Today I really like to motivate you to get ready and clean up. If you already are a nead freak, then congratulations to you! But usually even organized persons can feel quite overwhelmed, if they are too busy or emotional not on top! Sometimes it’s just a flu which hinders you from cleaning up a mess… and then suddenly you don’t know how to create a clean space quickly, because it went totally out of control! Learn how to tackle the mess…
I really love cleaning videos, yeah I enjoy watching other people with their cleaning routine. Its kind of freaky, because instead of watching videos and spending the time on the observing part, I should clean my house. Yes, thats true, BUT its kind of proved, that those videos might motivate you somehow to improve your skills and try to clean up your mess afterwards.
As a strong believer in the fact, that a clean home is a blessing, I always try to put order in all those rooms, especially the main floor, where most of our family life takes place.
But after a few weeks a lot of baskets of random things were piled up in my home office space.
Firstly I thought I could ignore that for a while. I assumed that I could go throw all these things and sort the stuff…
BUT I really felt overwhelmed just to get started. I was angry about myself, how that “lovely office place” shapeshifted to a workplace similar to a battlefield:
- My productivity was not like before, I spent a lot of time by getting confused or searching for papers I need to work on
- If I went to my office, I felt always guilty about the mess
- I had piles of paper which I had to sort and did not new how to start, I was absolutely overwhelmed and could not execute the important stuff.
- My time was tight scheduled and I prefered to work on innovations belonging my business then about cleaning that room. It was a bad idea, to ignore the setting of my workplace, because of the stuff I did not feel comfy nor professional anymore.
- I felt ashame, especially in front of our children. How can I tell them to clean up their messes and tidy up their own rooms, if my office space looks like a disaster? I was a poor example for them and par for the course their rooms turned out to be as messy as my home office was.
The huge problem of disorganisation reminded me of my childhood, were on a regular basis my room turned into a hog house.
My father was used to ask me if my room was bombarded or why it switched from tideness to a hot mess. So with that dogma in my head, I felt like that 6 year old girl again, who just wanted to sort all the legos by colour and range and had assumed it were the best solution to spill out all these legoboxes in order to re-arrange and organize them again.
That I was overwhelmed after 100 lego pieces, did not help to look away over those 1500 other pieces which were still located on the carpet of my room as a child. But my father did not recognize my goal, nor my progress, so I thought I totally failed.
At that point I connected with my inner child. I was silent and then I thought about magical helpers. How would somebody who is a stranger start to clean that mess?
I told myself that I was a child and did not knew better, but now I am an adult and can manage that disaster just by realizing that the past will not bother me anymore if I let go of the dogma: Being less worthy and totally alone because of chaos which I did not was able to handle.
And then I really got motivated, just by that thought, to put all my effort into a clean and productive office place, where I just would feel proud, comfy and happy again.
I thought about decorations and pictures, organizers and different zones. I really felt like the legos were not a problem anymore, because I discovered a phantasy hydraulic shovel which would raise the lego pieces very fast and sort them in a proper way.
And I reminded myself that my dad did not offer his help nor thought I was overwhelmed because he just judged the facts his eyes did see, he did not understand my situation at all, so his judgement was really his selective perception and totally different of my point of view.
I am still not perfect (but who is perfect, please?), but I got on top of all the piles and random things which converted into a threat towards me. I am grateful to let go of that dogma of my childhood. I really made peace with my past.
It was like I had sitting a crazy monkey on my shoulders which always told me that I am bad because of the mess. As I lost the weight of that monkey because I decided to allow that monkey to leave my shoulders I really got powerful. It was like you close an old door and then another door will be opened for you to find the right path.
I really improved my productivity and I feel so much better to work in a tidy place. Actually I enjoy cleaning more then ever. It really helps me to clean my mind of all those uncalled-for thoughts which hindered me from getting things done.
You really need to change your mindset sometimes if you want to change to the good. Selfawareness is very powerful and I realized that if you are honest to yourself, it’s really half the battle.
Here I share my 5 Hacks for Speed-Cleaning an office disaster:
- Focus on the main stuff!
The problem with my lego sorting issue was that I wanted to sort by colour and size and there were so many pieces. The problem is, that if we want to clean a space, that some of us does not focus on the main stuff.
For example you like to reorganize a drawer and put nice containers into that place, but you ignore the messy desk, were all these paper piles are waiting for being executed. Try to focus on the BIG things first. What is hurting your eyes the most if you take a look around?
2. Put some music on & set a timer!
If you listening to some music, the cleaning task will be easier. Its like running a marathon, if you have great music to support your mentally, you stay the course. If you know you have just 10 minutes to clean up, you want to get the most out of that 10 minutes.
Being distracted by unimportant things is the last thing you wish to be. So focus on the process and afterwards be proud of yourself how fast you did tackle the whole mess. Which music could help you to be motivated?
3. Use boxes & containers for differents subjects and sort by topics!
Very important are huge laundry baskets. They saved my life. You can put in one basket stuff which belongs into other rooms and then bring that stuff to its original place of destination. Another laundry basket is for all that waste-paper which needs to sort out and then moves to the trashcan.
Use boxes to organize tools, which you not use on a daily basis but which still needs to be in your office place. For example camera-equipment, data which is needed but just once in a while (i.e. usb-sticks, external hard disks).
Try to create certain topics and then sort the piles to that issues. Its up to you which colour and which shape the storage solutions should have, but think smart about the place where you put it.
Its great to have the replacement ink and paper for your printer close to that electric tool. So if your printer needs to be refilled with one of those elements, it is a quick and easy job for you.
I love to sort by topic. I have a drawer just for envelopes & postage stamp, close to my printer. So if I need to write a letter then I easily print that paper out and can put the writing quickly into an envelope and a post stamp on it. Then I have a post basket, where I put all these prepared letters. They are ready to go and I will just grab them and bring them to the next post office.
Always think about a stretegy which minimizes your efforts and maximizes your productivity. Which topics are important for you? How can you put those processes together in order to work in a flow without interruption?
4. If its important it has a home, if not it will be rejected!
If you need something, than that certain thing needs a home. For example the calculator gets a special place in one drawer. Or a notebook is allowed to stay on your desk because it is used daily by you. We are quite fast overwhelmed by stuff. A clean space can improve your working routine as well as brighten up your mood.
We stockpile stuff very fastly. That is why we are afraid, if we through it away, we will need it afterwards. And sometimes it is difficult to decide which things are neccessary and which waste our time and our storage place.
People rent external storage rooms, because they have so much stuff and don’t know how to organize all their odds and ends. But why you should store random things into boxes, if you don’t use that things, nor sort them at all? You need to ask yourself: Do I need that item really? Does it sparks joy? Do I need to store it or am I allowed to sort it out?
5. Launch a certain cleaning routine (10min) which you will do daily!
If an activity becomes a routine, you don’t need to think about it, you will just do it. It will not need a lot of motivation, because you already got used to it. Then you don’t need to try to get to the bottom of it. It will become pretty basic. The human brain usually needs 30 days until getting used to a certain activity.
If you challenge yourself and integrate 10 minutes of speed cleaning daily, ( i.e.sorting piles and organizing your working space), then without question you will be a clean person with a tidy work-place.
If you do it bite-by-bite things will be tackled soon and nothing needs to pile up. Put papers which come in into a file binder and try to be as productive as you can.
Challenge yourself on a daily basis and enjoy cleaning because its releasing all your stress. Are you ready to invest into a clean space?
Take care of yourself. A busy mind creates a lot of earthquakes in your surroundings. If you are calm and happy, it is easier to maintain a clean home and a tidy work-place.
Its quite normal that if you feel unhappy, depressed or confused, that you put your inside to the outside. Did you ever recognize, that if you are stressed out, that the chance to drop things will immediately rise?
I hope you enjoyed reading that post, and I really love you to share you insights about it. Feel free to comment!
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