Working from home takes a surprising amount of discipline and dedication. There are all of the distractions of household chores to do, as well as your hobbies, and to top it all off, if the family is home, you feel bad about sitting in the office working instead of spending quality time together. I have found one of the keys to staying on task is actually to find little distractions. So when I stumbled upon this gem that talks about organizing your house in 15 minutes per day, I was pretty excited to say the least.
How to Have an Organized House in 15 Minutes per Day
The idea behind the organization is that the whole task is too large to tackle all at once. Instead of going full tilt at it, and becoming burnt out quickly, you do a small portion each and every day, for an entire year. This way you are more likely to remain organized, and less likely to watch your house slip slowly back into chaos as the year drones on.
Since I am a work-from-home dad, where many of the household responsibilities fall on my shoulders, I figured it would be a great thing to do. I could take care of my son while I organize the house. And to be honest, so far, it has worked out wonderfully. Cleaning and organizing is a great way to distract myself from two-year-old antics, but I’m not ignoring him for so long that he’s getting into trouble.
Why I love It Even More
Keeping things organized with a toddler in the house is difficult to say the least. You have to pick your battles. I know that the space in the corner where I should have a nice lamp, some shelves, and a triangular end table will be clogged up with toys for the foreseeable future (don’t get me started on the big wheels, scooters, and other toys rapidly consuming real estate in my workshop). But I also know that making sure I can easily find spatulas, cook books, towels, and other essentials is easy to do. But that’s not why I love this task.
The real reason I love it is because it gives me something to do other than work. If I am at home, I feel like I should be getting work done. If you are a business owner, you know that the pile of work never actually ends. Even if you are “caught up” you can always be getting stuff done for next week, or prepping for a busy week in the future. But you also know that you have to force yourself to take a break here and there.
What that means is when I am working hard, I try to take 15 minutes off every few hours. Sitting in front of the computer slowly turns your brain to mush. Throw in the fact that you’re researching, writing, SEO optimizing, all the while fretting because you haven’t received a document that you need and the deadline is rapidly approaching, and you have a recipe to go mad very quickly. To combat this, and make yourself more productive, you need breaks. 15 minutes of organization tasks takes my brain on an entirely new path, and it helps me recuperate while still being productive. It’s a win win!
Organize Your Home in 15 Minutes per Day
We are a mere 9 days into 2015, but I highly recommend making your own personal commitment to this organizational challenge. It’s pretty easy, and you really don’t have to make a public commitment. Just head over to Home Storage Solutions 101 and sign up for the newsletter. That way you can get the entire yearly calendar in PDF form instead of checking back in each month. Since a messy house is linked to higher rates of depression, why not do yourself a favor and tidy up a bit?
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