15 ways to get your life together

There are many ways to make you feel like you have your life together again. Mental work, physical work, therapy, but also smaller tasks. Here is a little list of 15 ways to get your life together.

Inbox Zero

Let’s start off the 15 ways to get your life together strong. This might be a small thing for some and a giant task for others. Emptying and sorting your email inbox from start to finish. That includes unsubscribing from newsletters, deleting the spam folder emails, making a folder for the emails you need to reply to and one with things you don’t want to forget. If you already have this as a habit, I challenge you to sort through your existing folder system. I still have that on my digital deep clean list for the year and it’ll be a lot of work that will be super worth it.

Empty Download Folder

Both your computer and your phone have download folders. A lot of useless stuff is in there but also tons of files you could sort into a more useful place. I try to clean this space out every 3-5 months. because I download a lot of pdfs and reference images for my work. If you only download programs every now and then and have everything on harddrives, this work won’t take you long and still feel good. I’d count that as a win for you. Excuse me while I look at how many files I already have in my download folder again.

Declutter closet

Oh boy, this one is complicated. I personally am more of a minimalist and I don’t buy clothes often, so for me decluttering is a rare occurrence unless something is worn out or destroyed (it’s always the goddamn socks). If you are more of a fashion-affine person, you should do this more regularly. I’d suggest taking all your clothes out of their place and sorting them in categories before you declutter. That way you can see when you have 5 black shirts when you only need two.

Organize your paperwork

Adulting, am I right? I hope you have most of your loose papers in roughly the same area, so you can just collect them and sort them. If that isn’t the case you might want to get into the habit of putting them on your desk or another easy to access place. Go through what of that paperwork is actually relevant. What has to be kept for several years? Which papers can go right now? What can you simply scan in and throw away? Once this one is done you’ll feel so accomplished. Most procrastinated task, yet the most rewarding. It’s like the working out of office activities.

Journal your heart out

Now we’re getting into a little bit of a self care activity, because those are very much needed to feel like your life is held together. Journal out all your thoughts and feelings. It can feel weird if you rarely do it, but if you write long enough you will usually get a sense of freedom. You could list out things you are grateful for in the people around you or simply write about a problem you’re currently facing. Journaling helps us get a different perspective on things and makes us more self-aware.

Make doc appointments for the next 6 months

Short time investment, big impact. Schedule your doctor’s appointments ahead of time creates a higher chance you actually go to the regular check ups that are recommended. Get that dentist appointment in, go to the optician, get that back pain checked out. If you are in a country with universal health care then please make use of it and get a yearly blood check and make use of the few preventative practices that get covered.

Set short term and long term goals

I think this truly is at the core of all these 15 ways to get your life together. What are we without goals? Probably a little bit lost. We need a rough direction to go in. Set small short term goals, like going to a cool place nearby that you’ve never been to. And set longer term goals that can be more loose in how you achieve them, like writing a book. With a new perspective and compass to orient yourself after you’ll feel much more put together mentally. If you need pointers I made a post on how to set goals HERE and a post about making a five year plan HERE.

Do all your laundry

Is there anything more satisfying than having put away clean laundry? It’s time consuming and for most of us it’s not fun to do laundry, but taking the time to do a big laundry weekend where we not only wash clothes but also sheets and other textiles in our home can bring a new vibe into your space. Freshly washed plushies, mini rugs and couch covers? A once or twice a year occurrence, but that is something to revel in.

Do a full skin care routine

We often don’t feed our skin enough. It can go a long way to do more than a wash and moisturizer. Get out the chemical peeling (not the physical one, that’s not ideal for your face), a good face mask and eye serum. Don’t forget to also put that stuff on your neck! Once you’re done with this you’ll feel so refreshed. Even better if you do it in the evening and feel pampered and tired.

Do a guided meditation

This is a good way to start or end the day. Pick a guided meditation on Youtube that you like. There are so many topics, lengths and types of meditation to choose from. I usually like the minimal talking ones that are giving me a bit of imagery to work with. Alternatively you can just sit down with calm music or a timer and just sit and breathe. Whatever works best for you to get the full benefits of meditating. I made a post about the studied benefits of meditation HERE.

Clean fridge & freezer

This is such an easy thing to overlook. Yes, we sort through our fridge for food gone bad, but how often do we take everything out and clean the shelves and drawers? Even more rare with the freezer. Do a deep clean of both and actually make a plan on how you’ll use each space from now on as well as making a food plan to use up some of the stuff that’s been sitting in the freezer for a long time.

Check out cheaper providers

Once a year you should check for cheaper providers for your phone plan, insurances, electricity and so on. You can either tell your current provider that you will switch to a cheaper provider if they don’t offer you the same price, or you simply switch over without doing that extra work. Often it makes a lot of sense to stay with a provider and simply ask for the cheaper price, especially if you don’t know a lot about the cheaper provider.

Read a book on one of your problems

This is not a quick tip, but reading up on life or mental problems you are currently having can be so enlightening to your life and the life of the people around you. I recently learned plenty about how trauma affects the body, as well as reading up on emotional maturity and intelligence. Those books have opened up my mind to a lot of what is going on around me and how I can communicate better with people that are emotionally immature or traumatized.

Write down 30 things you‘re grateful for

I already mentioned this vaguely in the journaling part of this post, but gratitude journaling really improves your mood. It’s a habit that had a big impact on my life when I had deep anxiety and depression. Write down 30 things you are grateful for in your life. Try to not just give simple answers like “good weather” but actually go in-depth about why they make you so happy and grateful.

Ask for help

I’m saving the one that is the hardest for many for last. Asking for help can be incredibly hard for many of us, because we are afraid of being seen as flawed or because we hold high standards towards ourselves. In reality many things work better when done together and outsourcing some things in your life will have a big impact on you. Ask your family member for help with cleaning, ask a friend for advice, pay someone a bit of money for helping with something you’ve been struggling with. Asking for help is a continuous mental training. You can do it!

There were 15 ways to get your life together. There are more and I will make more posts like this in the future. To stay up-to-date on these future posts and in case you need a good starting guide to have what I call a Life Admin Day (or weekend) you should sign up for my newsletter. You’ll get access to not only the Life Admin Day Guide eBook, but many other tools making your life easier.

But in case you wanna take the fast lane, you can also check out my workbook that is all about getting your life together once and for all. You can check out what is in it and if it is the right workbook for you HERE.

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15 ways to get your life together by Rabea