Creating more order in your life

A full agenda and to-do lists, lots of options and numerous daily incentives make it quite difficult to create a little more order in our lives. So how do we manage things better?

More order in your mind

A more organized life begins with the mind. But how can we ensure that our minds are more organized with all the stimuli that we receive throughout the day? One requires a to-do list; another demands just the opposite.

De-choring

Dutch author and vlogger Jelle Hermus is in favor of ‘de-choring’: “It only takes a minute to come up with a chore,” he says, “but getting it checked off is another matter entirely. A quick notation in your to-do list can easily mean a month’s worth of work.” The annoying thing is that once we commit a task to paper, it becomes a serious intention. If we don’t do anything about it, it starts to gnaw at us. After all, we made an agreement with ourselves that we are not meeting. But by de-choring ourselves, we create space in our schedules and in our minds.

Is this then a call to end the to-do list? Not necessarily, says Dutch occupational psychologist Margôt van Stee. ​​”A list is a good tool for not forgetting things and just letting them go, but it is not a goal in and of itself,” she says. “If lists stress you out, ask yourself if they are actually even helpful. After all, lists mean adding yet another thing to your pile. The list itself, with all its unfinished tasks, continues to gnaw at you.” Van Stee believes lists can be fairly helpful, yet adds, “Just writing things down randomly underneath each other can actually make us feel agitated. This puts the brain in a constant state of readiness, as if you have a permanent deadline to meet. Figure out how important and urgent tasks are and schedule time for them.” See what works best for you to create a better overview without causing stress.