OPTED Magazine

Sometimes the process of self-improvement, organization, decluttering, weight loss or any priorities you have identified for yourself can seem overwhelming and insurmountable.  When the focus becomes the end result rather than the process itself, the end point appears far away and too abstract.  The initial priority transforms into an unattainable daydream rather than something within your grasp.

For many OPTED Magazine readers, as well as myself, I call us to the challenge of the “steps method” of self-improvement.

You’ve probably heard of the phrase “two steps forward, one step back.”  Examine that idea for a moment.  If you’ve taken two steps forward, even a small setback of one step means you’re still one step ahead of where you were when you started.  2 minus 1 is still 1, which is better than zero (your starting point).

Which brings me to the title of this post: improvement is what is important.  Setbacks are to be expected, and even planned for.  Sometimes one day can quickly escape you and in the evening you find yourself frustrated by the inability to accomplish what you set out to do.  There’s always tomorrow, and tomorrow is a new day that holds numerous possibilities.

OPTED Magazine is a resource for five particular areas of self-improvement, and here are a set of examples for each of the five areas that demonstrate how one small task can keep you moving forward and securing those important “2 steps forward” to counter the normal and expected “1 step back”:

• Organization — one organization solution is an easy thing to achieve.  It can be as simple as organizing materials in your car or getting your work bag under control.  Once you have invested the time to achieve an organization system, taking 3 minutes each day to maintain your hard work is all that it takes to lock in improvement towards reaching your goals.  For example, once you organize your work bag or purse, taking 3 minutes every Sunday night before the work week to clear out trash, clean out unnecessary items, and restock any depleted items guarantees that you maintain a higher level of organization than where you were when your bag was a disaster.
• Productivity — take the time to identify 3 things you consider your top distractions.  For me, it is email, TV and mindless web browsing.  Once you identify distractions that prevent you from staying on track, all it takes is one small change to enhance your productivity.  For instance, if you are a Gmail user, install the “email addict” labs feature and give yourself a forced break from email.  Saving yourself even 5 minutes a day means more time for other tasks, work related or not, and will give you a sense of personal satisfaction
• Tasking — don’t you just love the thrill of checking something off your to-do list?  I do.  But it’s important to remember that sometimes checking one thing off your list (a big project you’ve been putting off) can be more satisfying than checking off ten items.  If you need to fly through a large to-do list today, try batching tasks for increasing efficiency and adopt it as a regular habit to bring constant improvement to your hectic agenda
• Exceptionalism — while this category of OPTED Magazine is holistic, and refers to an overall improvement in health, well-being and happiness, it’s lack of specificity doesn’t change the fact it may be the most important.  These are lifelong, daily habits where adopting just one of these brings enormous benefits.  Staying on track of your correspondance with greeting cards, and also with thank you notes, builds positive relationships with friends, family and colleagues and are easy ways to show generosity and thoughtfulness.
• Decluttering — try ascribing to the idea that if one thing enters your house, something must be removed (trashed, recycled, donated, sold) in its place.  If you buy a new book or magazine, is there one that can be immediately recycled or donated to reduce the amount of reading material in your house?  Can you make a conscious decision to acquire new reading material digitally?  Small steps like the one item in, one item out rule will reduce items you have to organize that take up precious space.

Personally, each of the above categories represent both goals for myself AND a learning experience.  These goals are ongoing and hopefully achieveable, but I recognize now that there will be some days where I might make no progress, or may even take a step backwards.  But overall improvement is what is important, and it should be celebrated.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

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1. What are you trying to achieve?