning. Gardeners regularly prune plants to keep them healthy and productive. And while pruning does clear away dead, damaged and decaying shoots, its most important job is to remove unnecessary branches, even if they are healthy. Plants, like people, only have so much energy, and when they are burdened by too many limbs they can’t distribute that energy effectively. Pruning lets plants dedicate more energy to fewer areas, resulting in stronger, healthier and more durable plants that produce better fruit or flowers.
When life is pulling you a thousand directions, cut out what you don’t need. It can be scary to cut things out of your life, especially when they are good activities, but if they are causing you stress or taking time and energy away from more important things than you’re better off without them. Successful plants and successful people are the most organized, healthy and productive when they can devote time and energy to their most important concerns.
Keep A Paper Planner
Traditional paper planners, like those available from Purple Trail, are an outstanding resource for staying organized and on top of life. While planning and tracking apps can be helpful of course, physically writing a task literally changes the way your brain perceives it. Handwriting is a more mentally interactive experience than typing and activates more areas in the brain associated with reasoning, judgment, planning and problem-solving. It also sends more signals to your brain that the information being recorded is important and should be remembered and taken seriously. Handwriting a task makes it is easier to remember, feel more important, and provides increased feelings accomplishment. Handwriting is also a slower process than typing, giving your brain more time for creative thinking and original problem solving, which are always helpful for stress-free organization.
Staying organized might feel like an impossible task, but it doesn’t have to be! PurpleTrail provides customizable Individual and Family planners proven to improve organization. PurpleTrail custom planners come in two convenient sizes, both of which can easily fit into a purse, backpack, briefcase or day bag. PurpleTrail gives you the tools to build a one-of-a-kind creation to suit your unique needs. Add on to-do list pages, notes, password lists, a fitness tracker, account tracker, bill tracker or anything else you need to stay ahead of whatever awaits.