If you’re reading this, it probably means you want to get your life in order. It’s in the title, right? Or maybe you think “getting your life in order” is a myth. There’s too much pressure to be perfect, and you don’t believe there’s just one simple process that can help you do it.
The very existence of this post will show exactly how I make order out of chaos. It’s a way of thinking that keeps my life in order and banish my own chaos. It’s a way of letting go in order to thrive.
I wrote this post last Saturday night, and it was a doozy of a post. One of those great posts that just slips from my fingers to paper like water. It said everything I wanted to say in just the way I wanted to say it.
Then the whole damn thing disappeared. Hours of work gone, just like that.
Enter frustration and anger.
I kicked myself for not saving it sooner. I checked my saved drafts. I looked at the other documents I’d been using. Nothing. I could find everything else I was working on at the same time, but this one Very Important Post? Gone.
Want to know what my original post was about? It was about finding order and balance in a world where you’ll never truly be in control. A group of websites I keep bookmarked under “Inspirational Blogs” inspired the idea.
Blogs To Help You Find Yourself In 10 Easy Steps
50 Inspirational Sayings To Help Let Go Of Attachment, Find & Open Your Heart Chakras
How To Break Free From Bad Habits & Learn To Rule the World.
It’s not that I don’t find value in posts such as these. Websites like Leo Barbauta’s Zen Habits and Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Nonconformity are great. You’ll always find on-point information to help you breathe through difficult spots.
What frustrates me about much inspirational writing is it gives the impression that the writers of those articles are always in control of everything in their lives. From what I’ve read, you could believe they exercise every day, meditate, do yoga, finish their work, and get the best deals on all flights. Their kids never whine. Their meals are always balanced and their inboxes always empty.
Maybe they do, but not me. Not even close.
Find what works for you to get your life in order.
I remember reading on Tim Ferris’ website how his number one rule to keep order in your inbox was to never use it as a filing cabinet. I thrive on using my email as a filing cabinet. It works for me. I can search and find anything I need. Every time I try to organize my email, I end up losing things.
Trying to organize my inbox and everything in categories I’ll find later doesn’t work for me either. I can’t remember the categories I created. Trying to create a special place for each email in my inbox simply forces me to add “Organize Email” to my to-do list.
Instead, I keep e-mail my inbox as a reminder that I have to respond to it. It’s part of my to-do list. As long as it’s in there, I’m reminded to complete a task. The minute I file it, I forget the task completely.
What works for Tim Ferris won’t always work for me. What works for me, won’t always work for you. There are endless ways to stay organized and tools you can use to keep track of pitches, organize your daily schedule, and do the myriad things required to keep your life moving forward.
But ultimately, to-do lists are a moving target and you must trust your own methods of getting your life in order. Read all the advice columns, blogs, and books you want, but ultimately you must find what works for you.
I do have a pretty simple and straightforward method for helping you figure out the best way of dealing with your own chaos.
My Method For Managing Chaos & Imperfection
- There will always be more to do.
- It will all eventually get done.
- That which doesn’t get done probably didn’t need to be done
in the first place. - If you forget something, it probably won’t matter too much.
- If it does matter a lot, you will deal with it.
Case Study: A Day In the Life of Leigh
Noah took five-year-old Charlie to school only to find she had no school. This made having our Monday morning meeting over Skype with an education consultant in New York difficult. So we set Charlie up in our bedroom with a movie — proving exactly how fantastic Mr. Fox can actually be. The dog started barking halfway through the meeting because a bunch of cows entered our yard. Charlie sweetly let the dog in the house when he came into the kitchen to pour herself another bowl of cornflakes. The dog ran around. Cornflakes spilled all over the table. I tried to pay attention to the call while simultaneously attempting to push the dog away from the table where he was about to knock over the milk.
Then our internet went fuzzy. The meeting ended early because our internet went completely down. The dog punctuated the ruined meeting by throwing up all over the floor. I reset the internet, and when it whirred back to life I realized the amazing article I’d written Saturday night had disappeared.
Going back to my Process To Get Your Life in Order. The original post I wrote was great, but now it’s gone. I couldn’t remember what it said so I wrote this one instead. Even if I hadn’t written this one, I would have written something else. Because no matter how many posts I write, there is always more to say and always another one to write.
In the grand scheme of my plan, one post doesn’t matter that much. Yeah, it hurt to lose it, just like rejection, imposter syndrome, and failure hurt. But in my experience, when I lose writing, the thing I write next is always that much better because it’s been informed by what I lost.
Just as when you don’t get what you want or when things don’t work out, you will find something better as long as you keep going.
Bottom line: No matter how much you get under control — and you will organize and have much to celebrate — you will never get your head around everything. There will always be something that lies beyond your fingertips.
This is the uncomfortable truth about chaos. You can’t ever escape it.
And that’s ok. In fact, it’s a benefit, because chaos is often the source of your greatest creativity. You grow from the discomfort like a pearl grows from an itchy grain of sand.
The concept of getting your life in order is a false one. You’ll never have everything in order at the same time. I know I never do. But as you move forward through the chaos, you’ll grow bigger, and you’ll become more certain about what you want in this life.
And that, my friend, is everything.
