Maitaining a decluttered life

You are never done cleaning your room. The moment you have finished tidying up, the mess will start to accumulate for you to clean up the next time. You must routinely clean up unless you want the mess to pile up. Just like in life, decluttering never ends.

Decluttering is not a one-time thing we do. It is a continuous process. It must be done continually to prevent the mess in your lives to pile up. Right after you have decluttered, you have a lot of momentum but after a while, when you lose that momentum, you just start to get into a rut.

How can you maintain that momentum, and continue to move forward?

Here are a few things I think could help you in your journey.

The first one is to focus on doing one thing. Anything. Do something you enjoy. Something that excites you. Use the momentum of finishing a task you enjoy doing to do the tasks you need to do. If you have a lot of school works to do, but don't have the drive to do it, then do what you enjoy first. You just need to get started. If you love to write, then write. If you love to dance, then dance. If you love to paint, then paint. Whatever it is, it can help you carry the momentum over to things you don't particularly enjoy but need to do.

A second thing is to have an accountability partner. When you are too lazy to start doing what you need to do, it is great to have people around you to help you in your journey. People who will remind you, and give you a little nudge. You could help each other out, and you could go further than if you only traveled alone.

The third thing you could do is to measure your goals. To know how much you have grown, you must measure your goals. Some people are afraid to do this because they don't want to know they failed. When you don't have a measurable goal, you won't know if you've failed, but you also won't know if you've succeeded. But the purpose of having a goal is not about knowing if you have failed or succeeded but knowing how much you have grown.

Having a measurable goal will also allow you to analyze your mistakes and inadequacies, so you could learn from them and become better.

Your goal should not be too high. It must be achievable yet challenging enough for you to learn something new. For writers, this could be writing at least 2000 words a week. This could be challenging but it can be done. Once you have done 2000 words, then increase it to 2100 words, and so on.

You can do this with any task. Just set a goal. Then add to it. Every little thing you do, even though it seems insignificant adds up in the long run.

The final thing you could do is to celebrate small victories. I think most people forget to celebrate small victories because they immediately compare themselves to others. They forget to look at what they achieve and just want to move on to the next thing. You must take time to pause and celebrate the victories you have. This will allow you to enjoy the success you have, refocus your attention on what matters, and just be stress-free once in a while.

At the end of it all, having a decluttered life is not an end of itself but it is important because having a decluttered life allows us to see what matters most.