Organized Mind = Organized Life
In my last post that you can read here, I was sharing with you 11 awesome tools and apps to plan and organize your life like a Pro. Today I want to continue our topic of improving organizational skills by focusing on decluttering and organizing your mind for maximum productivity. So without further ado (because who’s got time for that) are 9 powerful ways to organize your mind for a successful 2021.
1 Tip: Brain Dump In The Morning
A brain dump is an act of getting rid of all of your thoughts out of your head and putting them onto paper so that you can focus on your top priorities. This simple method is a powerful tool for decluttering your mind and freeing up mental space to avoid being distracted, confused and overly stressed while working on important projects.
The human brain never stops its activity. It’s working all the time categorizing ideas, mapping everything we experience and processing all the information we take even when we sleep. And because we live in the Misinformation Information Age the amount of external stimuli is insane. Our brains are busier than ever before trying to make sense of the information that we take. No wonder we feel overwhelmed and overstimulated.
Too much information, thoughts and ideas create confusion, stress and anxiety making you unable to focus on one thing at a time. As a result, your productivity, wellbeing and overall health are seriously compromised. So if you want to organize your mind, increase your mental energy and boost your focus, a brain dump method is exactly what you need to achieve that. So take a piece of paper and a pan and put your thoughts, ideas, plans and feeling onto paper!
2 Tip: Declutter Your Physical Space (Creatively)
Your internal world and your external personal space together represent the field of your being. In other words, your personal space is the externalization of your current state of mind and vice versa. That’s the reason why you may feel anxious, stressed, confused and overwhelmed when your surroundings are messy and cluttered. And I am sure that you’ve noticed how good, mentally focused and stress-free can make you feel staying in a clean and decluttered environment.
According to science clutter negatively affects our health and wellbeing in many different ways. First of all, clutter can trigger the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally. Second, messy surroundings make you disorganized, disoriented and distracted making you unable to focus on anything. Third, clutter steals your money because I’m pretty sure you’ve paid for most of the things you own. And finally, a dirty environment can trigger serious health problems like asthma, allergies and eczema.
So as you can see, clutter can hurt your health, well-being and mental performance. To avoid that risk you should declutter, organize tidy up a little bit at a time. And if you need some extra inspiration I highly recommend you to read 5 resources on creative ways to declutter and organize your personal space. Here they are:
- From Mess To Success (eBook) by Hilary Bernstein
An easy-to-read eBook that will help you figure out how to start cleaning, where to start cleaning, and what to keep doing in order to transform your home from a mess to success. - Ultimate Decluttering Guide: The Simplified Way to Declutter and Organize Your Home (eBook) by Jaclyn Musselman & Keri Snyder
- Clean Routine Academy (eCourse) by Melissa Riker
Everything you need to know to keep a clean & tidy home without frustration! - Weekend Decluttering Sprint (eBook) by Emily Counts
A step-by-step plan for tackling a huge amount of household clutter in one focused weekend. - Power Decluttering (Printable) by Laura Rizer
A step by step guide to help you declutter your home in just minutes a day.
You can find these 5 resources for organizing and decluttering your mental and physical space in Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle.
Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle is on SALE now and you can get 31 products (9 eBooks, 9 eCourses, 7 Planners, and 6 Printables) for $29.97!
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3 Tip: Make Lists
According to scientific research, our short-term memory can hold approximately seven separate items for less than half of minute. This is due to the fact that human brains are not designed to remember things but to process them. So if you’re having a hard time memorizing multiple information at once or you „easily” forget what’s on your never-ending to-do list, it’s because it is simply impossible.
Relying on your memory is a quick way to get overwhelmed and confused. Not to mention that, if you don’t write things down you will simply forget them. To prevent that you should make a list or multiple lists. The rule is simple: if you don’t write it, you will forget it.
Keeping things out of your head will help you to organize your thoughts and capture what’s truly important. A written list is an amazing tool to determine your most important tasks, categorise your to-do’s and organize your information. And you know what’s even better? That you can make lists about anything. Seriously, about anything. I, for instance, make my master to-do list, my not-to-do list, shopping list, grocery shopping list, enjoyment list, booklist, audiobook list, bucket list, declutter list etc. Yeah, I know I am an obsessive list-maker but I love it and my brain loves it!
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4 Tip: Create A Commonplace Book
A commonplace book or journal of brief ideas is a system to write down your current thoughts, creative ideas, observations, life experiences, famous quotes, interesting phrases, pieces of information gleaned from books/audiobooks/podcasts or any other things that come to your mind that you find inspiring.
It is called a commonplace book because it is a central resource for collecting all the ideas you find inspirational and motivating so that you know where to find them and re-read at any time.
The easiest way to create your commonplace book is to use a note-taking app such as Evernote or Notion. Digital commonplace book is more flexible, accessible and easy to use. But if you prefer old-school methods you can always use a paper journal or a notebook. It all depends on you.
5 Tip: Create Morning Ritual
Wake up early enough to have time for your powerful morning ritual, morning self-care and your updated morning routine that will help you to organize your mind, boost your wellbeing and increase your productivity levels in any circumstances.
Start your day with a powerful highly-personalized morning ritual, the fun and energizing one. It can be one habit or sequence of habits that reinforce each other you practice right after waking up to start your day in a positive way. It can be anything from making a delicious cup of coffee to going for a morning run. But it has to be something that inspires you, motivates you and makes you feel good about yourself.
So if the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is reading the news with terrible and depressing headlines you should probably avoid that unless you want to feel depressed, anxious and just awful throughout the day. Instead, develop a positive morning ritual that will help you set the tone for a positive day.
Powerful Morning Rituals Ideas
- Make yourself the perfect cup of coffee or tea
- Achieve peace of mind with morning guided meditation
- Set 3 intentions for the day
- Perform the 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise
- Track the past, organize the present and plan for future with a Bullet Journal
- Practice positive self-talk looking in the mirror
- Write gratitude notes and put them in your Gratitude jar
- Practice morning yoga stretch to wake up & stretch out for your best day ever
- Get active and boost your endorphins naturally
- Go for a morning walk and connect with nature
- Read self-improvement book
- Listen to an inspirational podcast or watch motivational Ted talks
- Listen to mindfulness music for positive energy and stress relief
- Listen to Uplifting Music
Best Posts On Morning Routine
6 Tip: Plan Your Mornings Strategically
Morning sets the tone of the day because the way you spend it directly impacts how you will feel within the next couple of hours. What you do during the first half an hour after waking up affects your state of mind, productivity levels and wellbeing. That’s why it is crucial to start your day the right way. And what better way to do that than by planning in advance?
Strategic planning is a powerful tool to transform the morning chaos into a daily focus. Without it, you will have to rely on your morning mood and willpower to accomplish your daily goals. And that’s just too risky. Because you never know whether you will wake up in good spirits or not. Sometimes we wake up grumpy without a legitimate reason. So instead of leaving your daily success to fate plan your day in advance.
Having it all planned out and scheduled will help you to regain mental clarity, organize your thoughts and boost your mental focus before you even grab your first-morning coffee. So instead of waiting for things to happen, take a pro-active approach and create a schedule, make a prioritized to-do list, plan some powerful breaks between your tasks. And don’t forget to schedule free time in addition to deadlines in your calendar.
7 Tip: Take Powerful Breaks
There is a huge misconception that taking regular breaks during your workday will ruin your workflow and ability to focus on prolonged tasks. In reality, it’s the opposite. Several studies have shown that taking work breaks can not only drastically increase productivity levels but also significantly improve your mental wellbeing. So if you want to perform at your best without sacrificing life balance you need to take a break once in a while.
Scheduling breaks into your workday may be a hard thing to do especially if you are an ambitious overthinking perfectionist – kind of person. However, what you need to realize is that short active breaks will help you to relax your mind, reboot your brain and refresh your focus so that you can work more effectively on your tasks.
Besides, after accomplishing a task or an important part of a task you deserve a reward! And what better way to do that than by taking a break for a delicious cup of coffee, making a personal phone call, eating your favourite snack, listening to a podcast or even scrolling through social media profiles – if that’s what relaxes you. So instead of being busy all the time, take quick powerful breaks once in a while and reward yourself for your hard work.
Powerful Breaks Ideas
- Bulletproof coffee
- Physical activity
- Self-Care activities
- Powerful rituals
- Meditate
- Eat a nutritious meal
- Exploring my creativity with Skillshare
- Listen to an inspiring podcast
- Watch motivational content
- Listen to inspirational songs that keep you motivated
8 Tip: Use Productivity Apps
There are many different apps, tools and methods out there that you can use to get organized and make your productivity skyrocket. However, it’s important to remember that just because some method is extremely popular and loved by many it does not mean that it will fit your expectations and personal preference.
That’s why I highly recommend you to try different time management apps, tools and methods to get organized and boost your productivity levels and choose the ones that will make you feel empowered instead of overwhelmed. You want to work smarter not harder, right!?
Use technology to your advantage and don’t let it overwhelm or distract you.
Below you will find apps, tools and methods I personally use to get organized with my life. You can try them out and choose the ones that will help you balance your workload for maximum productivity.
Best Productivity Apps Of 2021
- Trello - project management app here
- Any.do - get seriously organized here
- Todoist - task management software here
- FocusList iOS / Android - productivity app that helps you get more DEEP work done
- Y Productive here
- TickTick: ToDo List Planner, Reminder & Calendar (Android / iOS)
- Hours - Time Tracking App Online here
- Toggl - Free Time Tracking Software here
- RescueTime: Fully Automated Time Tracking Software here
- Google Drive (My Absolutely Favourite!)
- Google Calendar
9 Tip: Get Active
Physical activity is one of the best ways to accelerate your mental performance and enhance your thinking skills. It happens because during the exercise your blood pressure and blood flow increase in the entire body, including the brain. As a result, you become more alert, attentive and focused during the day.
Another amazing benefit of regular physical activity stimulates the release of dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and endorphins. These chemicals, also known as “happy hormones” are directly responsible for your mood. That’s why even low impact and relatively short physical activity has the power to drastically improve your mood and boost your energy levels.
So if you want to organize your thoughts and maximize your brain’s performance during the day I highly recommend you add some type of physical activity into your daily routine. It can be anything from simple stretches, a morning walk or a solo dance to your favourite morning wake-up song to a full-body HIIT workout but it has to do something with moving your body.
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Best Posts About Achieving Goals:
- Maximize Your Productivity: 6-Step Method To Get More Things Done In Less Time. HERE
- Perfect Morning Routine to Reduce Stress & Anxiety HERE
- The Ultimate Guide For Setting & Reaching Your Goals HERE
- 6 Self-Improvement Habits To Adopt in 2020 HERE
- Get into the Habit of Being Seriously Organized in 2020. HERE
- 8 Simple Steps to Set Yourself Up for a Successful 2020 HERE
- Powerful and smart ways to manage your time efficiently and effectively HERE
- 5 steps to success in achieving your goals HERE
- The ultimate way to overcome procrastination and become a highly productive person HERE
- The science of motivation HERE
- 10 powerful habits to boost your confidence HERE
Stay positive, be Mindful and organize your mind for maximum productivity and balance.
xo Kate
