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Reading time 10 minutes
Multitasking is a myth. The brain can’t complete 2 high-level tasks at the same time states Chris Adams, in “Can People Really Multitask?” So what are we really doing when we work on 2 things at the same time?
Task layering
People believe they can multi-task because the body can do a physical activity and a cognitive activity at the same time. So people are able to walk and talk, run and listen to a book etc. The new term I have heard for this is task layering. We certainly can do task layering, don’t get it confused with multitasking. Task “layering” is defined as strategically deciding to do tasks that require different “channels” of mental functioning such as visual, auditory, manual or language. Read more about task laying that actually works in this article
Multitasking
The brain does not do two cognitive tasks at the same time. The brain switches between tasks, very quickly. Every time the brain switches tasks it must determine how much of the task has been completed and what the next step would be and then continue with the task. This time contributes to the slowing down of completing the two tasks. If the brain works on one task at a time it completes it without delay. Try it, put an article in front of you and something to write. Do them both at the same time and record how long it takes you to get the two tasks done. You will notice that you will keep going over the material to see where you left off as your concentration shifts between the tasks. Next, do each task separately and time how long it takes to complete both tasks.
How to stop multitasking
In order to stop multitasking, plan your work schedule and remove the distraction of other work, e-mails, tweeting, phone calls, television, music etc. Your work schedule may have lots of shifts in tasks. Some people like to schedule a 60 -90 minute work session and then change tasks. Other people may schedule 30-minute sessions and change tasks. What works for you? Some people need to have music or white noise on to help them concentrate and block out distractions. Other people find music distracting. What helps you to keep your focus on one task at a time?
What do you think? Is multitasking productive?
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 3 minutes
Work-life balance is a big catchphrase right now. At times, it seems impossible when you are working from home. Work is always there and home is now a workplace, a relaxing space, and an entertaining center.
Schedule everything
1. The best way to gain/have/maintain work-life balance is to schedule everything. It will seem daunting at first because you need to schedule exercise, work, your children’s activities, beauty appointments, laundry, grocery, shopping, time off, cleaning, yard work, sports, entertainment etc. Once you have completed this activity you have a better understanding of what your day is like, how your week will function and what is going on in the month.
Follow the plan
2. In order to be successful you must be ridge with yourself and stick to your schedule. If you allow yourself to give up “life ” time for work you will probably never get it back. Some people say they can’t be creative if they are scheduled. Think closely about that argument. Perhaps you don’t know how to schedule your time or maybe you don’t want to have enough time to get everything done. Remember scheduling allows you to be creative within each block of time and activity. Scheduling helps you to set up routines for getting tasks completed. This helps you to spend less mental energy worrying. Use that time and energy on more important things.
Create happiness in your life
3. Work-life balance is important because it allows you to be functioning at your best. Your stress is reduced if you can accomplish the things that are important to you, have the relationships you want, and are accountable to those who are depending on you. Happiness and contentment can be yours for the taking.
What would be your 4th tip to create a better work-life balance? Post it in the comments.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, in person and virtually. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 3 minutes
In Harold Taylor’s newsletter www.taylorintime.com , May 2014, he talked about Organizing your Mind to create the life you want. His advice is still true today. Getting your mind in the right place so you can concentrate on the things that bring you joy, fulfillment and contentment will help you create that life that brings out the best part of you.
By Harold Taylor
Organize your mind than your desk or house
It’s more important to organize your mind than your desk or house. You can always walk away from your desk or house, but you can never walk away from your mind. We must first accept the fact that time is not life, as many of us in the past may have suggested; it is merely the medium through which life passes. And life, as you experience it, is not something that happens to you, but something that happens because of you. You create the life you will experience – good, bad or indifferent – by what you believe, how you think, and what you do.
Mind-clearing session
To create the life that you want, you must first organize your mind. And you do this by clearing it of all the worldly clutter that keeps it preoccupied and constantly distracted. One way of doing this is to engage in a 15 or 20-minute mind-clearing session each morning after you get up and are fully dressed. Don’t do it while you are still in bed and half asleep. This is too important. It will determine how the rest of the day goes. And life takes place in a series of days.
Complete your morning ritual of breakfast, getting the kids off to school, putting out the garbage or whatever your morning routine entails. Then sit comfortably in your favourite chair, and without trying to rid your mind of the random thoughts that will invariably invade it, do the following six things in succession.
6 Steps
- Relax, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and just be aware of the miracle that is you.
- Give thanks for all that you have and have had in the past. Don’t rack your brain trying to think of everything – just those that come to mind quickly.
- Forgive anyone who has hurt or offended you.
- Offer up ten-second prayers, blessings or good wishes for at least three other people each day.
- Think positive thoughts about all your future plans, opportunities and endeavours,
- Decide and confirm how you will spend the next hour of your life. This may already be scheduled in your planner or you may choose something different.
The reason for doing these six things will be explained in the next article in this series on holistic time management. But the reason will probably become clear to you as you progress through each day.
Whether you call this session meditation, mindfulness, or “being in the now” is immaterial. What is important is that you continue to do it each day, modifying it as you go along, until it becomes your unique morning routine. And how you spend the next hour of each day will eventually create the life that you will lead.
Organize your mind than your office or home. Harold Taylor Share on XI think there are some great suggestions to help you focus on the life you want to create. Is anything missing? Let me know in the comments.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading Tim: 5 minutes
We no longer call it hoarding or call a person a hoarder. Now we refer to it as hoarding disorder and a person with a hoarding disorder. There is much more respect for the journey being travelled by the person with a hoarding disorder.
Much is still not completely understood about hoarding disorder. Is it genetic, is it learned behaviour, is it caused by a mental wellness issue that triggers it? Is it a combination of all of these?
Making Peace with the Things in Your Life
In Making Peace with the Things in Your by Cindy Glovinsky, she writes about the internal battles of guilt and shame and by making peace with those a person can make peace with their things. She talks about figuring out what is going on in the person’s life so they can figure out why they are doing what they are doing. Part I talks about assumptions, Part II looks at habits and feelings, Part III describes possible causes of dealing with things and solutions and Part IV looks at ways to detach oneself from automatic emotional responses that perpetuate cycles of clutter.
Cluttered Pearls The Stigma of Hoarding
This 2013 article takes a close look at the many different types of behaviours involved in hoarding. The information is still true today. I hope you enjoy this perspective written by Jean Oliver http://www.nexusnewspaper.com/2013/01/24/cluttered-pearls-the-stigma-of-hoarding/
Hoarding Scale
The Institute of Challenging Disorganization is a resource for many different types of organizational problems including hoarding disorder. They developed the ICD® Clutter-Hoarding Scale® that is based on five levels of clutter. 
Clutter Image Rating
The Clutter Image Rating scale (with 9 levels/photos) was created by Dr. Randy Frost and Dr. Gail Steketee. They are experts in the field of hoarding. Their books are a good resource.
Offering Help
A lot of times a friend or family member will offer help. Too often the person thinks it would be better for the friend with a hoarding disorder to have a less cluttered space. The help is usually offered in a well-meaning manner. If the person with the hoarding disorder is not ready to change, progress will not be made or if some is made it will not be a lasting change. Talk to them about what they want and need. It may be to join a group for peer support in conquering their hoarding habits, working with a therapist or working with a Professional Organizer. The journey of changing habits and conquering shame is long but worth the time, energy and support you can give them.
Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments about your hoarding disorder journey.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
It’s hard to believe but we are coming to the end of our seventh blog to get off your butt and finally beat procrastination. I hope you’ve been following along and more importantly that you’ve been making progress on at least one of the things you’ve been procrastinating on. We end today with the most critical advice and the main lesson I want you to take away from all this.
Make progress every single day!
Of course, that’s easier said than done. That’s why I’m leaving you today with three simple hacks or strategies to help you. Give them a try and see if you can’t get into the habit of being productive every day instead of procrastinating.
Plan For It
It’s easy to make progress every day when you know exactly what you should be working on next. Make a plan and then decide what you will do each day of the week. Write it down in a planner and adjust daily as needed. In the morning, you can see at a glance what it is you should be doing. Then get to work on it first thing before the day gets away from you. I find it helpful to have my planner sitting right in front of me at my desk, keeping me on track.
Don’t Break The Chain
There’s something to be said about a chain or a streak. Record every day you don’t procrastinate on something. You can mark it on a monthly calendar, or create a chain of sticky notes, stickers, or even one of those paper chains you used to make in school. The goal is simple. Don’t break the chain. Once you have a few days under your belt, you’ll be motivated to go the extra mile and do that one thing you need to do to avoid breaking the streak.
Check In With Yourself
As you progress on the things you know you need to be doing, you should feel your anxiety reduced. Instead, you will feel your confidence go up. Don’t be surprised to feel proud of your accomplishments. Instead, use those feelings to propel you forward to more procrastination free days. Procrastination is a habit. It’s something you learned to do, which means it’s something you can unlearn. Stick with it, make progress every day, and enjoy those feelings of accomplishment.
Make progress every day, and enjoy those feelings of accomplishment. Share on X
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Something we haven’t talked about yet is that little voice in our head that either encourages us to go do something else – thus procrastinating, or the other one… the critical one… the one that tells us how much we suck because we didn’t get the things done we set out to do. Listen to your inner voices; the negative one, the fun one, change that dialogue and stop procrastination Share on X
Forgiveness
Why is it important to listen to those voices? Because they have an impact on your life both on a conscious and a subconscious level. Let’s start with that negative voice because I think it’s the most destructive of the two in the long run. Back on day one of this seven-day challenge to beat procrastination we talked about the importance of forgiving yourself. To quickly recap, it does you no good to beat yourself up over past procrastination and you should expect to “fail” by procrastinating again here and there. Nobody is perfect. We all have good days and bad days. The important part is to show up and try your best.
Negative Voice
That little negative voice in your head doesn’t help you do that. Become aware of it and when you hear it, defuse it. You can do this by responding to it out loud or in writing (via a journal). Or go up and do something else. Do whatever it takes to silence that voice. A great option is to prove it wrong by doing something productive. Over time that voice will speak up less and less unless you indulge it by paying attention to it and letting it ruin your day.
The Fun Voice
Next, it’s time to tackle the voice in your head that tells you it’s much more fun to do about anything other than what you should be doing. We all have that voice. It’s why we come up with terms like procrasticleaning and procrasticrafting. We can get pretty innovative when it comes to doing anything but the thing we don’t want to work on and that little voice is feeding us suggestions and cheering us on.
The best way to diffuse this particular voice into something more productive is with “yes, and” statements. “Yes, playing video games sounds like a lot of fun and I’m going to play for an hour or so after I get this task done.” Use the suggestions this voice gives you as bribes if they sound like something fun. Ignore them otherwise, or put them off until tomorrow.
Comment on which voice you listen to most often and why.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
My guest blogger this month is Bryan Styles. Bryan is a life coach and a freelance writer with a focus on improving the quality of peoples’ lives. He puts all of his efforts and energy into educating people about how to overcome hardships and live a happier life.
We all live different lives, surrounded by different people, and interacting with different things. Everything in our environment leaves a mark in the long run. While we can choose who we spend time with, not many people pay attention to the space they live in. It often becomes something we all just get used to, be it due to a lack of finances, or simply a lack of options. The importance of our living environment is immense, and even a few small changes can make a difference in our lives. With that in mind, I would like to give an answer to one question – can organizing your space impact your mental health?
How confined spaces affect our mental health?
I have had a lot of experience living in a cramped-up apartment. Just my girlfriend and me in a single room that was at the same time the living room, the bedroom, the kitchen, and a small bathroom. At first, everything was fine. I always thought about how there are people who don’t have a roof over their heads or live in much worse conditions. I went with it.
However, after some time, I noticed that I was becoming more and more nervous. The apartment had to be cleaned and organized every day, which always took a lot of time, even though it was such a small space. If you skipped one day, things would start to pile up and soon we would be in a mess that caused even more tension. Living in that apartment felt more like work.
As soon as you start decluttering your space, you will feel how the tension and stress leave your body, piece by piece.
Nevertheless, once we cleaned it up and organized our stuff, I felt like I was a free man. There was this rush of energy and good feelings of having some free space around you.
It is a fact that our environment sets our mood. Organizing your space will impact your mental health, in many good ways. However, the road from clutter to freedom is a difficult one, and it does require a bit of planning and effort.
A few tips on how to get rid of clutter
While I don’t want to turn this article into a “How to clean your apartment” guide, there are a few problems that must be addressed:
- how to deal with a lack of space
- what to do with all the stuff you need, but don’t have enough room for
- how to not go crazy while decluttering your apartment
I want to give you a couple of productive tips and best practices I used a lot.
A small apartment will always be a small apartment
Living in a small apartment is not something you can fix by decluttering. Sure, you will get more space, but the apartment will still be small. It is important to understand this because you will have to make radical changes in order to avoid decluttering your place every few weeks.
The most crucial step in this process is to do extensive research on organizing small apartments or homes. Read articles, follow interior design blogs and vlogs, browse photos online, read interior design and staging magazines, and look for tips about handling the lack of space in your home.
The more research you do, you will start noticing a specific pattern. Living in a small apartment means getting rid of bulky items, and organizing your space in a minimalistic style.
That’s all fine, but I cannot throw my wardrobe to make more space!
Well, yes and no. When I talk about getting rid of bulky items, I understand that some things like closets, the bed, and the table have to stay inside. However, there is one thing you must realize.
You are storing everything in your apartment. Clothes for summer and winter, all of your electronic equipment, everything. While that is normal for a large home, it is virtually impossible to keep a small place organized while keeping everything.
My suggestion is to rent extra storage for bulky items outside of your home. You won’t pay much, but the space you will get will make a huge difference.
People are often overburdened with everything that happens in their lives. Having an organized living space will help remedy that issue.
Keep only the essential furniture and electronics, and move everything else to the unit. When it comes to clothes, you just need to have clean clothes for seven days. Move everything else to a storage unit, and you can pay a visit every week if you want to get new clothes.
Furthermore, if you have a rug, get rid of it. Sell it, donate it, throw it away, just move it out of the house. Cleaning the floor is much easier when there is nothing on it.
It is a bit of an odd strategy, but it works really well if you organize it properly. After some time, you will start enjoying the extra space, and you will start to notice the positive impact it has on both your physical and mental health.
Do everything with a positive attitude
Making these radical changes will be a difficult decision for some people. We all have a tendency to like patterns in our lives, and making changes often disturbs us.
Nevertheless, there are ways to turn this decluttering process into a fun activity.
Having a positive attitude is the most important part of living our lives.
First of all, you must start with a positive attitude. Keep in mind that, once you are done, you will feel a lot better. Second, listen to some music while you work. Music is important for our bodies and our minds. Third, get some help. Ask a friend, a member of the family, or your significant other to help you.
Finally, if you don’t want to do the heavy lifting yourself, you can always hire a professional to help you get organized.
Can organizing your space impact your mental health – YES!
Once you get rid of all the clutter in your apartment, you will feel an instant change. You will have more energy and motivation for anything you want to do. Remember, things are what you make of them. It is all about a positive attitude. And once you have enough space for yourself, you will feel as if you can do anything you set your mind to!Our environment sets our mood. Organizing your space will impact your mental health, in many good ways. Share on X
Virtual organizing allows me to support your organizing projects by providing planning, coaching and mentoring while both remaining safely at home. https://mindoverclutter.ca/virtual-organizing-services/
Book a 30-minute complimentary virtual organizing assessment.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
These times of living with the pandemic have shown us that material possessions are not as important as we thought. Having lots of possessions is not creating happiness and contentment. It is a good time to examine what parts of your life bring you satisfaction while staying at home.
Routines
More time is being spent at home and fewer activities take you away from your house. Everyone can help with work around the house. Things can get done quickly if everyone knows the routines.
Meal preparation takes time and is a constant consideration. How have you handled this task?
Consider what will work for you:
- Giving everyone 1 meal/week to make. It doesn’t have to be complicated, older children can help younger children.
- Give everyone some responsibility for the meal – meal preparation, meal preparation assistant, cleaning up the food from the table, putting leftovers away, doing the dishes. Rotate the jobs each day or week.
Keeping the house clean with everyone home all day takes more time. Consider:
- A quick clean up after supper, tidying things up to their correct place, sweep/mop/vacuum the major travelled and used spaces.
- Set up a cleaning schedule so everyone has a job to do to get the home cleaned. Divide up dusting, washing floors, vacuuming, wiping down surfaces. Pick a day when it needs to be done and they can pick the best time to do it.
There may be less dirty clothing around the home since people are inside more and doing less. It is a good time to establish a laundry routine. Consider what is best for you:
- Doing one load a day
- Teaching everyone to do their own laundry
- Setting one day to do laundry
Now is a good time to evaluate what new routines are working well, which ones need to be revised and what needs to be established to keep the home working well. When the pandemic is over keep reinforcing the newly established routines for the new times ahead.
Possessions
Shopping is down, clothing store sales dropped 78.8%. Electronics and appliances declined by 60.6% furniture and home furnishing sales dropped by 58.7% and sporting goods by 38%. Source
Homes are filled with many things. This time is a good opportunity to explore some of the things you own and see if they add value to your life. It will help you know what you need and what you don’t need anymore.
Explore new activities to fill your time. Introduce health and wellness activities, learn new skills and participate in outdoor activities that can replace shopping. The pandemic is reinforcing that having an overabundance of stuff doesn’t bring contentment. It is possible to live without shopping. Think about how you will control what comes into your home after the pandemic is over. Do you have a new normal? What if everything you wanted isn't what you want now? Share on X
Priorities
I wasn’t sure what to call this section. It could be titled time management, relationships or activities. Before the pandemic would you focus on:
- meeting deadlines over playtime
- being perfect over enjoyment
- an advancement over vacation time
- answering text messages over your sanity
During the pandemic, it is possible to have time for things other than work. Learn how to balance all the priorities, relationships and activities you have experienced. Don’t let all this learning about the type of life you want to have to get swept out of your reach when life changes again after the pandemic is over.
Do you have a new normal?
What if everything you ever wanted isn’t what you actually want?
In 2010, Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus both abandoned the majority of their material possessions and created TheMinimalists.com. In 2011, they walked away from successful six-figure careers to live more intentionally. Then, in 2012, they moved to Montana and started writing a book Everything That Remains . Remember to minimize once you’re finished—pass it on, donate it, or sell it.
Minimalism is all about living with less. This includes fewer financial burdens such as debt and unnecessary expenses. … For many minimalists, the philosophy is about getting rid of excess stuff and living a life based on experiences rather than worldly possessions.
In the comments share what the pandemic has taught you.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
If you are having trouble beginning the process of downsizing remember:
1. Embrace your new lifestyle.
2. You are still the same person; you just choose to have fewer belongings.
3. Simplicity reduces stress.
4. Saying “goodbye” to the past can open new doors in your future.
5. Your worth in is who you are and what you do, not in what you own.
6. Start with easy items to downsize and then move to the items that have sentimental value that are harder to let go of.
7. You are good at making decisions, you can let go of things and nothing bad will happen.
8. You have control of your situation, pick the time that is right for you to downsize your lifestyle.
9. You will have fewer possessions to take care of, maintain, store and organize and more time for things that are important in your life now.
10. Find a “downsizing buddy” and support each other in your project to downsize your lifestyles. It is always easier when you have someone to talk to that is going through the same thing.The things you own should help you become the person you want to be. Share on X
There are 3 ways I can assist you.
-
- Book a virtual organizing appointment and we can do it together. I’ll be in your room with you watching you through your computer, phone or tablet and helping you with the process. https://mindoverclutter.ca/virtual-organizing-services/
- If you’re having trouble making changes to your room book a coaching appointment to discuss how to reduce your fears with making changes. https://mindoverclutter.as.me/organizingsession
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Here is an excerpt from a great article on why we procrastinate and tips on how to stop procrastinating.
“You know how it goes. One part of your brain says –
“Stop procrastinating. Just get on with it. Finish it!”
But then another part screams-
“But I don’t want to!”
Ziegarnik effect
It may not be anything major, but the task keeps niggling at the back of your mind. It can leave you feeling unsettled, slightly annoyed and stressed. Here’s the thing: you can’t be fully at peace until you complete the task. Why? Because the Ziegarnik effect is in full swing. The Ziegarnik effect is the tendency we have to worry about something we have started and haven’t yet finished. But if you can just get it done, your brain will breathe a sigh of relief. You will feel lighter. Chances are you will have turbocharged energy levels too.”
Read the entire article at http://learningfundamentals.com.au/blog/how-to-motivate-yourself-at-any-time/
Procrastinating, why do you do it?
There are tasks or projects that need to be completed and they are getting put off to the side and nothing is being done. Many times the problem is that you don’t know what to do. Break the task or project into smaller pieces so you can start on the things you know how and complete them. As you continue you will find the parts you are not sure how to handle. When you have determined the part that is outside your knowledge, ask for help, do research or delegate to someone with that expertise. Let procrastination be a trigger to look at the situation as a problem solving question instead of an activity you don’t like to do.
For tips and articles to help you organize your mind and space join Julie’s Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
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