Take a look at your life right now. Are you feeling like something is off? Are you unmotivated or having trouble getting something going but aren’t sure what it is or what to do?
The truth is, the answer to “feeling stuck” can be found in the simple foundations of our lives. How you do the small things in life can really say a lot about how you do everything else.
The Simple Things Matter
Story time. When I was in college I went through a period where my bedroom was a disaster. I was not too happy with my life. I felt depressed and everything about the basic foundations of my day were “off.” I wasn’t doing the little things to keep my life in order and in turn it created disorder in everything else I was doing.
Sure, it didn’t help that I was depressed and didn’t enjoy school, but I wasn’t even able to give my all to that or other things I was doing until I started to clean up the basics in my life. One simple life hack.
Try This
Take a moment and reflect. When you are lazy at home and not keeping things clean or in somewhat of an order, does it affect other areas of your life? If you are procrastinating on all of the small things in your day, does it happen at work too? If you are forgetting things all the time and are scattered with simple things in your life, doesn’t it create more of that in other areas?
Perhaps you can even walk into your bedroom right now or open a junk drawer. How much stuff do you have lying around creating a mess? How many things are you holding onto that you don’t need? Are you attached to these items even though they have no value or use to you? Often times reflecting on these things can say a lot about us.
Now think for a moment, are you putting off doing something like answering an e-mail, calling a friend back, returning a piece of clothing to the store, fixing something in the house, paying a bill, doing a favor for a friend etc? All of those little things that we say “Oh I’m gonna get around to it.”
My guess is that you will see a link between your current space and the amount of things you are putting off or are not doing -including things that you are passionate about. Time and time again it seems to be true that whenever we are not taking care of the basics, it spreads into our work, play, psyche and everything else in our lives.
A Simple Yet Powerful Solution
For me, I started with a choice. I was going to take my life into my own hands and start cleaning up my foundations one by one. I decided to start keeping my room, work area and overall space clean. Why? Because that was one area for me that I could see was off. My simple life hack was to do just that for now. It just so happened that it also coincided with me now being able to see more about my inner self with greater clarity.
I was making a conscious effort to keep the areas around me more clean and clear, and in turn it was giving me more clarity to see the lack of clarity I had within myself. Because I was building good physical habits, I was also more able, motivated and clear on helping to release various things within myself that were holding me back from being happy and doing what I loved.
This one simple action helped to kickstart a whole new direction for me and while I can’t say that it’s the only thing that created so many changes, it was certainly a big start.
One could ask, “what if you cleaned up your inner self first?” I believe it would work in exactly the same way. Your internal self can often show itself in your external world. But sometimes you can be so entrenched in your inner self that you need to develop some outside habits first in order to build a foundation to then focus on YOU. This of course can change everything for you.
How It Moves Into Other Areas Of Life
Now that I was taking care of the little things, it started to affect my work, my eating, my choices and my moods. I decided to leave school and focus on things that I was passionate about. I overhauled my diet and started eating very clean. Once I gave myself the power to do something simple, it helped build that power in everything else I was doing. I wasn’t going home and being constantly reminded of how much of a mess I was.
Like it did in my situation when you start to clear up the little things, it will inspire you to clear up the bigger things within yourself (sometimes vice versa.) Watch as it then pushes itself into all other areas of your life. Suddenly you’re more free and happy at work or when you are doing something you are passionate about, you have more motivation to do the things you’ve always wanted to do, or you take that next step in making even bigger changes in your life.
Here’s How To Take Action
Do the exercise I went over above by first looking around your house or immediate surroundings. See if it tells a story about how you’re feeling. You can also ask yourself if you are having any roadblocks about doing the things you want to do in your life, but are not doing. Once you identify a few things, you can take some action.
In a lot of cases, you can start with some simple stuff. Go out and do that thing you’ve been perpetually putting off. Start cleaning up and taking care of your immediate environment. Let go of old possessions you have that you don’t need but are just holding on to. See how you feel while you are doing all of these things. Noticing how you feel is a great indicator as to whether you are meeting more roadblocks or are liberating yourself.
Removing Roadblocks
If you feel you have roadblocks stopping you from doing something you’ve always wanted to, identify what they are. Ask yourself “what stops me from doing this?” then take an action or baby step to get moving.
For example, if you wanted to start learning how to grow your own food garden but don’t know how and your road block is that not knowing how means you could mess it up or waste your time. Your initial step would be grabbing a book about backyard gardening or calling a friend who grows their own food and learning about it. Have them over for a chat and get moving on it.
Write all of the answers to these exercises down. When you can see them, you can remember them and reflect on them as you go.
We all have the tools it takes to change things in our lives starting right now. Although it might feel tough to get the ball rolling at first, once you do, it’s difficult to stop it.
Yeah man. Be proactive, seriously. Be the change you want to see in the world. That is the only way!
So refreshing and well delivered perspective!
Thanks a lot, sometimes is good to hear from others what we dont want to see. Now you mention this i feel more relief and will start right now.
Hi, neuro sciences today prove that thoughts and emotions firts emerge in your body. So there is a lot of wisdom in what you recommend. And what you do in your daily life has a great impact. For example try to smile when you feel down and after a little while you will feel much better ! 😉
I loved this article. It says with such clarity what I know happens in my life when I am not organized and being productive. Thank you. I have printed it and will keep it handed when I start backsliding.
Thank you! I’m going through very hard period of life and I think I’m ready to change some things that stop me from giving my best and I totally agree that we have to start from minor things so we can make sth big! Very refreshing and inspiring 🙂
Thanks for the OBVIOUS info… Nothing of value to consider. A lot of intelligent depressed people know all of these things are are at full self awareness at how much the little messes you keep screw with your life, however knowing does not help you get motivated and do even those small things…
Are you looking for someone to connect the dots for you? I could be wrong, but you can only lead a horse to water.. the rest is up to you.
I can relate with this very much. For a period of time, maybe a month or so, my partner and I left our kitchen a mess. The dishes had piled up so much we kept putting it off. Day after day, we avoided walking into the kitchen, because none of us wanted to deal with it. Our fridge was disgusting and had old food. As a result, we were eating out every single day, and our health started to go down the drain too. We were eating so much junk.
About a week ago, we agreed to do a deep cleaning of the kitchen – we did all the dishes, emptied our fridge, etc. A new beginning. Ever since then, I have been on a cooking spree, and we have been eating clean, homemade meals every day. I feel a thousand times better, and my body agrees. The mood has been better too. It was the best thing we did for ourselves, in terms of the small things. 🙂
Also, I am a musician and I have a hard time practicing if my work space is messy. It has to be organized! 🙂
Another simple life hack: NeurOptimal Neurofeedback, it’s effortless and transformational. My daughter used to live in a pigsty, she was anxious, depressed, disorganized and had very low motivation. After non invasive Neurofeedback training, she really snapped out of it and got it together without medication. Today she is happy, and thriving, working part time, teaching Karate several times a week and successfully taking a full course load at college. It’s easier to come by this training now and its not too expensive especially if you are able to avoid, reduce or eliminate medications. I was so impressed that I trained myself and also became a trainer so I could help others. I have enjoyed watching the same type transformations in others for several years now.
I would love to try Neurofeedback training – but don’t know where to start looking. Any info would be grately appreciated please x
Start looking on Google, of course
Very helpful Mink. Thank you!
I am interested in such training can we communicate through email
Very good article,and so true!The problem I have is getting myself motivated to get rid of “stuff”that leaves me feeling down.I find it very difficult to part with things,even though they are of no use to me anymore.
Starting right now. Can I take the recliner I’m sitting in right now with me???????
…. what if you cannot get the motivation to DO those things in the first place??? interesting life hack… but if you cannot get the motivation to DO that and simply get things done… it’s hard to do this simple life hack…… how do you gain that motivation???
Yeah Go on get your butt in gear!!! Wait who we talking too?
This recently happened to me– when everything around me was taken care of, I didn’t know what to do! It had been so long! I had to focus on the things I was avoiding….