Four Steps to Spring Cleaning Your Life

If you haven’t seen the floor in your bedroom since Chrétien was prime minister, have a collection of sticky notes with cryptic messages on them, and don’t have a clue what is going on in your bank account, it might be time to consider getting organized.

Spring is the time we think about starting anew, and cleaning out the cobwebs from our homes and minds.

Not only will you sleep easier at night knowing you have looked after the important tasks in your life, you will actually free up time you used to spend looking for your keys for more important things, like sleeping.

Follow these four steps as a way to get where you want to go.

Step 1: Start with the end in mind. This part is easy – ask yourself what you would like the end result to be.

Example: I want to have an organized room

Step 2: Ask yourself what a person would have to do to achieve this end result.

Example: I would need to create a filing system, clean out my closet, and clean the place regularly

Step 3: Write down the steps, in order, that you would need to complete in order to achieve the desired result.

Example:

1. Get a filing box from an office supply store
2. Book off a Sunday to go through my closet and drawers and donate old clothes and belongings to local charity
3. Set aside the third Sunday of every month for cleaning and maintaining my room

Step 4: Take action immediately, and as often as possible.

Writing things down and having a plan are great, but putting your plans into action is what spring cleaning really is about. Once you have committed yourself to your plan of action, do something right away to get the momentum going. This can be as simple as making a phone call. After that, try to find something you can do every day that will bring you closer to your desired result. Each of these “drops in the bucket” adds up, and eventually momentum will take hold and push you along with even more steam.

Example: Go to the office supply store and purchase the filing box today

Following these steps can help you achieve goals big or small – from losing weight to planning how you can pay for your education.

If you are not already the owner of a daily planner/agenda book or a digital planner (PDA, Smartphone, etc), this would be a giant step towards keeping yourself organized and staying on track with your plan. Try to sit down and update the plan every day, including those daily tasks towards your end goal. There is a very satisfying feeling one gets by placing little checkmarks beside the completed tasks, or deleting them from your calendar. Nerdy, but satisfying.

Now that you have the skills to pay the bills, get out there and start planning – and clean up your room!

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