Tuesday’s Tip – Clutter Entertainment

I found this great little video on YouTube that I would like to share with you today. It’s a clip by American comedienne Lois Morton named: Confessions of a Clutterholic.

Enjoy!

How to Motivate Yourself for Cleaning

Cleaning is one of those jobs that some of us really need to gear up for; it doesn’t come naturally. This post is for you.

Here are 5 super ways to get the oomph, to put your rear into gear to tackle the cleaning that needs doing around the house.

1. The Ultimate Motivator - Invite Someone Over To Your Home

Nothing gets you more going than knowing someone is going to pop in at a certain time. You will want to make a good impression and not let the sides down. After you’ve made the inviting phone call, go through the house with a visitor’s eye and you will see all that needs doing much clearer. Make a list and work through it. You’ve already got a natural deadline – you know when your visitors should arrive. And as a reward for all that hard work you can spend some relaxing time with your friend.

2. Clean Out Some Clutter

Decluttering is a very freeing exercise. As you get rid of items that you have been holding on to for years you begin to feel a sense of freedom, relief and clarity. It sounds corny, but it’s true and you won’t find out for yourself until you try it. Start in a small area, like a shelf or a side table. This will motivate you to tackle bigger projects. And with all those newly discovered clear surfaces you will find that cleaning almost does itself!

5. Rearrange a Room

This is another very good way to freshen up a room. In the process you will want to improve things and will start to clean and organise without even thinking about it. You don’t need to completely redecorate which can be costly, but simply move furniture, artwork, decorative items, etc. You will then want to keep it that way, all shiny and new looking, and are more likely to keep on top of things. And you never know, improving one room like this could even motivate you to extend that new fresh look to another room and soon your whole house will look like new.

Goal Setting – Taking Action

Setting goals is only the first step in achieving them. It is great to know what you’re aiming for but now you need to decide what it is that is going to move you towards your goals, so that in the end you will achieve them.

You have written down your goals and put them in a visible space so everyday you are reminded of what you’re working towards.

Now you need to take some action. Commit to doing one small thing every day that is going to move you towards your goal. This is the best and fastest way to getting there. Create a plan of action steps you need to do to accomplish your goals.

This action plan can take the shape of mini goals you set out to achieve that will ultimately lead to the main goal. These mini goals should be quite easy to achieve and only contain a few actions each. This way you see progress and are motivated to keep going.

Setting goals is not going to achieve them.
Writing goals down is not going to achieve them.
Taking small action steps every day IS going to achieve them.

Tuesday’s Tip - Motivational Quotes - Goals

Since I’m intending on keeping the subject on goal setting going for a little while longer – there’s loads more to discuss – I thought it’s time for some topical Motivational Quotes. Here’s what I found:

"The most important thing about goals is... having one."
-- Geoffry F. Abert

"A goal is a dream with a deadline."
-- Napolean Hill, Author

"Long-range goals keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures."
-- J.C. Penney, Retailer

“Chance can allow you to accomplish a goal every once in a while, but consistent achievement happens only if you love what you are doing.”
--Bart Conner

“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.”
--Og Mandino

Let me know what you think. Comments welcome!

On Track to Achieving Your Goals – Write Them Down

Last time we spoke about making goals precise and realistic to make them achievable. This time I want to talk about how to go about achieving your goals.

The first and most important step is to write your goals down. Don’t just have them flying around your mind, hiding in between all those other bits you need to remember. Write them down and then put them somewhere where you can always see them. This could be posted on the fridge with a magnet , on a yellow sticky note or in your diary or all of the above. This way you are always reminded that there is something you are working towards and your subconscious will do some of the work for you. It will, for instance, come up with different ways how to overcome obstacles and find different avenues to follow to help you along the way.

Studies have shown that people who write their goals down are more likely to achieve them than people who don’t. One famous study from Yale in 1953 said that the 3% of Yale graduates who had written goals had more wealth years later than the other 97% of the class combined. Makes you think, right? If it worked for these guys then it can work for you, too.

Formulate your goals in the positive. Instead of saying what you don’t want, what you want to avoid or what you want less of, specify what you do want, what you want to attract and what you want more of. We get what we focus on. If you focus on “less stress” you inadvertently focus on “stress”. The brain doesn’t really register the “less”. You will get more of what you don’t want.

Also, keep writing them. Refine them. Make them more precise. This makes your goals more real since it’s a process that is always fresh in your mind.

The Art of Goal Setting

How do you set goals? That is a question that is actually quite legitimate. Most of us have stuff we want to achieve. Make more money, be more organised, be healthier, to name but a few. But are these actually goals? Well, they are a good start I would say, but to become goals they need a bit more thinking.

Let’s look at one example: “I want to be more organised.”

Good idea, but how do you know when you have achieved this? Is it when all your CDs are alphabetically sorted? Is it when you are no longer late arriving at appointments? Is it when all your laundry is always up to date? What does being organised mean for you?

Another example: “I want to be healthier.”

Same questions: How do you know you have achieved this? Does your blood pressure or blood sugar (or both) have to be a certain level? Do you want to reach a certain weight? Do you want to be fit enough to run a marathon? And by when?

Being not very specific about setting your goals is one of the reasons why the famous New Year’s Resolutions usually fail. We are so vague about what we want to achieve that we have no idea what “achieved” actually looks like.

We usually don’t attach a time limit either, a realistic one to be precise. Unless you go on “The Biggest Loser” you are not likely to lose 3 stone by the end of January when you start on the 1st January. Unless you are a very lucky person you are not likely to win the lottery and therefore end up £1 million richer within a few weeks time.

So, the gist of today is: be specific about your goals. And give them realistic time limits. What precisely do you want to achieve by when?

Next time we’ll talk about what we do with those goals so that they don’t just stay dreams that won’t come true.

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Tuesday’s Tip – Go and Set Some Goals

Everyone talks about goal setting these days. But why exactly should you do it? Just because people keep telling you to is probably not a good enough reason. And I completely agree with you on that one. But what about if you look at these 5 reasons:

1. Goals can give you a target to aim for
   If you don’t know where you’re going, how are you going to get there?
2. Goals can help you focus
   What do you want to achieve today?
3. Goals can motivate you
   If you know what’s at stake you will want to stop procrastinating.
4. Goals can help you set priorities
   Find out what’s really important to you and do something do improve exactly that.
5. Goals can be a roadmap
   Find your way from where you are now to where you want to be.

Start today by writing down your goals and see where they can take you.

Today’s tip is the first in a series of posts on goal setting. I believe that goal setting is a great way to organise your mind and your time so it’s very relevant to the Well Organised philosophy.