Just Leave It

This past week I had fun sharing a few organization tips with some awesome educators in my new webinar. One of the questions I asked was:

Do you want to stop making organizational mistakes?

Obviously, answers were a resounding YES.

Further to that, was one lovely participant's comment written in the chat box, a mistake she keeps making - and trust me, it's a common mistake. I used to make the same one over and over and still get caught in it sometimes!

Now, this particular mistake doesn't seem like it would be a big deal.

But it is.

It can change how you feel about your work space, how you feel about going to work and leave you with a sense of dread because you don't want to face it.

It's the mistake of even thinking - yeah, yeah, I'll take care of that tomorrow - and then leaving a mess for yourself to clean up the next day.

You've thought, said and done this, right? Putting off cleaning your space until the next day? This is a negative habit worth fixing for a number of reasons:

• You leave yesterday's undone business for the next day
• You likely think about that mess in the evening, when you should be unwinding
• You go into your classroom/office/kitchen the next day and continue to avoid the mess, hence a growing impingement on your physical and mental wellbeing
• You get distracted by the things, thinking way too much about what to do about it
• You feel weighed down

Does this sound pleasant to you? I'm guessing not!

That stuff is blocking your clarity and productivity. Don't let it control you. You are the adult here! (You've said that to your students or kids, haven't you?)

To combat that sense of things controlling your physical (and mental) space, here are three suggestions:

• Always leave time to tidy before you leave or wrap up your day. Your end of day tidy time should not be longer than 10-15 minutes. If it is, we need to work out a plan to shorten that.
• Tidy your daily essentials first so they are ready for the next day, in case you end up taking longer than your dedicated time.
• Leave yourself a little note to encourage yourself to keep up the habit, or block out that 15 minutes directly in your planner. If it's written in the planner, it's more likely to happen.

Go ahead and give it a go. Keep this practice up everyday for at least three weeks. In your work space, home space, wherever you need it. Then reflect on how this has (or has not) changed your day, emotional state or productivity.

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App endorsements are unpaid. Photos are free from Unsplash or my camera roll.