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How to Use Quick, Easy Habits to Create and Maintain Outer Order.
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Outer order contributes to inner calm
And it’s far easier to keep up than to catch up, and with the right habits, clutter never accumulates.
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The Strategy of Convenience
Make it as easy as possible to maintain order:
- Use hooks instead of hangers.
- Have abundant waste baskets.
- Clear out everything you don't need, don't use, or don't love, so there's more room for what remains. When it's hard to put things away, we create clutter.
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The Strategy of Clarity
Know exactly what you expect:
- Have an exact place for items (keys, sunglasses, batteries, etc.)
- Know who's responsible for what task. Avoid the problem of shared work.
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The Strategy of Scheduling
Set aside time to create order:
- Do any task that can be finished in less than one minute, without delay.
- Make a list of all the tasks you’d like to accomplish, and once a week, for just one hour, steadily work on these chores.
- Every time you transition from one stage to another, take ten minutes to clean up your space.
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The Strategy of the Clean Slate
Take advantage of new beginnings to foster outer order:
- Clear before you move. Moving is a great opportunity to clear clutter.
- If you're not moving, make a mock move: Ask yourself, "If I were moving, would I bother to wrap this or would I give/throw it away?”
- Use beginning to create orderly habits: when starting a new job, shape habits related to filing, tossing, archiving, etc.
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The Strategy of Pairing
Pair an activity you like to do or must do with creating outer order:
- Listen to a podcast while you're creating outer order (doing laundry, returning files to their places)
- When tackling a big job, play fun music, have good food, ask a friend to help you (pairing the task with enjoyable aspects makes it becomes easier).
- Allow yourself to watch your favorite TV show only if do speed-clutter-clearing during the commercials.
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Priming the Environment
Ideas to prime your environment
- To draw more: Put your pencils, pens, notebooks, and drawing tools on top of your desk, within easy reach.
- To exercise more: Set out your workout clothes, shoes, gym bag, and water bottle ahead of time.
- To improve your diet: Chop up a ton of fruits and vegetables on weekends and pack them in containers, so you have easy access to healthy, ready-to-eat options during the week.
Make bad behaviors difficult
If you watch too much television, unplug it after each use. Only plug it back in if you can say out loud the name of the show you want to watch. (Which prevents you from turning on Netflix and “just finding something” to watch.) This setup creates just enough friction to prevent mindless viewing.
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Self-control
It’s your ability to resolve conflicts between your short-term desires and your long-term goals.
For example, successful self-control means sacrificing immediate pleasure (cookies a...
Why self-control matters
People who have high self-control aren’t missing out on enjoyment. Not being able to resist temptation and enjoying life are not the same things.
They tend to eat in a healthily way, exercise more, sleep better, drink less alcohol, smoke fewer cigarettes, achieve higher grades at university, have more peaceful relationships, and are more financially secure.
Biological limits to self-control
Research showed that self-control is ultimately limited by our biology. We can’t exercise effortful self-control indefinitely – the brain has to do regular maintenance to remain functional.
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Defining breakthroughs
Breakthroughs are those moments in time when the impossible becomes possible.
If anyone wants to thrive in any area of their life, they have to reach a point of breakthrough where they...
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