simplifying for a calmer life

Good morning, happy brand spanking new week!

I've been thinking a lot about how to get more motivated and organised.

I spent some time over the weekend, surrounded by diaries, notebooks, bullet journals...planning and plotting, to try and instil some clarity and routine into life.

Then this morning I saw a post on Instagram with a word on the image, and I knew THAT was what I needed most right now.

{ S I M P L I F Y }

When doing anything (and I mean anything...planning, buying, cooking, sorting, cleaning, gardening, entertaining, holiday packing, present wrapping, and working) I will be keeping this one word in my head.

I'm going to be using the Summer holidays as a test period for working towards making life more simple - 

• I'll stop trying to tackle dozens of things at once; 
• concentrate on one task at a time giving it my full attention; 
• I'll be clearing out the brain and the house clutter (the house sort out will most definitely help with the brain sort out...2 birds 1 stone & all that); 
• keep my spaces clear and clean, especially my desk tops...walking into My Room on a morning, and seeing crap all over the place is hugely demotivating, and, quite frankly, pretty depressing.
  I already have two golden and very simple rules that have become firm habits, and which make my life calmer - I always make my bed in the morning, and I aim to always leave the kitchen clean and tidy before going to bed a night.
  Both of these are pretty magical. I get up in a morning and come down to a tranquil scene in the kitchen, all ready for me to start the morning routine. At the end of the day, I get to go up to bed to a welcoming room that soothes my eyes and mind, helping me wind down for sleep.
  It makes absolute sense to extend what I already know to work into other areas of my life and home;
• make sure I have at least a rough schedule for how the week will pan out - this can be flexible and tasks/appointments can be moved around, so long as they get done by the end of the week, or I know to carry them forward to the next...bullet journal tricks!

I know that over time, there will be others to add to the list, but I'll wait until they pop into my head like lightbulb moments, rather than dredging my mind for ideas that are really just fillers for this list/post.

Without realising, I'd already taken this idea on board this weekend.

I've got a few big jobs that need tackling, all sat at the back of my mind, chuntering away whilst they await their turn.

One of these was tarting up the front garden - the gate and posts, and the black metalwork on them were in need of their annual face lift, as were the two metre box covers. 

Instead of putting them off, or doing a bit, getting distracted, and having the gate stuck in the garage for a month, obstructing the path to the door, waiting for me to get around to finishing it...I just got on with it. 

On Saturday, I took the gate off it's hinges, carried it around to the garage, cleaned it, dried it, and painted the wood and metal work on one side. 

On Sunday, I got up, turned the gate over and painted that side, then went outside and did the gate posts and latch, then cleaned and painted the metre cupboards. 

By late evening, everything was dry and Paul carried the gate back round and put it in place. 

Done. Simple. I did one job and I did it well and completed it. Lesson learned.

Now to continue the challenge!

Are you good at focusing on one task, and doing it well? 

Or are you a flitter like me, flitting from one job to the next, leaving everything half done...with no satisfaction of a job well done, and a house and garage filled with unfinished tasks, piles all over the place and in need of moving/sorting/giving to charity?

I confess though, that I find it MUCH easier to employ this one at a time rule, when there's a big project involved. 

In fact, I can get positively excited at the thought of a big project such as a big garage clear out. I wonder why I can't apply the same anticipation and diligence to lesser tasks? 

Is it due to degrees of job satisfaction? Not enough to really get my teeth into? The bigger jobs feeling more meaningful?

That's a daft way of thinking, as it's usually the little jobs that are the everyday stones in the shoe of life, and getting a couple of those out of the way could make an enormous difference to daily life. 

For example, I recently tidied a couple of shelves in our pull out larder - game changer when cooking, as I know where all the sauces, condiments etc are, and I know they're all in date! 

Hmm, yet more proof of the value of this here lesson.

SIDE NOTE: Interestingly, the art I love best to create, is the most simple* - the minute I overwork a piece, I can feel it...it jars, and doesn't give me the same feeling of peace when I look at it.

Yet more evidence that simplicity is key for me.

(*still with lots of detail and intricacy, but 'just enough')

Right, let's do this!

Do let me know your top tips for simplifying and focusing on the task in hand...all will be welcomed with open, eager arms :)

Cheerio for now

Sarah

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