Organize Your Mind & Life Vision

Welcome to week 1 of my Organize Now series! Are you excited? I sure am! I talked about my Organize Now weekly party in This Post. If you haven't gotten the book or downloaded it yet, there is always time to and join in! You can find the book Here. The first four weeks are dedicated to organizing yourself.


This week is all about organizing your mind & life vision. Wow! That's a big one but so important if we want to get the other areas of our life in order. The author, Jennifer Ford Berry, has a lot of great tips in each chapter. I will focus on each week's goals that she lays out.

This week's goals:

1. Determine your vision for your life and write it down.

Journaling or blogging is a great way to keep track of your goals and vision for your life. Jennifer asks some questions to help us figure out what this is such as, "If you could do anything..... where would you live? How would you earn income? What would your days look like? What would you do for fun? What would you do more and less of?"
 
For me, I do love the fact that my family lives in the midwest. It's where both my husband and I grew up. I also love being home with my boys while working my business from home. My kids will only be this small once, so I try to enjoy them every day. More money always seems nice, but in the end it is just a way to buy more stuff. That is what got me to start writing this blog series in the first place - having way too much stuff! lol. As for my days, that is one area that I would love to organize more. I like structure but am not that great at organizing it and making the most of my time. Time is just too important to waste.

2. What goals do you want to accomplish with this book? Write them out.

 
I would like to write a good blog series to help you, my readers, as well as myself get more organized. I got a lot of feedback saying that many of you are in desperate need of some organizational help. You are not alone! Once I became a mom 3 years ago, I found my life getting less and less organized. Some days just seem like pure survival. With keeping the house clean and meeting my families growing needs, there wasn't much time left for myself. Can anyone else relate to this?? It's time to get back to the basics. To get ourselves organized first so we can meet the needs of our family. Easier said then done perhaps but I believe that whatever you believe, you can achieve! I have found that by writing my goals out, I am much more likely to reach them. In addition, saying them out load each day and also sharing them with a friend or family member helps us to stick with them more and follow through.

3. Get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep per night.

Did you know that if you get less then 7 hours a night, you are 3 times more likely to catch a cold? Sleep is so important but also something I struggle to get enough of. Dr. Oz suggests actually setting an alarm to go to sleep! I think that is a great idea. I have been trying to get myself upstairs by 10pm and in bed by 10:30. I have found that when I set it as a goal and actually write it down, I have been more likely to follow through with it. I always feel so much better and am more productive when I get enough sleep. Do you feel that way too? I also like to leave a few extra minutes for reading before bed, which is really relaxing to me. Getting enough sleep definitely helps to reduce stress.




4. Begin each day by writing down a "to do" list.

As I get older, and esp. after having kids, I find it so hard to remember everything I need or want to do. When I write it down, it seems to free me from worrying about things I need to do. I also love the accomplished feeling of checking things off of my list. Sometimes I write things on my list that I already did just to check them off. lol. I also find it helpful to keep a note pad by my bedside. I can add things that may pop into my mind as I am trying to sleep, which helps me to fall asleep faster and stay asleep. Try starting each day with a to do list and see how much you can accomplish in your day. I am always surprised at how much more I get done when I make a list.


There are several To Do lists that you can download from the internet to help you get organized. Click Here to see the nice one I found through microsoft office.
 
5. Limit TV time

It is such a time stealer. Jennifer suggests staying away from shows that have negative messages. I find the news to fall into this category most days! I remember reading this last year when I bought the book and stopped watching shows that had negative messages. And you know what? It actually did have a positive effect on my thinking and attitude. Instead of TV, I am trying to read more positive things especially before bed. This really does have a calming effect on me.

6. Meditate/Pray 

I see first hand that when I take time to pray daily and put God first in my life, I feel more centered and calm. I am a better person/mom/wife. It truly has a big impact on my well being and how I interact with other people and situations. I love to wake up 5-10 minutes early to read the Bible and pray. I also have a morning devotional book called "Daybreak With God" that I LOVE and would highly recommend if you are looking for something like this! Praying in the morning really impacts my day in a very positive way. My kids and I also pray in the car on the way to preschool. Not because of my driving but because it's an easy way to fit it into our busy days. :) My husband and I also try to incorporate prayer/reading devotionals or the Bible together in the evenings too. It has really helped to strengthen our marriage and keep communication lines open. Our family says grace before a meal and I am continually finding a few minutes here and there to pray throughout my day. As a mom, I feel that my attitude can really set the tone for the whole house. Have you seen this in your life? So I know that it is important for me to keep my stress levels down and mind/body/spirit healthy so the family stays happy and healthy. You know the saying, "when mama ain't happy, ain't NObody happy!" lol. So true:)



7. Exercise

This has become another tough one for me since having children. There never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything in. But I have found that there are a lot of good exercise videos on my local OnDemand through our cable provider. Those are easy to turn on for 10-15 minutes. Sometimes I do this during naptime and sometimes I do it with my children as an activity. It sets a good example for them. I also like going for walks outside with the kids when the weather is nice. If you don't have the cable option, the library has some good exercise videos too. I am partial to yoga, since it is both exercise and a way to center and calm me. I also enjoy the kickboxing videos when I have extra stress to let go of:) I attend a local yoga class when I can fit it in, and it is always so worth while! Exercise is great for renewing energy, reducing stress and keeping my mind and body healthy.




8. Get rid of energy drainers from your life.

Clutter is probably the biggest on my list. It's one of the main motivators for this blog series. The book has an entire section about clutter and how to conquer it, which I would highly recommend reading. Other energy drainers that Jennifer suggests eliminating are unhealthy relationships, unfinished projects and things on your to-do list that don't have to be done until you complete other things.


9. Organize your time.

When your time is organized and your goals are clear, you will have time and space for the priorities in your life. Write out goals and break them down into smaller achievable tasks. This is a work in progress for me. When my time and schedule is organized, I am extremely productive in my day and it feels great! We'll talk more about organizing our schedule in a couple of weeks.




For other great tips and info on organizing your mind and life vision, please check out Organize Now. 


So that does it for this week's post. I hope you found it useful and inspirational toward your own organizing goals for the year. I know I learned a lot. Feel free to do and take what works for you each week. Not all of the goals or suggestions work for everyone. Don't get discouraged. Just keep at it and together we can get organized in 2012! And please leave comments to let me know how you're doing. I would love to hear from you!


I also encourage you to journal what you are doing week to week. You could do this through your linking your own blog to mine and writing about it, through a note on facebook, or by writing it down in a journal. For me, actually writing this blog and making myself accountable to you has helped me do more in the organizing area then I would have thought it would.


Thank you for reading and joining along!

Next week, we will organize our priorities.


Rebecca