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Spring Clean Your Life
Personal Springclean
The winter months can feel long and drag on, and then suddenly before you know it, it’s getting lighter and greener everywhere. But why wait for Spring to arrive …
Resolutions made at New Year feel a long time ago, and making time to have a springclean, physically, emotionally and mentally, as well as in other ways, is a great idea to set you up to maximise the growth you seek, personally and professionally. In the old days, a springclean was an annual ritual to clean your home from top to bottom, as well as wash things cleaned rarely, e.g. curtains.
It’s a ritual worth keeping, as without a prompt, it can be easy to carry on and forget to review important things that aren’t necessarily urgent.
Why make time for a personal springclean?
When you have too many things to do, why on earth make time for a springclean? Life can be mad, especially if you have children, commute to work and are self-employed.
People in life do the best they can, and it is easy to carry on, just as you are, changing nothing. Equally, you can have good intentions to make changes, but forget, or more pressing things take precedence. We all behave and manage our lives in ways that we have developed accidentally or more consciously, and often we don’t feel that we can choose to make things different, or we don’t make time to enable change to happen.
One action can have huge implications. A healthcheck showed a health problem that was undetected for me, now resolved. Time and money well spent. A pension review taking an hour could make the difference between peace of mind and worry in retirement. Improving your filing system could save you hours of lost time and stress.
Coaching is like a springclean. It’s about making time to think about you, increasing your self-awareness, getting clear about what’s important and your priorities, then making changes easily on your terms in simple steps. A coach is like a mirror, helping you to see for yourself what is hard to see by yourself.
Many people put their own needs last, which is why having the discipline of checking in with a coach creates a commitment to their development and change.
My suggested checklist for a thorough springclean
Health
How’s your health? Are you ignoring any niggles? When was the last time you had an eye test, health check or went to the dentist? Without health, there’s nothing else, so make it a priority to keep yours at its best.
Exercise
Do you do any exercise regularly? What kind of exercise do you love doing? When and where is the best location to do exercise so it happens? What other factors could make all the difference e.g. exercising with a friend or getting a personal trainer?
Diet
How’s your diet? Do you eat healthily overall or do snacks dominate? How could you ensure that you have healthy food to hand especially when you’re busy or stressed?
Environment
Does your home environment give you the space and ambience that you desire? How could you make it more ‘you’? How does your desk area enable you to work productively and with a good posture?
Relationships
Are your relationships satisfying and equal or do some feel one-sided or draining of your energy with little back? How could you maximise your satisfaction by reviewing who you spend time with?
Self image
How are you feeling about how you look? Do your clothes and accessories match? Are the buttons falling off your clothes? When was the last time you reviewed and updated your look? What’s the best way for you to review your wardrobe?
Job satisfaction
Do you love your job? How satisfied do you feel at work and what changes could you make, small or drastic so that your work becomes more satisfying?
I.T.
Is your computer an antique that is always crashing with years’ of old files clogging it up? How and when do you back up your data? Are you managing your e mails as efficiently as you could do? What software could make your life easier?
Filing
Can you put your hands on the info you need within seconds or does it take hours to find papers? How could you overhaul your filing so that you waste a minimum of time?
Space utilisation
Are you using all the space in your home/office as much as you could? What crafty ways would free up more space, giving your home and/or office less clutter and more calm and space?
Emotional health
How are you feeling in yourself? How good do you feel most of the time? How do you manage difficult emotions?
Mental stimulation
How’s your brain? Does it feel stimulated? How do you feed it? What cerebral ‘snacks’ could you offer it to keep your mind alive and your memory sharp?
Energy and sleep
Are you getting enough sleep? How much water do you drink each day? What easy ways can you think of to give yourself more energy?
Sense of purpose
Do you have a sense of purpose for your life? Do you know what’s important to you and do you live your life spending time doing things that are important to you?
Contribution
How do you contribute to the world? Recycling, giving money or time to a charity? What could be one small way you could contribute?
Goals
What are you focusing on this year? How motivated do you feel about your goals? How and when do you make time to focus on your goals?
Habits and behaviours
What habits and behaviours would you like to change? Putting others’ needs first; saying ‘no’ more often; being more assertive; stopping smoking; opening post when it arrives rather than letting it pile up? Who or what could help you to make this change happen? What’s the first step?
Financial health
How’s your Bank balance? Are your credit cards getting out of control? Do you have a will? Is it up to date? Do you have a savings account set up? Could you be paying more tax than you need to? What provision have you made for your future? When was the last time you reviewed your finances? Are you happy with the rates and service that you are getting from your Bank?
Self-talk
What do you say to yourself? Do you have an inner critic that keeps on putting you down? How could you change this self-talk so that it’s more positive and supportive?
Support systems
Who or what could enable you to live and work smarter? Have you considered a virtual PA, life coach, cleaner, gardener? What for you would make all the difference to free you up to have more time doing what you enjoy – doing more wants and less ‘shoulds’?
The above areas are only suggestions, choose your own headings that feel right for your springclean.
Top 10 tips that will help you with your spring clean.
Prioritise the top 3 areas mentioned and focus on them first
- Write a list of all the things you’re not getting around to doing e.g. changing a light bulb etc and plan time to address them and cross them off your list forever.
- Plan time each week for the next actions and review your progress at the end of each week
- Invite some people around – it’s a great motivator to do some cleaning!
- If you feel that you are lacking time, reflect on the opportunity cost of not making time for a clear out/springclean
- Put the list of things that you want/need to do for your springclean in a prominent place, e.g. on the fridge, screensaver on your computer or mobile phone, and use reminders to remember
- Plan away days with yourself once a quarter to take stock and ensure that you minimise your stress and maximise your satisfaction
- Commit to making your life more enjoyable and less stressful – what you focus on is what you get
- Get a coach who can help you to focus on you and streamline your life and work – less effort and more results
- Think about one thing that if you changed it, would make all the difference, and make this your no 1 focus. It could be going to bed earlier, drinking more water, taking a lunchbreak etc.
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Have you had a total spring clean this year? How do you feel now? Share your thoughts below…
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About the author
Name: Rachel Brushfield
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Website: www.liberateyourtalent.com
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