Keep up with Your Housekeeping Promises this Year

Winters are perhaps the laziest of all seasons when all you want to do is be tucked inside your bed and munch on the cookies while enjoying a hot cup of cocoa. However, alas, as much as we would all like to snuggle up to our warm beds, it is not always a possibility and we have to keep moving regardless of the torture that the weather inflicts on us. There are also some of us who believe in staying organized and are already halfway through when it comes to sorting the post holiday decorations. You may already have dusted the night bulbs and perhaps conjuring up the images of next task in your head as you are wiping off a surface.

As and when the New Year approaches, we begin to formulate a new set of resolutions and express tiny bit regrets for not keeping up with the last ones that we made so vociferously at the start of the month. It is that time of the year again when we promise ourselves to sort and de-clutter our homes, lose a lot of weight, be more active try spirituality and all the things that we know we would only contemplate and not really start doing until hell freezes over.

We have been planning to open our homes to new guests, be more active in the community, travel more and allow some travellers into ours. But before any of this happens, the bare necessity is to get started on cleaning and organizing the house. This is when we come back to the square one with no clue whatsoever as to where to start and how to think of a motivating reason to get out of the bed!

[Image: Crisp Architects]

This year, you can start with something different. Instead of making unreasonable resolutions and then entering the self loathing for not being able to keep up with our promise, we can perhaps start simple and do things that can make an impactful change while keeping us suitably motivated to keep the spirit up.

As much as we would like to just do this once and for all, put all the toil and labour into a work for a week and wish for it to stay the same for eternity, is an expectation that is not only irrational but also unreal.

If you want to make big changes in your life and you want them to stay forever, then you must make small changes but ensure that they are permanent ones. The main idea is to find out where to start from. When you start to take control of your life, especially after holidays, it may seem a little challenging. However, here are some tips that will come in handy and will give you the much needed jumpstart.

You are not alone, there are many like you

[Image: Historical Concepts]

Your problems may appear to be the only ones that are huge and mountainous. However, rest assured that you are not alone in this struggle. There are many more people like you did a lot of damage during holidays and are now clueless how to take the situation back into control. Hence, don’t beat yourself up thinking that you are the only one, who is spiralling out of control post holidays.

Keep your fitness in check         

You need to know full well about your fitness levels and you should not be judgmental about it. It is very easy to compare our homes with that of others, but it is also very de-motivating and can have a negative impact on your psychology.  Instead, accept the way you are and be ready to work on it, rather than lamenting about it. The main idea is to become stronger and more powerful as a person so that you can move on to the next level. This does not necessarily have to do with body fitness alone, it also means levels of fitness in terms of emotional, relational, organizational and other kinds of fitness.

 Target the Muscle Group you would like to work

[Image: Jessica Helgerson Interior Design]

When we try to achieve too many things at the same time, it becomes a perfect recipe failure. You may need too many changes in your life to call your life to be perfect but do not start all at once. Instead, reflect on your body and see which part needs most attention. Target that muscle group to begin with. This is also applicable in case of your homes, as well. Trying to clean or organize your entire home can be a very painstaking task, you can, however, start with one room at a time, and you would see yourself suitable motivated to get to the next one when you see how the first one looks after being organized.

Pick an exercise of your choice

Just pick one small thing that you think you can do every day, and then do follow it religiously like a habit. It can be making your bed as soon as you wake up or taking a short 15 minutes walk from office to home. The exercise is something that you can choose and do it every day.

Look around your house and start organizing the things that are messed up. Start with a kitchen drawer. Clean it and then make sure that you do every night so that it does not get messed up again. Once you get into the habit of doing that every day, you can move on to the next area. You would be amazed at your own ability to do the next task with far less effort and far more diligence.

Ignore the impulse of doing it all at once

This is one of the biggest motivation killers when you try to achieve everything at the same time. In all probability, you would not be able to keep up and eventually fail. If you have made this mess a part of your life then you can live in it a few more days until you sort your habits out. Pick one item at a time and then move on to the next one. Good habits are infectious and will keep you stimulated from within to keep doing the good work.

Making small changes is hard for many people because they forget the simple rule that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. You need to give yourself time and patience before you can start cultivating good habits.