Dearest you,
I apply the simplicity that I get from my yoga practice to my every day life. I look for simple ways to get organised and clear my mind from worry. I’d like to share with you 1 very simple tip to start putting into practice today to show you how to get organised quickly. Try it + let me know if it works for you!
Collect all your inputs
Ta-da! That’s the tip. Here’s the detail.
We have a lot of inputs. By this I mean email, post, text messages, suddenly waking up in the middle night + remembering that we have to do something. We have physical reminders like paperwork and we have our good friend, our brain, constantly chugging away trying to remember things for us.
Stop ignoring your inputs. We need to collect them in order to calm the mind.
I have this basic system to collect inputs:
WORK
1. An in-tray for paperwork coming in, processed every day.
2. My inbox at work that I bring down to zero every day at least once and move emails out as soon as I have read + decided what the next action is
3. A next actions list (in the form of tasks in Outlook)
HOME
1. An in-tray for paperwork coming in
2. My inbox that I bring down to zero every day at least once and move emails out as soon as I have read + decided what the next action is
3. An app on my phone for when I’m on the move to log anything incoming. This is my virtual ‘in-tray’ + I empty it once a week at least. I have one section for in-tray + one section for next actions. Any app which has multiple to-do list functionality that you can check off as you complete will do.
Important rule: Do not put anything back in your in-tray/box/app once you have started processing it.
Your in’s are sacred spaces. They are only for things you haven’t dealt with yet. Do not clutter them with things you have dealt with or haven’t decided how to deal with. That’s what your next actions list is for. Even if your next action on a particular item is “Decide whether to x”, that’s better than putting it back into your inbox. IN is for NEW. That’s the key to this trick.
For things like text messages or FB messages where you can’t unread them – either send yourself an email to remind you to respond to it, or add it to your next actions list. Obviously if it’s something you can reply to straight away – do it! It’s much quicker that way anyway.
Important rule: Capture everything as it happens.
Suddenly wake up in the middle of the night remembering something? Email it to yourself or add it to your app. Then you can sleep soundly knowing you’ve captured it. In the middle of a shopping trip + remember you have to call someone later. Email it to yourself or add it to your app. It sounds tedious, but once you get used to it, it simplifies everything. You don’t have to remember things. You can just focus on getting things done + enjoying yourself.
I’d love to hear how you find this tip! Get in touch.
Love + Light,
Raeeka
xo
P.S. I’ll be offering comprehensive courses on getting organised as a part of a new offering in January – join the mailing list if you haven’t already to be the first in the know about it’s release!