Well systems, routines, habits - call them what you will, are the saviour of modern man and woman. If you have no time to run your life in an orderly fashion (like me), if you keep forgetting to do important things (like exercise) or just feel that little bit scatty every now and again then its time to systematise.
This is something that we always touch on during Springboard because most women do not have the luxury of an extra 3 hours a week to spend on self development (do you?). So at the start of the programme we have to magically find that time from somewhere. I travel a lot for work, as you can imagine and the only way that I can keep on top of everything at home is by having systems and routines. Here are some of them.
- I put everything that is outgoing from the house in the same place (on my office windowsill) so that whenever I leave I can pick it all up to go with me. This includes mail, photocopying, returning library books, stuff to give to friends, films to be processed, shopping lists. I know that if I don't do this I will forget half the stuff that I need to do when I go out.
- Every morning before breakfast I fill the bird feeders, the coal buckets and the log basket. I know that if I don't sort out the fire essentials then I will not want to go outside in the cold, dark and the wet later to do it.
- Anything needing to be put away upstairs gets stashed at the bottom of the stairs so that every time I climb the strairs I can take something with me. Otherwise I know that my full rucksack from last weeks walk will still be in the living room in a months time.
The benefit of systems and routines is that you do not need to think about them at a very conscious level. Can you remember cleaning your teeth this morning? I bet you can't cos it is a routine that you perform almost unconsciously. The more you can systematise and make things into routines then the more of yor brain you will free up for present time critical thinking, creativity, forward planning, goal setting and success strategies. And thats a really positive step.
So what have you systematised already - give yourself a pat on the back for this. What else is there in your life that would benefit from becoming routine? What new useful habits can you introduce? What is feeling out of control and needs bringing under your systematic control? What systems do other people use around you that you can copy or adapt? And rememebr this applies equally to work and home life.
