The purpose of the Simply Organised Newsletter is to make your daily life easier:
The Simply Organised Newsletter is supposed to help you on an ongoing basis – every week – to get things sorted out and simply organised – so you can gain more time, space, clarity, and energy in your daily life – and more joy.
The purpose of this post is to make it even easier to make your daily life easier 😄:
It summarizes the core messages, quick tips, and little exercises that I discuss in more detail in the newsletter emails.
So, if you want more background information, detailed examples, and case studies, you should sign up for the Simply Organised Newsletter.
However, if you want just some quick inspiration, you can read the Simply Organised Newsletter Summaries HERE:
#1 – A clear definition of the goal is important. However, a deep awareness of the desired outcome is more important for success.
Don’t try to design an action plan directly after you’ve chosen a new goal.
First, determine the reason behind your goal (usually a feeling) – the desired outcome.
Because it’s the desired outcome, not the goal, that will help you keep your motivation and determination high while you work on reaching your goal.
You find the desired outcome behind your goal by asking, ‘Why? Why is this goal important to me?’ And when you have an answer, you ask again, ‘And why is this important to me?’ Again and again.
(You will find a detailed example of the ‘Why?’ process in the newsletter email.)
#2 – Why you want to give yourself a fresh start at your desk every day. The benefits of the ‘Clear-up your desk’ routine.
Every evening, clear up your desk, even if no one else is noticing it, and switch off your computer, even if you think that’s not necessary.
The ‘Clear up your desk’ evening routine makes today’s evening AND tomorrow’s morning more enjoyable.
#3 – There is nothing wrong with you if you don’t feel like starting a new bigger task or complex project. You are just a human being with a human brain.
Fortunately, you are not your brain. You can take control and help your brain to relax and gain confidence:
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- You make the task or project smaller and easier, less risky.
- You deliberately increase the probability that your first steps result in quick, visible results.
The ‘Handbag Decluttering & Organising’ Exercise is one of the countless little but useful projects you can use to prove to your brain that your survival is not at risk if you start new tasks and projects.
#4 – Getting Things Done: The 2-minute rule.
Sometimes, it’s the small and easy tasks that cause us stress. Because we just don’t do them.
However, we can decide to get really good at small-task management:
CLICK HERE to learn about the 2-minute rule, a very simple and efficient tool that helps us get the little things done as soon as they show up.
#5 – Yes, it’s important to ‘value’ our values. But do you know your values? Do you know what’s most important to you?
If you are interested in getting a better understanding of what’s truly important to you and what you value the most in your life,
you can play around with two different sets of questions.
Check these articles:
https://letgo-moveon.com.au/knowing-and-living-our-values-gives-life-structure-and-stability/
#6 – Of course, your email inbox is necessary and useful. But are you aware of the many other inboxes that help you organise and manage your life?
An inbox is the most fundamental element of a well-functioning organising system.
Little Exercise
Pick one of the inboxes you regularly use in your daily life.
Now, have a closer look:
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- What does this inbox actually do for you?
- Does it do its job well? Reliably?
- What would happen if you no longer had it?
(Read the newsletter email for examples of inboxes.)
If you want to learn more about the purpose and benefits of inboxes, you can CLICK HERE .
#7 – What are your TOP 3 PRIORITIES? And what are you going to do to honour them?
Your priorities give your life direction and guidance.
If you regularly check and update your priorities, you are well prepared to act and react with confidence when you are faced with bigger or smaller decisions in everyday life.
Now might be a good time to deliberately choose your top priorities for the coming 12 months or for the next phase or challenge in your life.
If you are not so sure what your current priorities are or if you struggle to pick the top 3, you can CLICK HERE and do a simple and fast exercise – to get 100% clarity about what’s really important to you right now.
#8 – Every single little action you take matters. Because it creates results. And because it proves to your brain that you are the one who is in control.
Little Exercise
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- Pick one thing you want to improve or change.
- Decide to start super-small and drop the ‘it has to be perfect’ idea.
- Now, define what you will do, just for 5 or 10 minutes.
- And then do it.
#9 – 2 decluttering questions that are very powerful – but might feel a bit uncomfortable.
Do you plan to do some decluttering work – and feel stuck?
If you don’t feel motivated to get your stuff sorted out and to let go of any clutter, or if you are motivated but feel unable to decide what’s actually clutter and what’s not,
I suggest you ask yourself these two questions:
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- Who will most probably (have to) clear up my belongings after my death?
- And what do I want them to think about my stuff – and about me?
This exercise can bring clarity and help make decluttering decisions easier.
#10 – A powerful goal-setting strategy: ‘Killing two birds with one stone’.
How can we increase our motivation to take the steps that get us to the goal?
Adding a second goal/outcome to the original one can help increase our motivation and willpower – and, therefore, the chance of achieving our first goal.
Consider this little example:
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- The decision to join a running club not only helps you improve your fitness (original goal), but it also helps you to meet new people (additional goal).
Little exercise
What is a goal that you struggle to achieve because you don’t feel motivated to take action?
Ask yourself:
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- How could the actions I need to take to achieve this goal also help me reach another attractive outcome? What could that be?
- What might be additional benefits that I haven’t thought about yet?
#11 – Do you hate paperwork organisation? The paperwork inbox could be the solution you were looking for.
A well-functioning paperwork inbox can act as the one and only pillar of your paperwork management system. (For more detailed information about paperwork inboxes CLICK HERE.)
It’s a very simplistic system – but it works – if you stick to the rules.
The inbox-based paperwork system
The combination of 3 simple rules ensures that the purely inbox-based paperwork system does what it’s supposed to do: help you organise and manage your paperwork. (You can read more about the 3 rules HERE – but you don’t have to.)
Rule 1: You collect all incoming paperwork in one inbox.
Rules 2: You conduct regular check-ups and use them to make decisions about the stuff in the inbox.
Rule 3: If necessary, you take immediate action.
#12 – Your future identity depends on what you choose to think today. You can decide today how your future identity will look like.
When you decide to make bigger changes in your life or when you start to move towards achieving new goals, you are not only starting to do something differently.
Because before you can start to act differently, you need to start thinking and feeling differently.
Imagining your desired future identity will help you start to think, feel, and act like the person you want to become.
Little Exercise:
Step 1: Define your new identity
These are just a few examples of new-identity ideas:
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- ‘I am someone who is really good at time management.’
- ‘I am a mindful person,’
- ‘I am a conscious shopper.’
- ‘I am the chief organiser of my mind, home, and life.’
Step 2: Describe how you will think, feel, and act differently.
Example:
My future identity: I am a successful ‘declutterer’.
What I will think: I am good at making decisions about what I no longer need. My mind and my home are clutterfree and organised.
How I will feel: I feel competent and confident.
What I will do: I’ve developed useful habits and routines that help me keep my home clutterfree and organised.’
#13 – Do you ever question your thoughts? – Why you need to be very careful about what you are thinking.
If something is not as we want it to be, if we have a result in our life that we don’t like, we often believe that something is wrong with us. Or we blame certain ‘unfair’ circumstances in our lives.
Feeling incapable, out of control, and stuck is the consequence, and making any changes to the unsatisfying situation seems impossible.
However, we can do something about it.
We can change the results we currently have by changing the thoughts we currently have.
Answering powerful questions is a great way to test our current thoughts.
One of these thought-testing questions is: ‘If I didn’t believe that, then what would I do?’
Examples:
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- Thought: “Decluttering the garage is a huge job. It’s too much work.” -> Question: ‘If I didn’t believe that it’s a huge job, then what would I do?’
- Thought: “I’m not the right person for this job. It’s a waste of time to apply.” -> Question: ‘If I didn’t believe that I’m not the right person for this job, then what would I do?’
#14 – Read this if you want to declutter your home. And also read it if you don’t want to declutter your home.
I have never met a single person (me included) who doesn’t have any clutter – if we define clutter as anything that doesn’t serve us (any longer).
What about you?
Are you aware of the clutter in your home? Or are you a ‘I have no clutter’ believer?
No matter what’s your answer – I suggest that you do the ‘Clutter Percentage’ Exercise to get a clear – and true – picture of the clutter reality in your home.
#15 – Why you want to choose and pursue a goal – even if you don’t have a specific goal right now.
Of course, we usually decide to set goals for ourselves because we want to achieve or get something that we currently don’t have in our lives. Or maybe we want to change what currently is to something else – usually something better.
However, goal setting not only gets us on track to move towards our goals.
Click here to read in more detail about the positive side-effects of setting and pursuing goals. And about the process of goal setting.
(Or get some inspiration by reading the ‘case study’ in the newsletter email again.)
#16 – How a conversation with your future self can help you achieve your goals. Easier and faster.
This little exercise can be fun. And it can be extremely helpful if we feel a bit stuck.
EXERCISE
Talk to your much older future self.
Imagine your future self being much older than you are now. You can expect her to be much wiser and more mindful and knowledgeable at this stage of life.
Picture yourself sitting together with your future self, having a relaxed conversation with her. Don’t forget to take notes while you are talking with her.
STEP 1 – Choose a topic.
Choose the area of your life that you want to discuss with your future self. Tell her what you wish to change, improve, achieve.
STEP 2 – Ask powerful questions.
Now ask her these 3 questions:
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- What does she recommend you should stop doing?
- What does she want you to start doing?
- What does she think you should continue doing?
Don’t judge or evaluate, just write down whatever comes up in her (your) mind.
Don’t push away what you don’t like to hear. Take your time to think it through.
STEP 3 – Create an action plan.
Choose one or two of her recommendations about what you should stop, start, or continue doing.
Compile an action plan: List all the things you want to think, feel, and do differently.
Then, start realising your goals.
Don’t postpone, take the first step, talk with her – now.
#17 – How to get out of confusion and into action if you think you don’t know what to do.
Feeling confused from time to time is a very typical human experience.
The result of feeling confused is, of course, feeling stuck and overwhelmed.
And not doing anything.
Fortunately, it is not so difficult to move ourselves out of confusion and take action.
EXERCISE
Next time you think you don’t know what to do or how to do something, write out your problem and then write out these two questions – and your answers.
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- ‘If I did know what to do, what would I do?
- And then, what would I do next?’
Trust yourself; your mind will find the answers.
#18 – How a new evening routine can bring some light at the end of the day. Stop asking, ‘How was your day?’
Asking another person positive questions not only helps that person lighten up their mood, but it also helps us: Making the effort to think about a good question and hearing ourselves asking it opens up our mind to the good experiences in our life.
Give it a try, play around, and experiment with asking other questions in the evening than just ‘How was your day?’
These are some suggestions:
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- Tell me three good things that happened to you today.
- What was the best conversation you had today?
- What are you most grateful for about your day?
- What made you laugh today?
- What did you do that was just for you today?
- What was the best part of your day? Why?
- Etc.
#23 – Why we don’t do it if we ‘don’t feel like doing it’. And what we can do to make us ‘feel like doing it’. It’s not that difficult.
The good news is that this ‘I-don’t-feel-like-doing-it’ issue can be solved.
The not-so-nice news is that it takes some thought work. But that’s doable.
CLICK HERE to read how to take action – even if you don’t feel like it.
A Weight-Loss-Goal example and a little exercise demonstrate how working on our thinking helps us get things done.
#24 – How is your life going? – Achieving clarity about your current life situation can be a game changer.
Even bigger tasks can be made doable and desirable if we divide them into a series of small steps.
Make a firm decision today that your task is NOT ‘a big thing’ but rather a series of small, manageable steps.
Start by taking a small step—just one—and commit to taking another one tomorrow. Focus on just one small step every day. Consistency is key.
(Read the newsletter email again. It includes a very helpful exercise. We used the small-step approach to make a big task – like the assessment of our current life and what we might want to change about it – easier and more attractive.)
#26 – Each day offers us a huge pool of learning opportunities. Each and every day. It takes only five minutes to make use of these opportunities.
A little evening routine can help us to live every day more intentionally.
EXERCISE
Every evening, sit down for 5 minutes (or do it while you brush your teeth), look back at the day that’s just ended, and answer these 3 questions:
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- What worked well today?
- What didn’t work?
- What am I going to do differently tomorrow?
CLICK HERE to read about the details of the exercise. https://letgo-moveon.com.au/3-little-questions-help-us-make-use-of-every-day-intentionally/
#29 – Why you want to invest 2 minutes each day in your mental and emotional wellbeing. Positive thoughts and feelings help you create positive outcomes.
Did you create a ‘Treasure Chest’ for yourself at the beginning of the year? A little ‘container’ that you fill with positive and good-feeling thoughts every day?
If your answer is no, no problem, you can CLICK HERE to learn more about the details of the treasure chest exercise now. Because – you can start a Treasure Chest exercise at any time of the year. You could start now!
I pick every day one of these questions and answer it in my Treasure Chest:
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- What is a current topic about which I want to have more positive or powerful thoughts and feelings? – Example: “My paperwork and information systems work perfectly for me. I have peace of mind.”
- What is a positive thought/feeling that I want to have about one of the important people in my life? – Example: “It’s always fun to meet my friend XYZ. I enjoyed the evening with her yesterday.’
- What’s something I am particularly grateful for today? – Example: ‘I am glad I found this book on Amazon. And it’s so good to know that the author wrote not only this one but several more. I am looking forward to reading them all.’
- What am I proud of today? – Example: ‘I managed to get the streaming service 9Now connected to our TV. This means we can watch the Australian Open live. And it is proof that I can successfully manage technical stuff!’
#32 – Your Essential NOT-to-DO List. This will free up space in your To-Do list. And in your mind.
Unlike a traditional to-do list filled with tasks we plan to tackle, the ‘Not-to-do’ list is about letting go of old aspirations that no longer serve us.
Letting go is not giving up – it’s making an intentional decision to focus on goals that align with our current values and desires.
Here are a few examples/suggestions of things you might want to consider putting on your ‘Not-to-do’ List – to free up space for what truly matters to you now:
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- Cross off those overseas travel plans if the idea of long flights doesn’t excite you anymore. Why not explore beautiful places closer to home?
- Give yourself permission to quit hobbies you don’t enjoy anymore. If the guitar is gathering dust because you don’t enjoy playing it, don’t feel guilty about letting it go.
- Do not aim to run a marathon if this idea no longer appeals to you. Instead, consider daily physical activities that you enjoy and that are easy to fit into your schedule.
- Remove ‘learn to speak fluent Italian’ from your goals. If your travel plans have shifted and language learning feels more like a chore than a passion, it’s okay to let this one go.
- Stop planning to renovate the entire house. Consider smaller, manageable updates that will make your living space comfortable without the overwhelming commitment.
- Let go of writing that book. If it has become a source of stress rather than a source of joy, it might be time to reconsider if this goal is (still) right for you.
Start your Not-to-do list now!
#34 – Downsizing can be challenging. – And it’s a chance for personal development.
One of my clients is considering downsizing, and another plans to move to a similar-sized new home in another town.
Both find it quite challenging to prepare for and organise the move.
Why is it so hard to get a house ready for downsizing/moving?
There are many reasons; these are some of the most important ones:
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- Downsizing is a major life change. – And our human brain doesn’t want us to make changes.
- Downsizing is a lot of work. – And our brain wants us to conserve energy.
- Downsizing requires decluttering (= saying goodbye). – And our brain wants us to keep what we have.
How can we make it easier to get ready for the move?
Yes, downsizing/moving can be daunting, but it becomes much easier if we take the time to prepare properly and approach it step by step.
Starting the preparation early can help us avoid rushing and feeling overwhelmed.
I have compiled a set of powerful questions.
Your answers will help you get into the right mindset and get started.
CLICK HERE to find questions to consider that will make the move easier.
#36 – Why you don’t have to stick to a goal just because you chose it.
Goals provide us with direction, motivation, and focus. They help us get what we want.
However, our goals are not carved in stone.
At any time on our journey towards a goal, we are free to say, ‘No, I changed my mind. This is no longer one of my priorities. I no longer want to go there.’
We are free to decide to go somewhere closer (a similar but smaller goal) or change direction completely (choosing a completely different new goal).
How can we know for sure that changing direction and giving up a goal is the right thing to do?
We can ask ourselves questions like the following (and answer them honestly!):
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- Does the goal still align with my values and my current priorities?
- Does working on the goal energise me or make me feel exhausted?
- What impact would letting go of this goal have on my well-being?
Letting go of a goal isn’t failure; it’s prioritising what’s important now.
It’s about being honest and courageous and making changes – if what we want to achieve has changed.
What about you?
Are you currently pursuing a goal that seems no longer worth the time, energy, and effort? Are you torn between thinking you need to stick to it and wishing you could let it go?
Could questions like those above help you find the right answer?
#38 – How to declutter guilt and shame while you are decluttering your personal belongings and paperwork.
Guilt and shame are not uncommon emotions that arise during decluttering projects.
It’s important to remember that you’re not alone in experiencing these feelings.
However, it’s also important to recognise that they are unproductive and can hinder progress. We need to let go of any guilt or shame if we want to move on.
Let me share a personal experience.
A few weeks back, I decided to create some space on my bookshelves. As I sorted through my collection, I discovered 7 marketing and business-related books that I had bought (some years ago!) but never read. Immediately, a wave of guilt and shame washed over me. I felt guilt for the money I had spent and shame for not following through with my intention to study these books. I felt so uncomfortable that I was tempted to abandon the decluttering process altogether.
But then I reminded myself:
Guilt and shame are past-focused feelings.
And I decided to ask and answer some questions – to loosen the grip of the guilt and shame and then make decisions to move forward and do what I wanted to do (in this case, decluttering book shelves and creating space).
Helpful questions to ask to overcome guilt and shame:
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- What is my current goal with this decluttering project? – My example: I want to create additional free space on my bookshelves.
- What can I learn from my past experiences with these items? – My example: I love books and tend to buy too spontaneously. Next time I want to buy a book, I will postpone the decision for a day and then consider it again.
- What immediate benefits will I gain by letting go of these items? – My example: I get space on the shelves and prove to myself that I do what I decided to do. (And not let guilt/shame stop me.)
- Does this item serve me in my current life? (Do I need, use, love it?) – My example: I don’t use/read the books; I don’t need them; I like two of them although I haven’t read them (just because I admire the authors).
- How will I feel once I have decluttered this space? – My example: I will feel proud because I’ll have gained space – and dropped some useless feelings.
I decided to keep the two books from the admired authors, promised myself to study them (now!), and decluttered the other five. And I felt good.
What about you?
Maybe you have postponed a decluttering project because you feared guilt or shame could show up?
Use the questions above to help you shift your focus from past regrets to present actions and future benefits.
Remember, decluttering is not just about creating physical space; it’s also about creating mental and emotional space.
I will add new newsletter summaries to this list as soon as I send an email with a new newsletter to my Simply Organised Newsletter subscribers.