I always joke to my husband that if he wants to know whether I am having a productive and effective phase or a disorganised and disordered phase in my life, all he has to do is peek inside my gym bag. 
But, the thing is, it's not actually a joke. When I’m on top of my own personal admin and the various freelance work roles that I take on outside of my work at Network, my gym bag and handbag are both free of clutter and in order. However, when I’m slipping up on taking care of my business, my handbag and gym bag are in serious states of disarray.
One of my personal aims is to spend more time in the former state and far less in the latter, as being disorganised makes me feel stressed, less confident in my ability to juggle the demands of my life and far less productive. One tool I’ve found in my pursuit of order is a book by Ruth Field, titled (humorously) ‘Get Your Sh!t Together’.
GYST takes a no-nonsense approach to getting stuff done, pulling no punches in telling the reader that they are simply making excuses. Here are a few of my favourite pieces:
- Clean out one shelf in your home each day. It doesn’t have to be huge, it could simply be a drawer in your bathroom cabinet but making time to do this daily will invariably get you to on track to taking care of things that you need to do (even if you don’t necessarily want to do it). And wait for the snowball effect that it triggers…
- “I challenge you to ask yourself whether you were planning to sit down at any stage this evening to watch television.” If the answer is yes, then, BINGO, this is your time for exercise/study/insert other thing that you need to do but are avoiding.
- Create a GRIT hour each day in which you tackle all your most loathsome tasks. Field goes on to say that the earlier the grit hour occurs during the day, the more productive you’ll be.
So, if your gym bag or handbag is in need of a clean out, GYST and do it! ;)
“Time is a created thing. To say “I don’t have time”, is like saying, “I don’t want to”.” Lao Tzu
