Of course you've heard the old
familiar saying: "A place for everything and everything in its place."
But there's more to being organized than simply stashing everything away in the
closet. The first step in organizing your life is organizing your thoughts.
A cluttered life is the physical manifestation of a cluttered
mind. Thus the first task in simplifying your life is to clarify your thoughts.
In a cluttered world, it is difficult to distinguish imagined problems from real
ones, big troubles from small ones, important tasks from trivial ones. If your
thoughts become distorted, you’ll soon find yourself caught up in an
unproductive, unhappy maelstrom of wasted motion. The antidote to this
frustration is simple: clear-headed, rational thinking.
A rested, quiet mind is a powerful remedy to the everyday stresses that
otherwise might interfere with sound decision-making. Thankfully, clear thinking
is available to almost anyone who regularly takes a few minutes each morning to
organize his or her thoughts. The early morning is the perfect time to inspire,
educate, and organize oneself.
If you find yourself in extremely stressful circumstances, a
regular time of contemplation and study may not be enough; you may wish to
consult a trusted friend, a clergyman, or an impartial professional counselor.
But for the everyday stresses of life, you’ll find that a daily dose of
early-morning meditation will allow you to organize your time, clarify your
objectives, and motivate yourself to act upon your most important priorities.
Clear perspective is a powerful tool for improving and
ultimately simplifying your life. The following quotations are reminders of the
great benefits you reap when you learn regularly, think rationally, and behave
accordingly.
Tips for Cutting the
Clutter:
-
If your home or office is filled with
clutter, take an entire day and dedicate it to an initial clean-up
operation. This major commitment to clutter-free living will get you started
on the right foot.
-
Learn to handle pieces of paper only once.
The habit of leaving stacks of unfinished paperwork in piles upon your desk
has an unintended consequence: It turns you work space into little more than
a rectangular-shaped, horizontal waste bin. And as papers lie about
unattended, you are sapped of valuable time and precious psychological
energy.
-
Designate a place for everything and put
everything in its place.
-
Be quick to give away things you no longer
use; this is the right thing to do for two reasons: first, someone needs
these items more than you do; second, a good "spring cleaning" is
wonderful medicine for the mind.
Ideas for Clarifying Your
Thoughts and Organizing Your Life
"Never be afraid to sit awhile and think."
Lorraine Hansberry
"The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done
in turmoil."
Albert Einstein
"Human thoughts have a tendency to turn themselves into their physical
equivalents."
Earl Nightingale
"Good thoughts bear good fruit and bad thoughts bear bad fruit. And a
man is his own gardener."
James Allen
"By a tranquil mind, I mean nothing else than a mind well
ordered."
Marcus Aurelius
The Power of Organization
"Good order is the foundation of all good
things."
Edmund Burke
"Order means light and peace; inward liberty and free command over one’s
self; order is power."
Henri Frédéric Amiel
"Have a time and place for everything, and do everything in its time
and place, and you will not only accomplish more, but have far more leisure than
those who are always hurrying."
Tryon Edwards
"The older I get, the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking
first things first—a process which often reduces the most complex human
problems to manageable proportions."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Focus Your Thoughts and Your Energies
"To do two things at once is to do neither."
Publilius Syrus
"There is no royal road to anything. Do one thing at a time and all
things in succession. That which grows slowly, endures."
Josiah Gilbert Holland
"Two basic principles underlie all strategic planning: The first
principle is to act with the utmost concentration; the second principle is to
act with the utmost speed."
Carl von Clausewitz
"No steam or river ever drives anything until it is confined. No
Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is harnessed. No life ever
grows until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined."
Harry Emerson Fosdick
"The ability to concentrate and use your time well is everything."
Lee Iacocca
And Finally . . .
"Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the
city, the security of the state."
Robert Southey
"It is best to do things systematically, since we are only human, and
disorder is our worst enemy."
Hesiod
This
page was written and compiled by Criswell Freeman, PsyD.
