How to save valuable time by creating order

Geen categorie, Lifestyle 🏃🏼‍♀️

I’m not going to say I’m a super organised person, but since the horror-year of 2020 I have become one more and more. I figured that in order (ha!) to reach my goals and dreams, some organising my thoughts and planning ahead had to come into play.

Creating your dream life is simply much easier when everything is in order, and to me – also more fun. Because where order is created, space to do what you want and dream of is appears. And I find it more fulfilling to be productive and creative in an organised space, than in a chaotic one. So let’s find out how you can create more order in your chaos (if you want 😉 ).

Decide on priorities

First of all, a big realisation is that we have a limited amount of time and space, pretty much everywhere in our lives. There are only 24 hours in a day, and there’s only so much space in your home, there’s a limited amount of thoughts your brain can handle, and there’s an ending to your money, energy and focus. So: let’s set some priorities. This is a way of creating order in itself, but it can also help us focus on where the order needs to be first, and what we want to create this new time and space for!

What is really important to you? What are your core values? What is are your non-negotiables? What do you want less of and what do you want MORE of? These are where your focus needs to be, so everything else: Good riddance to bad rubbish! It will leave more time and space for the things you love, and will leave you to take good care of them (instead of clogging your brain with the non-important stuff).

Plan more – or everything

Planning is an allergy of many people, but to many more it’s a great way to make sure that they actually do what they want and aim for. Planning more (or I as would plead: almost everything) also saves you from having to remember a lot of small things, which again only clogs your brain and uses up your energy. Having to come-up-as-you-go, remembering many things at once, not knowing where the day, week or year will take you all make for a big chaos in your life. And they are all things that keep you in the here & now, without ever having time or energy to think about where you want to go.

So no matter which medium you use – an old-school agenda, Notion, your e-calendar, a (bullet)journal or many planners, sheets and stickers – plan the details, save yourself some time (and probably some energy, money and frustration) and be the creative, productive, impulsive, venturous version of you when it comes to the important stuff.

Wake up early & have a routine

One way to start (and keep!) your day in order is to wake up at a set time everyday, and to have a routine that makes you feel clear, focused and calm. It helps to wake up early, because as the rest of the world is still sleeping, you can have a little time for what you find important – and not your boss, partner, social circle – these are the priorities we talked about in the first paragraph!

Also, if you can check off a big part of your (pre-planned!) to-do list in the morning, you will feel like you have more time to breathe in the rest of the day, and you will feel more calm and organised. I also often clean or tidy the house in the morning, so I can start the day with order (literally), and no energy will be wasted on chaos right away.

Make order a habit

A very easy and simple way to become more organised, basically takes care of itself. If you try the tricks above for a few weeks, you will feel that you are more used to order and you like having things organised. You will automatically clean up more, look ahead more, and focus more on the things you really find important. This will slowly but surely bring order into everything you do, which will have positive effects on every area of your life.

When my life is in order, my brain is too: so I’m a nicer person, make smarter decisions, can fit more into my day, eat more healthy, and have more fun. This is not because I force myself to be this neat and organised person, but because having a clean and calm environment, agenda and mind has become my habit.

Make time and space for more order

So, this leaves me to question: where can you make time and space for more order? Start with the recurring parts of your life, and ideally the ones that mean most to you. Clean up that space you have to look at multiple hours a day. Do more time-management at work. Maybe you can do things in bulk, or already plan some things that will make your life easier in the near-future.

You can really plan everything: to social events, to self-care moments, wish lists, relationships, you can even plan in time to do nothing if you need to. Some areas where I created time and space for myself, by simply creating order, are:

I wrote all the important dates and birthdays at the start of my journal, so I can transfer them to my months, weeks and days. I also plan ahead to think of and buy presents.

I have a set list of certain things that are not hard, but important for me to do every week (such as cleaning my phone and earpods, doing my nails and buying groceries). I made this a checklist so I can check it off every week when I’ve done them, not because I otherwise forget, but to save myself the time from thinking whether and when I want to do them, and how I spend my spare time. I have already done these things by making the list.

I wrote all the important dates and birthdays at the start of my journal, so I can transfer them to my months, weeks and days. I also plan ahead to think of and buy presents.

I have a set list of certain things that are not hard, but important for me to do every week (such as cleaning my phone and earpods, doing my nails and buying groceries). I made this a checklist so I can check it off every week when I’ve done them, not because I otherwise forget, but to save myself the time from thinking whether and when I want to do them, and how I spend my spare time. I have already done these things by making the list.

Of course, these tips are meant to make your life easier and more fun, not you set you up with a hundred more things to do. If you focus on creating order once a week, or even once a month, it can already help you out tons. Don’t think that by prioritising, planning or having a routine, you can’t be impulsive or go off-track.

Because even if you do, you have still created time and space in your head for more important things in the meantime! Planning does not only work if you stick to it, it also helps to empty your brain right away. It is up to you if you want to keep yourself to your own agreements (spoiler: I think life gets even more amazing if you do).

How you feel about planning? I’d love you hear your thoughts on these tips!

xx Coco

Tips for waking up early (and why you should)

Geen categorie, Lifestyle 🏃🏼‍♀️

To be completely transparent with you; I have never been an early bird. In fact, I always described myself as ‘an evening-person’. I never liked the mornings but loved the evenings. I was at my (creative) best after 10 pm, and never woke up before 8 am unless I really, really had to. My evenings were a last-minute party to celebrate that ‘it isn’t tomorrow yet’. My mornings were a struggle because I ‘had to wake up just to go and work all day’. And I always accepted that this was just my way of living. Until I tried something else.

Why I wanted a morning routine

The transformation of my mornings started with my general hate of working. Don’t get me wrong, I probably have the best job ever, but since I was very young I have felt it as an absolute unfair mistake that society somehow decided that everyone has to work all day for five days a week. It just doesn’t make sense to me. So, every job I’ve had felt like I had to do it, I simply didn’t have a choice, and that makes even the most fun thing to do always feel just like any other job. And since I didn’t want to quit my job (because there is no better job for me out there), I decided to change the way to look at it, from the moment I get out of bed.

I decided to wake up, do something for myself first, and then later on start my work just like ‘one of the many things I do in a day’. I decided to see work as a part of my day, not my whole purpose for waking up every morning. I had to make myself believe that there was something else – something more fun and more important I had to do first, before getting to work. And so, I invented myself a little morning routine.

First, I decided I wanted to stretch and move my body a little bit, just to feel more fit and healthy in the morning. A few days later, I decided to add a meditation to it for a good mood, and a little reading for some intellectual stimuli. Later, I found that I also wanted to clean my house for a few minutes, just so I would start my day more clear and organised.

then, I decided to add a podcast to my cleaning (because it’s more fun and hits two birds with one stone), and I found out that I really enjoy a short walk before I sit down behind my desk. All in all – my morning activities were stacking up, but my mornings did become a lot more fun than waking up cranky, rushing to get ready, and dreading to start working. And most importantly: they became an investment in myself, not my job, my relationship or my social life, but in me.

The pro’s

As bonus, I found out that having some time to spend on myself in the mornings also made the rest of my day a lot easier, more fun and more productive. The only downside is probably that I have to go to bed quite early to be able to get up at 6 am the next morning.

But honestly, I even like that part of it now: my evenings became a lot more relaxed since I am more productive during the day. Today, I would say that having a nice morning route is the biggest reason I stay on track in reaching my goals, and manifesting the dream life I want.

So, how do I (as an ‘evening-person’) manage to wake up every day at 6 am?

Here are my tips:

Lay out your clothes for the next day. This makes getting out of bed and getting ready less of a hurdle. It lowers that bar of unpleasant things you have to do once you get up!
Make sure you love the things you do in the morning. If you don’t like reading or meditation, please don’t do it! Do something that suits you and gets you in a good mood. It is totally fine if this includes activities that aren’t as productive or goal-oriented.
At first, set your alarm clock a little earlier each day. You can take some time getting used to these early mornings. Then, set your alarm at the same time every day, and go to bed around the same time every evening.
Enjoy the quiet moments where you feel like the world is still asleep, cannot bother you yet, and the head start you get by waking up early. Also take some time to enjoy the sunrise – a little present just for you!
Play some music, light a candle, make yourself a fancy cup of tea or coffee. Set the right mood to start your day and enjoy the vibe. This can also make you more excited to get out of bed.
Don’t give up if it takes time getting used to, or if you fall off track. You are totally allowed to sleep in now and then, just pick right back up when you’re ready.

Good luck transforming your morning!

xx Coco

You’re not trying to win life

Geen categorie

This morning I learned that sometimes, selfcare is letting go of all your routines and goals for the day. I woke up at 6 am, after having a week of little sleep and lots of work. I had been hard on myself all from monday through friday, kept waking up early, telling myself to ‘just push through’. So this morning I did my make up, started my morning routine, but when I opened my book to read – I broke.

Breaking point

I had what you would simply call ‘a bad day’. I didn’t have enough sleep, lost a few followers on Instagram, gained a little weight, just started having my period, and somehow my mourning routine took a lot of time and effort. While I realise these are all minor things on a good day, this morning I just couldn’t handle it anymore.

I had worked so hard towards my goals, and now I felt that no matter how hard I ‘pushed through’, I was failing them all. I felt like just wasn’t good at anything I tried, like I was a complete failure. I felt like this was proof that I was trying to do something that just wasn’t for me. But then I realised that what I wanted was a lot and that I was being very hard on myself. I was juggling many new goals and dreams, and wanted to be perfect at them all.

So after crying and hating myself for a few good minutes, I decided to be easy on myself today. I removed my make up again, made myself a tea and a hot compress for my belly, and went back to bed. When I was all warm and cozy again, I made a list in my head of all the things I was actually doing really well.

Nothing in nature blooms all year

I praised myself for waking up all week at 6 am, even though I didn’t get enough sleep any of those nights. I praised myself for staying on track with my blogs and Instagram posts, and for the fact that I gained 600 followers just one week after starting my page. I praised myself for not having one drink in 1,5 months, and having kept up with my reading, stretching, walking, meditating and journalling since the beginning of the year. I also kept the promise to myself to not buy any cheap/unethical clothing and to eat more healthy and plantbased. And most of all, I praised myself for starting my dream: this website!

So picked myself up, got out of bed and tried to rock the day again! No, just kidding. I didn’t. I stayed in my pyjamas all day and moved important tasks to next week. There. Nothing in nature blooms all year. And some days, it’s important to take these words seriously. Some days are for staying in bed, and loving yourself for how far you’ve come. For realising that bad days aren’t ‘failing’ or ‘a set-back’, but actually very important to keep your sanity and get new insights.

Sometimes, you need to realise that no one is perfect (and no, perfectionism is NOT a good character trait), so don’t try to win a race you never wanted to be in anyway. You can’t give 100% all the time, and your growth and transformation isn’t linear. And that despite all these things, you are doing a really, really good job at life. Enjoy it!

xx Coco