Do you ever take the time to have a go at taking stock of things in your life? Sometimes, however organised we are, things can overwhelm us, and taking stock is whats needed to get back to a sense of normality as quickly as possible.
Usually we stray off course due to something out of our control taking up our time more than usual – a family emergency, illness, holidays even. Or we can simply lose track for a few weeks as life gets busier and we can’t stick to our usual routines for a while.
Whatever the reason – it can be really difficult to get back on track.
The mountain of backlog can feel burdensome, and too much to bear – and we end up feeling down/stressed/procrastinating etc….
Who wants that?
I get into this mode at times, and the only way to come out of it with some sense of sanity is to draw a line in the sand and take stock.
How to easily take stock of your life
Its as simple as setting aside a little time, and having a blank sheet of paper and a pen.
Whether you set aside a few hours one evening, or get up early one morning – find at least 2 hours where you can really think about where you are and whats happening at the moment in your home and life. You need to sometimes give yourself time to step back and evaluate things, otherwise the day to day stuff will overwhelm.
You are the owner of your life – so take an overview every so often – make sure you are planning and heading where you want to go – not just living the day to day just keeping your head above water.
There are two areas that you need to consider – your home and your life.
I tend to tackle my home first, so I go around each and every part of my house noting down anything that I can see that needs sorting out. Here are some examples of the types of things I usually find:-
- DIY that needs attending to
- Cleaning jobs that have not been done for a while
- Mending things
- Sorting and clearing out rooms/cupboards etc…
- Charity run / Tip run
- Filing pile building up
I then take time to sit down and give some thought to whats fallen by the wayside in my life:-
- Getting social dates in the diary with friends and family
- Booking things that we want to do in the coming months
- Revamping my weekly schedule
- Giving time for fitness
- Starting a new hobby or gaining a qualification
As you can tell, this can become a very long list (especially if you are really thorough and consider every little thing) – but the key is to see exactly what needs doing, and then you can more easily do something about it.
Think of it as a complete overhaul of your Master TO DO list – which can be forgotten sometimes when life gets in the way. It can become outdated quickly at times.
But I don’t have time…
I know this is asking you to take time out of what is usually a hectic and busy schedule – but the argument for taking stock every so often far outweighs the argument for not doing so.
If you can take stock of your life – there are so many benefits:-
- You gain a better perspective on whats niggling you constantly
- You can start to add these items as “TO DOs” into your diary – one a day would be a great place to start
- You can see what you can delegate to others to get through things more quickly
- You have a better understanding of where you are, and where you want/need to be
- You gain more head space as you aren’t constantly thinking about things that need to be done
How can I tackle things?
Once you know what you need to do – you have two options for everything on the list.
Option one is to add them all to your Master TO DO list – and work through them as and when you have the time (at least now you know that everything’s there!)
Option two is to take some more time right now and prioritise these things over all others. Take a day off work and use it to really go through everything – or tackle things over a weekend – whatever fits your life the easiest.
All these things can so easily swamp your mind if they aren’t written down – so why not take some time out sometime this week and get on top of things once and for all.
I intend to do this at the weekend, will you join me?
