de-clutter

Time to get SMART

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A good way to bring calmness out of chaos is to set goals. I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times before, but it’s true. After all, if you don’t know what you want, how will you know when you’ve got it?

When you set goals, you should make sure they are SMART goals. This term was first proposed by George T. Doran in the November 1981 issue of Management Review.

The acronym stands for…

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-Bound

Let’s go through these one at a time.

Specific: You should have a good idea of what the goal is. Know what you want to achieve.

Measurable: Have a way of tracking your progress. This can give you an incentive to stay on track as well as a way to stay motivated.

Achievable: Can you accomplish this goal? Is it realistic? If the answer is “no”, don’t waste your time. Move on to something else instead.

Relevant: Does your goal fit in to the bigger picture? Is it in line with other objectives or will it be a distraction? Your goal should be in alignment with other objectives.

Time-bound: Providing a deadline for completing a goal sets it in focus and helps to avoid procrastination. Make sure the deadline is realistic, however.

You can set SMART goals for a specific project, for a business in general, or for your life and what you want to make of it – either in the long or short term.

When deciding on how to achieve your goals, it’s a good idea to start with the result you want, and then work backwards to now. That way, you can define each step you need to take, and will know what is necessary to get the desired outcome before you even start to work towards it.

 

PS. Your copy of my Course to going from chaos to calm is waiting for you here: 

 

Is your life out of balance?

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Your workflow gets interrupted and you end up accomplishing less, or your relaxation gets disturbed and your thoughts turn to work instead of something more enjoyable.

If you work from home, have a dedicated area to work from. Turn your spare bedroom into a dedicated home office. That way, when your work time is through, you can just close the door and leave work behind just like you would if you were commuting.

If you don’t have the space to do that, then have a dedicated area that you work from. This can be a corner of your bedroom or even a closet you can shut the doors on at the end of the working day. Avoid areas other people use (like your kitchen), as it’s best to have somewhere that just you use for work. Set regular working hours and stick to them. It’s also a good idea to have separate “home”and “work” phone numbers. That way, when a client tries to call you at 10pm to discuss a project, the call can go straight through to voicemail.

If you work for an employer, don’t do work on your own time. If the company wants you to run an errand on your way home, tell them you expect to be paid for the time. Don’t answer work e-mails on your own time, and set a different ringtone on your cellphone for your boss’s number.

PS. There are lot more tips in my chaos to calm Course. Grab your copy here: 

Get organized

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The best way to eliminate chaos in your life is to get organized. I know that sounds simple, but like lots of things, it’s often easier said than done. You need to make a real effort to get organized and to abandon your old disorganized ways, but once you make the effort, you’ll find that life begins to run much more smoothly.

Start by de-cluttering. The best place to begin is by clearing flat surfaces. Lots of old papers, magazines and other stuff you’ve left lying around are really just trash and belong in the garbage. Separate stuff into piles: Stuff to keep and stuff to get rid of. Be ruthless. If you haven’t read that magazine article you were saving for over a year by now, then junk it. Chances are it’s not going to be relevant now anyway. Likewise ditch any clothing you haven’t worn for a couple of years. It’s just taking up space in your closet. Take it to your local thrift store, or put it up for sale on sites like eBay to generate a few extra dollars.

File away stuff you’re going to keep to make it easier to find later. Label file boxes, folders and drawers so you (and other people) know where things are. Be sure to put things back there when you’ve finished using them, otherwise it defeats the whole object of the exercise.

To keep things less stressful, develop systems and routines for handling regular tasks. When you can do things without having to worry about them, it makes life much less stressful.

To avoid nasty surprises, plan ahead. Create a to-do list for every day. Go through your list and rank all your tasks in order of importance. Put the least pleasant task (or the one you really don’t want to do) at the top of the list and get it out of the way first. Then put biggest or most important task next, followed by all your other tasks. Check them off as you go.

By following these steps, you’ll find chaos becomes a thing of the past.

PS. I go into more details in my from chaos to calm Course. Discover what’s inside here: 

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