Some of my friends have been saying, "Ah, come on. Let's get to the good stuff. When will you be rolling out your decluttering program?" I then have to explain how crucial it is to not only understand this is not a quick fix, but a mindset—a marathon, not a sprint. A solid foundation of good habits must be established, along with a clear picture of where we're headed. Both are pivotal to the effectiveness and success of Simplify.
Last two posts we dealt with the time grabbers in our lives—the sneaky things that steal our time and cause us to be less productive. (see Time Grabbers 1st half, and Time Grabbers 2nd half ). Today, we'll discuss the importance of knowing what your goals are in order to be less tempted to dawdle and get distracted by less important things. Goals are similar to a road map which gives direction to your desired outcome/place. The fastest way to arrive is to follow a map, or to use directions. This is what we're after.
Ah, the proverbial carrot before the horse. What are the carrots motivating you? Goal-setting is beneficial to everyone. Students who form the habit of setting goals early in life will achieve more and become more productive in school, which then will carry on after graduation. Same with executives. Those in business understand that when they work smart, set goals, follow the road map, they accomplish more and are more productive. If being more productive is your goal, then goal setting should be your habit.
So just what are goals? Goals are not something that we hope to accomplish, or that we wish for. Goals are specific. Goals are measurable. Goals are dreams with legs. They motivate us. They move us to action.
Most of us have experienced at one time or another ambitiously writing out goals, creating a plan, only to get frustrated and give up soon after starting. Why? Because usually those goals were colossal and daunting. It's easy to get discouraged and jump ship when our goals are bigger than the energy it takes to complete them. We must start smaller. We must break the goals down into more manageable steps.
Take, for instance, our decluttering goal. If you set the goal of decluttering your whole house as your top goal without breaking it down into manageable chunks, it will never happen.
Remember in my previous post how I said y'all need to always do the worst jobs first? Well, let's also apply this to our goals. Grab a piece of paper and write out your top five goals, putting them in order of hardest to easiest. Be specific. Think of the end game, of what you are aiming for. Clean closet? Clean garage? Organized desk? Write them down. We'll be needing these when we start, so hang on to them!
As we progress to unrolling our new Simplify program, you'll soon be able to understand and apply our simple method to each item on your list. But first? We'll roll out the last part in this series, part 3, that will quickly tackle some main essentials and practical tips you need to start on your simplify journey. We're excited to start this new year together with a resolve to simplify our lives, simplify our homes, simplify our time. Hang tight.... more to come.
For Howse to House,
I felt like I read this blog before, but I needed to be reminded of everything in it! While I was reading it, I was reminded of my BIL who trains his own therapy dogs for ministry. His AussieDoodles are amazing ambassadors for Christ, (Lucy is just about to graduate from therapy school at 14 mo. of age!). Some have asked him, "Could you train my dog?" To which he replies, "No, because then I would have to train you!" Same with this Simplify program, bit by bit I know I will be retraining some of my thinking, my excuses, my overwhelmed feelings, etc. I am so excited and have been working on trying to keep flat surfaces clear. :)…