Reduce Stress and Accomplish More

Immediate Environment is Critical Factor in Gaining Control of Life

Oct 19, 2008

The environment where we spend our time cannot help but influence how we think and feel. When people are surrounded by clutter, their thinking is often cluttered also.

For most people, an orderly environment is important for accomplishing tasks and maintaining control over life's turmoil. If one is feeling particularly harried and overwhelmed, often just cleaning up one’s personal environment will go a long way towards establishing a semblance of equanimity.

Personal Environment

Having an orderly personal environment is often thought of as simply straightening up the desk. This may be part of it, though having a neat desk is not necessarily the same as having an orderly environment.

Visual clutter creates mental clutter; conversely, visual orderliness contributes to clarity of thought and action.

Most any teacher can tell you that there is a strong link between classroom orderliness and student accomplishment and ability to handle stress or unexpected setbacks. It’s as though the orderliness of the environment helps the thinking and reasoning process.

Tackle One Room at a Time

If things are out of control in one’s environment, the best approach is to tackle one room at a time. Start with a room that can be done in an hour or less. Be forewarned that bathrooms are deceptively time-consuming to clean, particularly if the room has been neglected, showing tub scum, toilet rings and hair clogged sinks. Kitchens are also time-consuming. Try the bedroom. Change the sheets, pick up the clothes, vacuum the floor and dust. One hour should see this room looking much better.

Each day take on one room, or part of a room. As the visual clutter diminishes and stale air is replaced with fresh, an improvement in thinking and a sense of calm will begin to prevail.

Don’t stop until all the rooms have been cleaned and organized. This can be a long process, but immediate mental improvements will be experienced.

Organize, Organize, Organize

When things are visually pleasing, move on to organizing drawers. This includes everything from desk drawers, kitchen and bedroom drawers, closets and storage spaces. This is part of the process of reclaiming personal control of one’s environment and one’s psyche.

Make Lists

Get into the habit of making a daily, weekly and monthly list of items you want to accomplish. Make these tasks a priority each day. If something does not get accomplished, put it at the head of the next day’s list. List making is something that highly effective, organized people do. It’s easy and is guaranteed to bring a sense of accomplishment and organization into life. Effective list-making has basic rules, however, so read before you write.

Budget Formation

Now is an excellent time to tend to financial organization as well. Making and keeping to a budget are both empowering and an important part of stress reduction.

Rewards

The new environment you’ve created will be reward enough in and of itself, but there’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for the work and effort you’ve put into taking control of your life. Don’t splurge on this. A simple reward will be more pleasing than a gouge to the pocketbook. Don’t drink to celebrate. Don’t eat a pint of ice cream. Use your newly acquired ability to reason and think rationally to determine a good reward for your new lease on life.

The copyright of the article Reduce Stress and Accomplish More in Changing Personal Habits is owned by R.L. Coffield. Permission to republish Reduce Stress and Accomplish More in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.