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Getting Organized through Brainstory

As part of our rundown to 2024, we’ll be blogging about all the ways you can use Brainstory to accomplish those New Year’s Resolutions. One of the most popular NYE resolutions? Getting organized.

What is the challenge of getting organized?

Getting organized is difficult for many people because it feels endless. Every time you clean, it gets dirty again. Do you ever have those dreams of trying to run faster, but it just feels like you’re getting impossibly slow? That’s how getting organized feels when you’re in a messy state.

Stock image of woman running

How do you tackle the challenge?

But it’s a new year, which means it’s a new challenge. If you’re trying to get organized, it is not about willpower. This is a misconception. If you try to “motivate” yourself into getting organized, you might succeed temporarily, but you’ll ultimately end up in a messy state again.

Instead, you need to create a system of organization.

Illustration of systems over goals

What is a system of organization?

Here’s an example of a system any one of us can find ourselves in:

Your dishes have a habit of piling up in the sink. You always dread having to face this mess at the end of the week. Worse, it prevents you from cooking towards the end of the week so you end up ordering takeout. You feel guilty for eating less healthy, so you swear you’ll get organized over the weekend. You do a big clean over the weekend, which is great, but also exhausting. You’re too tired to do meal prep, so you go into the week without groceries.

Sound familiar? Notice how one problem (the dishes) ends up creating other problems (our diet). We often get trapped by our emotions and compensate to feel better.

Here’s that same story, but with a system of organization:

Your dishes have a habit of piling up in the sink because you worry about rinsing things off properly before loading the dishwasher. As part of your organization system, you run the dishwasher twice— once in the morning and once when you get back from work. This cleans the dishes even if you don’t rinse them off. Plus, dishwashers are highly efficient, so you take comfort in knowing that you’re still using less water than washing by hand. Towards the end of the week, you’re still cooking meals, but you also decide to order takeout as a treat. You feel satisfied and delighted by your environment and the food you ordered. Over the weekend, you do a bit of cleaning and grocery shopping for the week.

This second story has a really small physical change (loading the dishwasher), but a really big mental change (less anxiety).

That’s great but…

“…how do I achieve this system in my life?”

You’re already on the right path! You’re asking the right question.

Now that you’re asking the right question, head over to Brainstory and start talking it out. Go over things like:

  • Is there anything in your life where you have a good system of organization?
  • In your current problem, what emotions are you feeling that prevents you from getting organized?

Here’s a video of one of our affiliate creators, Brian Canavan, getting organized through Brainstory!

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