Back in 2005 before starting my Marketing Firm I owned a professional organizing business. During my work in this industry I saw a lot of people struggling to get their personal and professional life organized. These people were young, old and in between. Many were professionals but some were retired or stay at home parents. So, you can see everyone can fall into having bad habits no matter where they are in life. I’m not a fan of the word bad but when it comes to this topic, I’d rather not sugar coat it.
Basically, being disorganized is just a series of bad habits or routines that need to be rewired into good habits. We all have bad habits; it’s a fact of life because we’re human and imperfect. The good news is that bad habits can be changed with some discipline and work. Yes, I said it. It takes effort to make changes and rewire our brains into doing things differently. Changing bad habits doesn’t happen overnight but simply acknowledging them is the first step towards change along with making up your mind to do so.
So, what are some bad habits? Here are a few examples.
• Not creating a plan of action for the work that needs to be done
• Setting lofty goals and timelines that are unrealistic
• Overeating or eating the wrong types of food
• Letting your inbox get full and out of control
• Not practicing self-care
• Lacking organization in the space you live or work in
• Not getting back to people who call or email you in a timely fashion
Maybe you recognize some these or have other bad habits that need to be tamed but how do we go about doing that?
One quick tip: Don’t try to change multiple bad habits at once. Choose one behavior or area to focus on and work on that first. When you feel that bad habit has been changed for good, work on changing another – or work on incorporating good habits into your daily life.
Here are some tips for creating good habits.
1. Keep the temptation out of sight. If you have a problem with overeating junk food, for example, keep those tempting foods out of your home. Avoid those aisles at the grocery store. Step away from the snack table when you’re a guest at someone’s house. If your temptation isn’t visible, then you’ll get used to not having that temptation in your life, which forms a good habit of not overindulging.
2. Reward yourself (positive reinforcement). If you want to be get organized, schedule an activity they you love doing like a day at the spa or whatever is your thing for about 6-8 weeks out as a reward, provided you stay true to your organizing goals you will have a wonderful reward to look forward to. Now use this reward, to stay focused on the goal of organizing your life/spaces that you live or work in. Also consider rewarding yourself for incorporating a good habit into your life as well and choose small, simple rewards that fit your budget.
3. Give yourself a consequence for the bad habit (negative reinforcement). If you have a habit of not getting back to people in a timely fashion, try charging yourself a fee for every time you forget. Keeping in mind, that it’s costing you way more in revenue because this habit can be making you lose clients and opportunities. Collect that money in a jar so you can see it as a reminder that you need to get better at that task. We all get into ruts and routines that we need to take charge of and not let them take charge of us. When you haven’t contributed to the jar in a month’s time, take that money and give yourself a reward. Tell your team members at work, your friends and family, too, so they can help keep you accountable. Sometimes we’re so used to doing bad habits that we don’t even notice when it happens. Giving yourself a consequence forces you to be more aware of your behavior and eventually eliminates that bad behavior.
4. Track your daily habits. Whether you choose good old paper and pen or a sophisticated app on your phone, tracking your habits puts them in the forefront of your mind and you’ll also feel accomplished at the end of the day. For instance, if you’re exercising daily, mark down what you did and for how long. If you’re stopping your procrastination, mark what time you started work. If you’re unplugging more from something like social media, use a calendar to jot down when you turned your app off and how long that lasted. Visual cues that you’re succeeding in busting these bad habits can go a long way to make you feel proud and accomplished, which will positively reinforce this new behavior.
5. Ask for an accountability partner. Do you have a mentor, business coach or friend who can help monitor your success? Do you have a nutritionist who can help create healthy meals? Do you have a business partner or friend who you help turn your business struggles around? Or do you feel comfortable posting certain struggles or challenges on social media, so your followers then become your accountability partners? Keeping your struggles and goals to yourself often makes it easier to cheat; however, if you tell other people what you’re trying to accomplish, then you’ll focus more on the new behavior, which eventually will overtake the bad behavior.
I hope you found these ideas helpful. Again, remember that rewiring your brain and changing daily routines takes time so be kind to yourself. Best to you and your endeavors.
