If you’re like the the average guy, your place is a mess, this is not a good look for a grown man. To have an organized mind you need an organized place. It’s impossible to get anything done and stick to a routine when you look around and see a mess.
When you look around and see order you can focus all your energy on your mission. When you see a mess you feel like a loser, because disorganization is a loser characteristic. When your place is messy you can never fully relax.
Getting organized is simple once you master the habit but you have to go through the adjustment period first, no pain, no gain. Getting organized also means getting rid of useless sh*t, the less things you have the easier it is to be organized and the more control you feel you have over your life.
When I was in University I lived like an absolute pig until one day I got so disgusted with myself that I vowed to never be messy again. Since then I’ve lived with military discipline and couldn’t live any other way. Once you’ve got your mind right, use these exact rules to keep your place running on autopilot:
How To Organize Your Place
1) Purge
Purging is every dictator’s favorite word, when a dictator gets power the first thing they do is get rid of everyone around them that could be a threat or oppose them in any way. When you get power over your life the first thing you need to do is get rid of all the things standing in your way. Useless clutter gets in the way of your organized lifestyle and has to go.
Block off a few days and get rid of everything you haven’t used in a year. Get rid of everything that doesn’t have a purpose, your laptop has a purpose but that piece of wood you hauled off the street to make a desk someday doesn’t. Anything with a future purpose is hoarding and has to go.
Have one thing for one task, that means get rid of all duplicates, there’s no reason to have two pairs of scissors when one pair does the job just fine. For advanced minimalists you can try the 200 thing challenge. I do this every year to make sure I always own less than 200 things.
2) Everything Has A Place
Everything you own has to have a home. Once it does you’ll never have to scramble to find your keys in the morning or wonder where you put your income tax receipts because you know exactly where they are. This rule is really easy to follow, once you’re done with using something just put it back where it goes.
3) Do Laundry, Cleaning And Garbage Weekly
Without doing laundry and cleaning consistently your newly organized place will be messy and disgusting within weeks. Your best option is to have a maid come in weekly and have a laundry/dry cleaning service pick up and drop off your clothes on schedule.
If you can’t afford that, or are banking all your money to fund your business then do what I do: schedule all your chores on one day and do them every week consistently. I do them on Sunday. This works for taking out the garbage too, as long as you use the large garbage bags you only have to take out the garbage once a week.
The only exception to this is vegetables, they stink within a day, when I make kale juice I make sure to put the remnants in a small grocery bag and take it out right away.
4) Clean Your Food And Dishes Right Away
Every time you’re finished eating, take your food, put it in the garbage, clean your plate and put it back right away. This is a really easy habit to do and stops dirty dishes from piling up in the sink. I don’t even recommend using the dishwasher because that means you need a ton of extra dishes and it becomes another time-consuming weekly task.
Most importantly, if you’re serious about getting your life together, you need to take action, starting today!
