This weekend I was reminded by a Facebook post I published a decade ago. It said “I felt like my physics paper was due tomorrow and I have barely read one chapter.” We all have been there at one time or another. The feeling of a dread on a Sunday evening when you clearly are not ready for Monday. The feeling when you feel you have a mountain to get thorough and not enough time. Even then you feel paralysed to take the first step? You are filled with anxiety and overwhelm. These feelings are not alien to me even as I write this post today. However I have seen the end of the tunnel and here’s how I get there –
1. List down everything that’s on your mind
Declutter begins from brain dumping everything that you’ve been carrying as a mental to-do list, emotions, feelings, things you are stressing about. Essentially, everything that is making you think. According to studies when you write down your thoughts it makes your brain to think that it doesn’t have to remember everything. That’s why many therapists and psychiatrists suggest to write a journal. When you write your thoughts down it gives you a feeling that you have dealt with that particular item on your list. It frees up space in your brain to focus on other stuff. Here are the ways I like to list down things –
a) To-do list
I make a list of everything that I need to do. Starting from the presentation I need to make, the emails I need to send, Laundry, shopping, cleaning, calls I need to make, everything. Once I have everything on paper, I immediately feel somewhat back in control. Even if it’s only 2%. I see everything I need to do in front of me. This gives me one very important feeling that I am not forgetting something. Because that’s the one thing that keeps my brain busy most of the time. Once I have the to-do list I can decide what to do with the in its own time.
b) What’s bothering me
Yes this is another list I make. As I am someone who gets anxious more easily than before, I like to process what’s going through and why am I feeling the way I am. Listing down things, thoughts that are bothering me is the first step in that direction. It could be a feeling that I didn’t do something well enough or in any way I feel that I fell short. Once I have these on a piece of paper it’s relatively easy to deal with them.
2. Reflect and Evaluate
Once I have the list of things I need to do and things that are bothering me, I like to spend some time on reflecting on why these things are bothering me. To do this I like to think about what are the most important things in my life? Taking some time out to align with the goals I have and if I have these worrying thoughts for the right reasons and not helps me immensely. Every year I do a goal setting exercise. for myself and I review it every quarter to see if I am on track. I keep my goals visible to me and I like to take a look at these to see how I’m doing. Here are some of the questions that help me do that.
What are my goals?
What steps and effort have I taken to accomplish these?
What progress have I made so far?
What are some of the challenges I overcame?
Did I reach out for help?
Have I congratulated myself for my accomplishments?
What hurdles I still need to overcome?
How can I plan and prepare myself?
Do I need to revaluate some of the goals?
If yes, what is realistic?
How can I be kind to myself?
This exercise usually puts things in perspective and I already feel much better about the things I have done. It’s a good check and balance and gives me motivation to move ahead with some grit.
3. Gratitude
Once I have spent time in reflecting I usually have a few things to be thankful about. I am giving gratitude a dedicated section as I am not very good at it always. It’s easy to get stuck with focusing on what’s not going right that we forget to pay attention to all that is well. Once we can see the things that are going well, could have gone wrong but did not it balances your attention. Here’s I focus my energy to think more positively –
What made you happy this week?
What were some of the things you were worried about?
Is it as bad as you imagined?
What are some of the things you are thankful about?
Who all helped you this week?
4. Plan ahead
Once you have untangled the thoughts that were keeping you busy. You start to see some clarity into the chaos. It’s then easier to sort out and plan for the week ahead. Planning your week gives you back the control. Once you know all that you are going to do and have the logistics and tactics outlined, you can focus your energy on doing. Effective planning supports your decision making and you can sail through the week.
a) Write down your goals and prioritise
This is the time I like to list down my goals for the week. Anytime I think about goals I like to keep them SMART. You can use many planning apps or tools to support you with this. There are plenty of tools including MS planner, Slack, Notion, Google Calendar, Any.do etc.
Once you have a list of goals, it’s important to prioritise. You also need to be ready for unexpected events that might steal away your time. Prioritising is crucial. It helps you decide if you need to let go of something, what will that be.
b) Meal prep
I confess this is something I struggle with the most. When it comes to cooking I have ups and downs. There are days when I am motivated to cook complex meals and try new things and so on and there are days when I just can’t think about it. Meal prep certainly helps. You won’t believe, but sometimes I take half an hour to just decide what to make. (Yeah it’s true). Can you see if I have done a meal prep exercise over the weekend, its a smoother sail for me during the week?
5. Declutter and organise
Compared to meal planning or cooking this is my JAM. I like things organised so anytime I am cleaning or organising I am in my happy space. Monica from F.R.I.E.N.D.S? I am in that avatar. With every item I place in its right place, I get a sense of accomplishment. I wholeheartedly agree that if you constantly look at clutter your brain feels cluttered. Anytime I look at mess I imagine my brain filled with a million tangled threads. The peace and quite I feel when everything is in its place. Plan and finish your laundry. Organise your office bag.
6. Selfcare
This would have been my first point in the list, however if you see I sneakily started with it already. Personally I can’t relax until I have done a few things to untangle my thoughts. Hence the exercise to list down, reflect and plan are a part of self-care. Once you have a feeling of control back you can then relax and think about other aspects of self care. This section is very important as you need to take time to reward yourself. Take a moment to pick yourself up and congratulate yourself. What we call a me-time is essential for your peace of mind.
It’s also highly personal to everyone how they like to spend their me-time. For some it could be just sipping a cup of tea in peace (Me), for others it could be going for a walk in the rain (Ross ;)). Kidding aside, take the weekend to pamper yourself and teach your brain to relax. There are a million ways to do it, choose the one you fancy this weekend –
Take a bubble bath
Watch your favourite silly movie
Watch something energising or refreshing
Learn something new
Read a book
Go for a run or a walk
Take a spa day
Speak to a friend
Spend time in a lovely company
Spend time with your pet
Have a relaxing cup of tea
7. Plan your outfits
This one seems like a superficial activity. Trust me it’s not. Are you familiar with mornings when you need to get ready in 15 and you end up spending a lot more in trying and tossing what to wear that day? To avoid that first of all your closet should be clutter free and organised. Even then, you want to keep the decision making to the minimum in the morning. For me it works if I have outlined everything I need to wear based on my schedule for the week. This also gives me the opportunity to see if something needs to be washed, ironed, steamed or even mended. I can either plan whole outfits and keep them ready for each day and even if I don’t go to that extent, I at least have an outline. This saves me precious minutes when I’m getting ready in the morning.
8. Wind down
Once everything done, it’s important that you take a couple of hours in the end to just wind down and relax. This will ensure you have a peaceful sleep and wake up fresh and ready to take over the world. Hope these tips will help you to some level on feeling ready to face the week and achieve your goals.
Until next week, Ciao!
