April 18th 2007
Personal Development
3 comments
We are well into Spring now and it’s at this time of year that people begin the spring clean. While this traditionally involves cleaning the home, it can also involve other aspects of your life. As we finally recover from the holiday season and begin to feel the benefits of the warmer weather, there is no better time to have a good look at your life and get everything in good shape for the rest of the year.
Personal Life
Re-evaluate your goals. If you havn’t already worked out a vertical map then now is the time to do it. Even if you already have one, it’s an ideal time to really dig deep and think about what you have on it, whether your choices are still relevant to you and your wants and needs now. I have already covered the vertical map here and here so read those posts for guidance on this topic. Once you have this planned out it gives you clarity for other areas of your life, making the spring clean much more effective.
GTD System
Likewise, look at your GTD implementation, or indeed whatever productivity system you use. No approach is ever perfect so it is good practise to re-evaluate yours, see where is it lacking and how it can be improved to satisfy your current lifestyle. For example if you worked at a low pressure job and found using contexts unnecessary, but are now working for a big company, you might feel the need to adopt your system to work around contexts. You can read about my evolving system here.
Social Life
People change. Their expectations and personality evolve and sometimes this can mean you grow apart, your attitudes clash or it just becomes too much effort to socialize with the individual anymore. The company we keep has a huge influence on us. Yet too many of us put their efforts into the wrong people; people who belittle and take advantage. While it can be hard to view our friendships as something that needs to be spring cleaned, it’s important that both parties put in equal effort. If someone claims to be your best friend yet it is always you who has to chase after them and arrange to see them, you need to consider whether you really want this person to play such a big role in your life.
Work/Career
Like your social life, your work environment and your feelings towards it can change. Because we spend so much of our time working and our experiences at the workplace have so much influence on our lives it is of vital importance to do something you enjoy and that motivates you, and be somewhere you are happy. If you have your vertical map planned out then you should have defined clearly where you are and want to be regarding you job. Take those next steps to get yourself where you want to be.
Home
This is traditionally what the spring clean is all about: having a major clean out and clear up of your home. I’m not going to go into how to dust your skirting boards and clean your windows. However I will emphasize the importance of de-cluttering for spring cleaning your life. Besides being able to find whatever you need, it provides a greater clarity of mind to not be surrounded with so many distractions. I have a major ongoing series called Clutter 101 so read that for an expansive guide on de-cluttering.
Health
If you havn’t already taken measures to eat more healthily or get exercise then now is the time. The key is not to jump in at the deep end but take on as much as you feel comfortable with and let it become a natural part of your life so you don’t think twice about doing it. One of the first steps I took was to simply alter what I ate for breakfast with healthier options rather than trying to change my entire diet in one go.
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