Declutter your life and create more time
Jan 29, 2023
Hi everyone!
Welcome back to the Mostly Unbusy Mom blog, where we explore how to be mostly unbusy, mostly healthy, and mostly happy.
So let’s get to it.
Last week we talked about why New Year's resolutions or goals have failed.
You don’t personalize them to you.
You don’t remove all the clutter.
I hope you all had a chance to reflect on and list your core values. If you didn’t, no big deal. Read today’s post and see if the content inspires you to get clear on who you are and start writing down your core values.
Specifically, we will go over how to declutter your life like you would your closet and how you can apply this to any area of your life.
How can you use your core values to mostly unbusy your life and reach your goals?
As we discussed last week, one of the reasons goals and resolutions fail is that they add more to do in your life. If you don’t create the time and space ahead of time, you are just adding another task to your endless to-do list. This past year it hit me. We need to look at our goals like we would declutter our closets.
Most decluttering and home organization books tell you there are five steps to decluttering your closet.
- Figure out what you need
- Take everything out.
- Throw away what you don’t need or doesn’t bring you joy.
- Look at what you have left and your closet space and decide how you want to arrange it.
- Put everything away.
So how can you do the same thing for your day?
- Define your core values
- Pick your area of focus
- Dump it all out
- Align items
- Remove
- Create your system or plan
Let’s talk about each one in more detail.
Define your core values
Your core values allow you to define who you are, what is most important to you, and what makes you feel the most you. You can read last week's post for more detail about core values). In our closet analogy, your core values are the categories of clothes you need, like work, exercise, casual, etc.
Pick your area of focus.
The beauty of this system is you can apply this to “all the things” in your life. You can use your core values for your health/weight loss, your schedule, your relationship, and even to conquer burnout at work. It might be tempting to tackle all of these categories at once. However, I strongly recommend that you pick only one area of focus. As Marie Forleo likes to say, “Simplify to amplify.” You will find that once you apply your core values to one aspect of your life, it becomes effortless to apply them to others.
Dump it out
Now you are going to dump out everything. Let’s say your schedule is your area of focus. You are going to write down everything you do in a week. This goes beyond your meetings, work, and other events. You should include things like making dinner, buying the kid's clothes, and grocery shopping. Literally, write down everything that you do. This may take you a day or two to get it all out. If you are using this for a different area, such as healthy body/weight loss, then you will write down all the things that you think you need to do to be healthy, all the “diets” you think you should follow, and all the foods you think you should and shouldn’t eat.
Align
Once you have it all written down, you will align each item with your core values. Some things align with multiple core values, and you should write them all down next to the task. If the item does not match one of your core values, highlight or circle it.
Remove
Look at the items you highlighted that do not align with your core values. These are the items you should consider removing or outsourcing. If this feels too uncomfortable, try asking yourself why these items are important. This might reveal an area where they align with your core values. Conversely, this may allow you to have the space to let go of these tasks.
Create
Now that you have all the items that reflect the real you, it is time to create your ideal schedule or plan for your area of focus. This is when you can incorporate systems like a planner or app to help you. The use of different systems is similar to buying organization boxes and hangers. You only consider purchasing them when you have paired down your clothes to the essential items.
How might this look when you apply your core values to your schedule?
Here is an example of how I used this to create my schedule.
Define: My core values are connection, value, fun, comfort, and authentic flow
Focus: schedule
Dump: I took a week and literally wrote down everything I did.
Align: Next to each item, I wrote all the core values that applied.
Remove: I eliminated or outsourced all the items that didn’t align with my core values.
Create: Based on this, I created a template for my ideal week.
What I found out is that some things that I dreaded doing actually aligned with my core values. For example, taking the kids to extracurricular activities always felt like a chore. All I wanted to do at the end of the day was relax and unwind. But having my kids pursue things like sports and music aligned with fun (I like watching my son play soccer), value (I think it is important to explore physical activity and music), and connection (I enjoy talking with my daughter and sharing stories about gymnastics). When I looked at driving them in this light, I was less resentful and started to enjoy it.
When I looked at this list, it was glaringly apparent that there was one big thing that I needed to remove immediately. I was part of an executive committee for a national organization. I joined because I thought it was what I was supposed to do for my career. But it wasn’t aligned with my values, and I dreaded doing the work. So I resigned. This felt different than quitting. It was a deliberate choice, and I felt free when I made it.
I used a simple schedule I created on google sheets to outline the amount of time I wanted to spend on each area (work, family, etc.). I then print that out each week and use it to fill in my tasks and to-do lists.
This week’s work
- Define your core values.
- Pick your area of focus. Some examples are a healthy body, schedule, work/burnout, and relationships.
- Dump it all out. Write down everything you currently think or do in this area. Also, write down all the things you think you should be doing in this area.
- Align items with your core values. Fold the paper in half and write down all the core values that align with each item.
- Remove the things that don’t align with or take away from your core values.
- Create your system or plan.
Drop me an email or DM me on Instagram. I’d love to hear how you used your core values to unbusy your life and create a plan for your goals.
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