Do you ever feel like your life is not as organized as you had hoped it would be? Don’t feel bad; you are not alone. And while it can be comforting to know that you aren’t falling behind your peers in getting your life together, it can still feel demoralizing.
We all had an idea of what adulthood would be like. We would have steady employment, plenty of disposable income, a nice home, and perhaps a somewhat glamorous life. It’s not too late to get that vision you had in mind.
You can start changing your life by declaring, “I’m getting my life together,” and then follow this checklist to make your plans a reality!
Getting your life together in 16 steps
So, if you’d like to get your life together, be sure to follow these steps.
1. Start getting your life together by making a list of your current circumstances
You have to recognize where you are right now before you can determine what you ultimately want your life to be like. If your life isn’t where you want it to be, then it is usually easier to evade your present circumstances. But you cannot make meaningful progress without taking a close look at where you are currently.
First, make a list of your current circumstances in every part of your daily life.
Your list should consist of everything you should work on.
2. Decide which parts of your life you’re happy with (and which you aren’t)
The next step is deciding which of your present circumstances are where you want them and which of those are where they aren’t.
Begin by going through your current conditions and marking which you’d like to keep. This process is very easy because you do not have to make any substantive changes to your listings. Finding the right candidates can be difficult, particularly if you have a complicated checklist.
Yes, it can be difficult to see how many of your life are not where you would like them to be. But that’s why you’ve recognized them, you can develop a plan to change them and getting your life on track.
3. Set specific goals
Once you know the areas in your life that you want to change, you can set goals to improve them.
When you’re setting goals for yourself, try to be as specific as possible. It’s not enough to just decide you’re going to balance your budget. You should instead establish specific financial goals, such as establishing a budget, saving $1,000, or paying down credit card debt.
Identify one or two specific objectives for each area of your life that you want to improve. Some areas may appear to be more challenging than others. How do you set definite and quantifiable goals for your relationships with coworkers? Well, in that case, you could set a goal of organizing a coffee date or telephone call with one coworker every week.
Make sure you write down your goals. Writing them down increases your likelihood of achievement by 42%. For an added boost of motivation, write them down and post them someplace you can see them every day.
You might also want to think about the power of positive affirmations while training. Tell yourself, “I’m getting my life together” or “I have my life together,” and you could accomplish a lot!
4. Start small when trying to get your act together
You can’t get everything done in one day. Instead, you should begin small. As you determine what changes you want to make in your life, make them into small, bite-sized chunks.
Of course, saving $10,000 is an excellent goal. But most people can’t accomplish this in just a few months. Instead of focusing on how much you have saved, set a target for yourself to come up with a certain amount of money each month, week, or paycheck.
Also, start small when changing your lifestyles. For instance, one of your aims might be to get healthier. If you don’t currently exercise, it is in no way a good idea to set a goal of exercising six days a week. You’ll end up overdoing it much more quickly that way.
Instead of starting with one or two days, you should begin with a day or two and work your way up from there. When you can do that consistently, then you can add another day or so. You can improve your life by getting better at something each day.
5. Organize your physical space
Oftentimes, a messy physical environment can impair your mental well-being. Often, a disorderly physical environment can make you feel disorderly in other areas of your life. Imagine waking up in the morning and being unable to find your house keys because your kitchen is cluttered.
Suddenly you are late for work and have elevated stress the rest of the day. Not only are you stressed at work, but you could be dreading going home, knowing that you will be confronted by all the mess.
Clearing physical clutter may not seem like it will have much effect on your fiscal well-being, your wellbeing, or your relationships, but you would be surprised how much stress and disorganization you derive from it.
6. Find the right tools to help with getting your life together
Finding the right resources to use is crucial for getting the most out of your life. No matter what task you plan to accomplish, there’s a tool that can help you.
A habit tracker is an app that enables users to establish new positive habits. The user sets desired goals and how many days per week he wants to perform them, after which the app generates daily reminders and notifies him of details such as when he has accomplished his goals. Then the application reminds you of your behaviors and allows you to track them.
There are plenty of budget apps that can help you get to your financial targets. You can locate numerous apps depending on your budgeting personality, the goals you are attempting to achieve, and other preferences. Budgeting your money is a major part of getting your life together!
Fitness trackers are useful for someone with wellness objectives. Some of the first advantages of fitness trackers is that they help users track their steps and workouts. Tracking calories and exercise with fitness-tracking applications is beneficial for both physical fitness and nutrition.
Anyone starting a new business or working on a large project can use a project management tool like Trello or Asana to stay on track. These tools allow you to create separate tasks, assign them to other people, and create checklists of items to complete along the way.
If your mind is what’s holding you back from achieving your goals, then a journal could be just what you need. Journaling has been shown to have positive effects on both your physical and mental health. It can help you reduce stress, reduce your risk of getting sick, and do more.
7. Make a plan for your money as an essential part of getting your life together
One of the most important steps in your new life list is creating a plan for your money! Money is the foremost source of stress for most individuals. Politics, work, and family all provide stress, but weed has a greater effect on younger people. It has more influence on them than on adults.
Regardless of whether your goals are financial in nature, planning your finances and saving money can go a long way in helping you get organized.
8. Get your act together by minimizing stressors
If there’s anything stressful in your life, it can affect many facets of your life. Suppose you have work-related stress.
For many people, that stress could stay at home with them at night. It can affect all aspects of their lives, including their work and relationships.
To start reducing your stress levels, make a list of everything that causes you stress. Are there any items on the list that you can eliminate entirely? This can be the case for costly subscriptions or social obligations that add more stress than they’re worth. It could also mean planning for major life events.
You don’t have control over other stressors that you cannot eliminate. This includes work and family. While you may not be able to completely eliminate these stressors, you can identify some adjustments you can make to limit the stress.
9. Find a mentor
If you have big career goals that you haven’t achieved, a mentor may be the best way to reach them. A mentor can offer advice regarding your career or personal goals, introduce you to important people in the field, and help you overcome job-related worries.
How do you find a mentor? Consider individuals who you have known who have offered you advice in the past. Mentorship may be a formal arrangement – at times, even one that pays. But it can also be a friendship with a colleague at your company.
10. Create routines for getting your life together
Routines serve as the foundations of success. When you have routines that are established, you can instead stay focused on your positive traits and accomplish your goals.
Think about a habit that comes naturally to you, like getting dressed in the morning or brushing your teeth. You don’t have to remind yourself to do these things. They’re part of your regular routine.
You can use those same programs to assist with other healthy activities. Want to go walking every day? Find the time when you can make it each day. It will become a desirable part of your regimen, and you will soon come to rely on it.
11. Identify bad habits
The first step in getting your life in order is identifying your bad habits. We should all admit that we have some bad habits that hold us back.
Whether it’s staying up late watching TV, spending too much on things you don’t need, or something else, it likely affects other aspects of your life.
As a first step, make a list of habits that could be holding you back in different areas of your life. Next, devise ways to reduce or eliminate them.
12. Implement the one-minute rule
Do you ever have those tasks that you keep putting off for days, weeks, or months, and yet you never quite manage to complete them? Chances are that we’ve all been guilty of this at one time or another.
A simple and effective strategy is the “one-minute rule.” This rule states that if a task can be accomplished in under one minute, you should complete it immediately.
Not only does setting this rule help you declutter your list, it will also relieve your mental load by making all those small tasks disappear. Making this adjustment can serve as a great step toward improving your quality of life!
13. Change your mindset
You might be surprised to know that if you aren’t meeting your goals, your mindset may be one of the most important factors holding you back.
If you are frequently scolding yourself or telling yourself that you won’t reach your targets, then it is quite likely that you will miss your targets.
But if you adopt a positive attitude where you truly believe you can get where you want to go, it will be easier to get there.
14. Create a gratitude journal
It’s easy to spend your time focusing on the negative aspects of your life. And when you’re making major changes and trying to get your life together, it’s natural to focus on the negative.
Unfortunately, this can also cause you to feel like you are losing everything.
A gratitude journal is a good way to focus on the positive aspects of your life. Schedule a time each day to sit down and think of three positive events from your day.
Aim to choose three things every day. They may be as large as your family and neighbors, or as small as a delicious meal you enjoyed that day.
While you write down what you’re grateful for on a daily basis, you will find that you naturally become more cheerful and look for things to which you are grateful. This can easily lead you to the path of self-discovery.
15. Take action towards getting your life together
It is simple to say, “I’m getting back on my feet,” set objectives, and write about things you can do to reach them. However, it is a whole distinct thing to accomplish these objectives and actually follow through.
The most challenging part of starting something new is working on a new objective. If you want to save $1,000, those first dollars are the most difficult because you’re not used to saving money. When working out, the first few workouts are usually the most difficult, as you have not yet built up your endurance.
The sooner you get started, the faster you will reach your first goal. Once you start, your momentum will carry you forward. The best way to improve is to focus on getting 1% better.
16. Track your progress
In order to ensure that you stay on track with your goals, it’s crucial to keep track of your progress. Otherwise, you might not know if you are making any progress at all. As a result, you may find yourself that you never gain further progress toward your goals.
Monitoring your progress ensures that you are on track with your goals, and it can also motivate you as you see yourself improve. There are many tools available to track your progress and meet your goals and routines.
Getting your life together is possible
Maintaining your sanity can be difficult at times, but it can be accomplished with just a few small changes. You can make progress toward your goal by altering your behavior in small ways.
This life checklist will help you get everything under control.
Register for our free financial courses today to work toward achieving your goals!
