There is so much in my brain when I wake up in the morning: return emails; take out the trash; laundry; check my bank account; pay credit cards; buy groceries; exercise; make food for my family; do my actual job for 9 hours; oh, and call animal control to renew the rental of the trap I borrowed to catch a skunk that moved in under my house. I bet your thoughts run through a similar list. My day is already full of tasks that are required, urgent and imperative before I lift my head off the pillow. That revolving list occupies ALL the space in my brain and leaves no room for spontaneity or adventure. Its too jammed up with chaos and things I’m not eager to do. I turn on my phone and am greeted by a list of dreamy articles about mindfulness and how to declutter your life and brain, which I dutifully read. I can focus on their ideas for exactly as long as it takes to finish reading and then my mind flashes back to the to-do list. Its the same every day. Meanwhile, way back in my brain is the gnawing feeling that LIFE (something meaningful) and TIME are PASSING ME BY.
The sad FACT is that no matter how many emails, bags of trash, loads of laundry, meals I prepare and errands I cross off my list today, they will be on my mental list tomorrow morning and will have somehow multiplied. (except for the skunk, once I catch that striped !@#$%, I will remove it from my list FOREVER!). I desperately read the how-to live- in- the- moment articles every day searching for a simple fix for the cycle of busy-ness and distraction that has usurped my life. I have come to the conclusion that there is no magic formula, no one-size-fits-all solution to end this infinite loop. Our reasons for living in chaos are varied so the solutions will be varied as well.
However, I am not helpless. I have resolved to regain some control of my time and brain space. It can’t happen in the blink of an eye. I make little changes and acknowledge all progress toward health and tranquility. Some of these may work for you too.
1- What has helped me most with the morning chaos is to wake up and write everything down that I need to do that day in no particular order. I have a little notebook by my bed. I can always add items when needed. Its a simple step, I know. The point is I can get it all OUT of my brain and on to the paper. It eliminates the brain energy needed to hold those things in my memory for quick recall and the constant worry that I will forget something important. I have control of my brain back and I can enjoy my morning coffee in peace. I refer to the list many times a day and cross off the items as I do them. (That part is so satisfying.)
The next step is to analyze and condense the list. How can this list a) be shorter and b) be done more efficiently?
2- In my house, the low hanging fruit to shorten the list was the laundry. If an article is not actually dirty, it does not get washed.(Obviously, you can get members of your house to help with laundry depending on their age.) I sat my family down and told them the new plan. Pants, shirts, towels, jackets, blankets need to be worn/used more than once. Period. This is a better practice for the environment since less soap, softener, water, energy is used/purchased. Your clothes and other items will last much longer too. Doing this cut my weekly laundry time in half. Laundry appears half as often on my mental and written to- do. I gained 3 hours a week for spontaneity and adventure.
3- Next, I log on to my bank site and set all the bills that I can to auto pay. I do it through my bank because I am not comfortable going to the website of each company I owe and putting in my debit card number. (Do whichever you are most comfortable with.) You can set the mortgage/rent, car payment, any other loans, medical bills etc. to auto pay from your bank. You will need your account number and monthly due date for each company you pay. I schedule each bill to pay 3 days before the due date on the bill to account for weekends and holidays. I put my electric company on average billing so the amount would be the same each month and set it to autopay as well. I set the amount for the bank to pay the credit card company the most I am comfortable paying (try to get over the minimum). I also cancel paper bills for the few that I still get in the mail. This takes an hour and a half to complete but once its done, there are very few bills I have to worry about paying each month. I put one little note in my calendar to check that everything was paid at the end of each month for peace of mind. Now I can cross that off my mental and written to do list for the other 29 days a month. I dreaded keeping up with different deadlines each month and was in constant fear of one bill slipping through the cracks since there are high fees associated with late payments and it can affect my credit! I gained loads of brain space back and made room for spontaneity and adventure.
4/ 5- Next I decided to get organized to see how much time and mental energy can be saved with meal planning, prep and clean up. Now, I plan one full week of meals and then I double the amount of ingredients/food I buy. (It does not cost more to do it this way.) For one week, I prepare a double batch of a dinner meal and freeze half. For example, if I plan veggie lasagna for dinner on Monday, I make two, eat one and write Monday on the second one before I freeze it. I have found that lasagnas, chilis, beans, soups, pizzas, curries, pot pies, stews, stuffed peppers, tamale pie, baked pastas, falafel ….freeze well. Just pick 6 or 7 to make one week, then you get the next week off from making dinner! This means less trips to the store, less cooking time and less kitchen clean up. It takes more organization/efficiency on the front end but the pay off is a savings in mental/physical energy in the long run. I can save additional time if I make double batches of meals in the slow cooker. I can free up time for other things while the food is cooking away without needing my attention. Another advantage is that when we are too tired to cook, we tend to go out to eat, but if your freezer is full of pre-made healthy food you can save time, energy, money and your health. Yes, you may need to do a quick run to the store for fresh produce or something you forgot, but you will not have to spend nearly as much time at the store as you would with a full shop. I get my family involved in the meal prep and clean up. No one in my house complains about eating something they ate 7 days before. This suggestion is worth two: less cooking/cleaning and less shopping. Guess what? More time for the things I want to do!
Take Away
The goal is to analyze how YOU fill your time and brain space. Then make changes to cut time and energy (physical and mental) that you spend on your to-do list. Organization will decrease your chaos. By doing this you will regain control of more of your time and brain space to do things you find meaningful like spending time with friends and family, reading, meditating, taking walks, having coffee, doing art, playing music, learning something new, being spontaneous, creating adventures! Don’t let all of the noise usurp your life. Take the reins.
Learn, Improve, Repeat!
