time

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

So you want to write a blog, pick up a new hobby, lose a few pounds, quit drinking, or something that even remotely fits the word ‘goal’? I believe you should go for it. Period. But how do you know you are ready for it? How do you know this is your moment? Let me explain why the fact that you get excited about it; feel like doing it; want to finally go for it; makes this moment your momentum.

There is no right time

First of all, there is never really a right time for anything. Unless you want to talk astrology, there’s no way to reason why this moment is better or worse than any other moment. Because most goals are reached thanks to dedication, a great mindset, a little bit of talent and a teeny tiny bit of luck.

Timing really isn’t something to focus on, simply because of the fact you will never know if the time is right. These things can only be judged afterwards, and there will definitely never be an afterwards if you don’t start, so really: now is as good a time as any.

Use your excitement

Secondly, I believe the fact that you get excited and want to put your effort in this goal now, really counts for something. In fact, I believe your excitement and (these first signs of) commitment are all you need to start. Think about the goal as something you like doing, and you want to do just for yourself. Don’t think about the ‘success’ of it yet. Think about it as something you can pick up just because you feel like it, and that needs to be the only reason. If you want to do it, if you enjoy doing it, or if it will make you proud to do it – that really is enough!

Trust that the fact that you feel like doing it, means that it is worthwhile putting your time and effort in. It doesn’t have to be the greatest thing you ever did, it doesn’t need to be loved and acknowledged by a great number of people, if you change your mind or if you were mistaken in your excitement – no one even ever has to know! You are allowed to do what you want, you are allowed to ‘just’ have fun with it, and you are allowed to fail at it.

Remember your childhood

Take this example: when a was a child I really liked painting and drawing. When I was really young, I was actually quite good at it – for my young age. Later on, when it was taught in school, I lost my interest for it because other kids in my class were always better. I didn’t like to do it for fun anymore, I only painted or drew when I had to do it for a school assignment, and when I became an adult I never painted anymore. I even started to believe that I was not a creative person, purely because I couldn’t paint or draw very beautifully.

But when I was in my late twenties, I suddenly had an urge to paint again. I didn’t know there it came from, but I had this image in my head (of a woman) that I really, really wanted to paint. Of course, I hesitated for the first few days. I thought: ‘I haven’t painted in ages, I probably suck at it even more than I did before’ and: ‘What if I start and it doesn’t look at all like I had imagined, I would just want to burn it afterwards’.

No one has to know (yet)

But then I asked myself the question why I wanted to paint in the first place. Was it to please other people? To end up in a museum or make a lot of money of off it? No! I just had a very basic urge to be creative and no one even knew about it. So I decided to just paint for the sake of painting, and if I hated it afterwards and wanted to burn it I was totally ok to do that. As you can already guess: it actually turned out quite good. I also never painted again (though now I know I will, if I ever feel like it again).

Take something you liked doing as a child and the excitement you felt for it, and make it an example of how you are always allowed to go for what you want, just because you feel like it. At least right now, you are motivated and excited (something you could wish to feel later in life when you think about it again, and could regret not doing when you still had the urge and motivation), you have the momentum. And if you’re still a little hesitant to show the world what you’re made of, start by showing it only to yourself. It will just be like our little secret.