Being only slightly younger than Earth itself (at least according to the small children in the neighborhood) I have picked up some tips and tricks that allow people with busy schedules and rebellious minds to actually get things done. Here’s my top five…
1- Set An Alarm
Need to be somewhere at a certain time? Need to remember to take some meds? Need to feed yourself a meal?
Forget giving your cat a treat, just set an alarm. If you are tech-literate enough to use the internet you are tech-literate enough to set an alarm on your phone. Give specific alarms (like food, getting the kids, waking up, and going to bed) their own sounds or songs so that you train your brain to know that Song #21 = Food Time.
Got a busy week? Look at your calendar and set daily alarms for meetings, appointments, or whatever else you are worried about forgetting. Now that it’s scheduled your phone will remember for you and you can forget this existed until the alarm goes off.
Bonus! This is usually enough to work around ADHD Paralysis which makes you sit there and wait for the thing to happen.
2 – Give It A Place
Do you lose track of your shoes, keys, and bag? Is it because you put it somewhere different every single time you put it down? Of course it is.
Give things that matter a place. Get a hook for your keys (or pick a shelf for them by the entry). Put your shoes by the door. Put your bag by your desk or wherever works for you. Put it there every single time. After about a week it will be enough of a habit that you won’t need to think about it.
Bonus! In an emergency you can easily locate things because they go to the same place every time.
3- Personalize Your Space
This isn’t just about plants and pictures, it’s about making every space you occupy the most functional it can be.
Me? I get dehydrated easily and I’m always reaching for my chapstick. If I have one upstairs I probably won’t go get it, that’s exhausting and distracting. So I buy a three pack and keep one by the bed, one at my desk, and one in my purse (because it melts if I leave it in the car – oops!).
This works great for anything. If you notice you have ideas in the shower, keep a write-in-the-rain notebook in the bathroom or a white board marker (to write on mirrors). If you start biting your nails waiting in traffic, drop nail clippers into your cup holder and trim your nails when the highway is a parking lot. Determine what you do (or want to do) in a space and make sure the tools you need to do it are there.
Bonus! This reduces a ton of stress and worry simply because you have what you need as you need it. Anticipating your own needs is a form of self-care.
4 – Ask Why
Why are you doing this? Why do you feel like this? Why don’t you want to do this thing right now?
In a busy world it’s easy to get overwhelmed and rush from one obligation to the next obligation without thinking about WHY we are doing something. Doing that eventually leads to burn out. You can’t do everything (I know, I’ve tried). At some point you need to sit down and ask yourself why you are doing what you are.
Schedule a date with yourself. Bring a snack you love, some water, and something to take notes with. Then really sit down and honestly ask yourself why you feel like this, why you’re repeating toxic patterns, why you are scheduling your life this way. Then give yourself permission to make changes if you want to.
I recommend doing this at least quarterly, but pull it out whenever you’re in a slump. If you lean towards a spiritual outlook feel free to bring in prayer, magic, or whatever else would help you focus.
Bonus! This is the first step to major changes like getting the job you want, getting to therapy, or getting a diagnosis for that one thing you always suspected but keep ignoring. It’s hard, but in the long run you’ll be happier and healthier.
5 – Love Who You Are
This is hard and I’m not going to claim I have this perfected (I don’t). A lot of times people give into the temptation to love who they will be or love who they used to be. That’s good. But you need to love who you are today.
That means loving yourself on your hard days. It means accepting that mental health is as important as physical health. It means not listening to the constant barrage of ads telling you how horrible you are and how this one product is going to revolutionize your life.
It also means loving yourself enough today to do some work today that gives you a better future. Maybe that means an extra glass of water or going to bed a littler earlier. Maybe it means opening the windows and getting some sunshine. Maybe it means working out or reading a book.
You don’t water a plant only when it blooms, right? So why would you only love yourself on the days when the results of your good choices are showing? Who you are right now may not be the best person you will ever be, but you are worth loving right now. You can’t make anyone else give you that love, so love yourself.
Bonus! Loving yourself enough to say No to bad things (extra work, toxic relationships, random things you don’t want to do) is going to save you a lot of time and energy. You will feel great getting that back.