Clutter and Chaos: two things that can give you enormous stress

Being organized is one sure way to beat stress. It is said that removing clutter in your home or at work can even help prevent anxiety attacks.

Keywords:

stress and anxiety

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Clutter and chaos are the two things that can really cause stress and anxiety to just about anyone. People who often lose their car keys, billing statements, or just about anything important often experience a frantic search inside every nook and cranny of their home.

Constantly losing property and small yet important things can be such a time-waster. Add to that the enormous frustration of not knowing the location of something important at the time when you need that something the most.

But there is a way out of the clutter and chaos. Our lives shouldn't be too complicated or cluttered with a million and one things that we hardly need. Most people have piles and piles of junk, even expensive ones, in their garage, den, bathroom, sleeping quarters, and just about every room in the house where they can stash their hoard of goodies.

So how do we remove clutter and prevent chaos in the home or in the office?

The obvious answer is to keep everything in its proper place. Keeping surfaces in the home and in the office is important. We must be able to have a sense of order and constancy in how our lives and properties are arranged. The same works for any big or small office.

In practical terms, we must learn how to be good organizers. Having a filing cabinet where all important documents can be cataloged and safely kept is not just good for the office but for the home as well. The cleaner and tidier our surroundings look, the less distraction there will be. Another way of un-cluttering and reducing the semblance of commotion in your home is by setting aside spaces where you can keep things based on its category or type. For example, all kitchen utensils should be set aside in a cabinet in the kitchen. All tools and supplies for the car should be in the garage. In short, never mix different things in one place or container.

Here are more ways to find and take care of hidden clutter in your house:

1. Closets- have appropriate storage space for towels, coats, sweaters, scarves, and shoes. Make used of empty shoe boxes you can used it for your knick knacks or paraphernalia like stationaries, sewing supplies or scrap-booking supplies. Get rid of items you no longer used. You can discard it or donate it to charitable institutions.

2. Basement/Attic- Get rid of your old old holiday decorations, tons of unused boxes, broken toys and electronics.

3. Garages-You probably have some unused sports and camping gear stuck there so have those things put up for a garage sale.

4. Under the bed- there might be useless baseballs lurking under your bed and other things that shouldn't be there.

5. The cupboards in the kitchen- there might be broken cups and saucers, China and nonfunctional oven toasters and rusty waffle makers.

6. Filing cabinets/Desk drawers -your desk is an important place where you do some productivity so if your desk is so disarray with papers, pens, pencils and what have you, certainly it affects how you think and make decisions. It gives you an unfocused mind if you are surrounded with clutter.

Stress Busting Solutions:

4 Habits of a highly effective organize person:

1. Write Down-a small notepad or notebook will do. Write down the areas that you need to do the filing, cleaning, arranging, task to do or better yet used a calendar to program your de-cluttering activities.

2. A place for everything-find appropriate places for each items like your house and car keys, important papers, your magazines, the children's toys. the books,dvd's and labeling them is a aid that will help you remember

3. Clean as you go- make it a habit so it won't pile up and takes your energy for the clean up sessions. Clean up the mess as soon as possible.

4. Simplify- develop a system on which you can have routine and procedures for the whole family to work on. Deal with your mail, paperwork, bills to pay, laundry, errands like going to grocery or mall. Once you have develop a system be sure to maintain it in order to stay organized.

Graceful Chaos

On any given day, each of us must adapt to life and pass through it gracefully. Occasionally things are going well, then out of the blue a big truck bears down on us, forcing us to stop or change directions. How we deal with such routine chaos determines whether we prosper or fail.

Keywords:

entrepreneural, starting a business

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I was recently stuck on a curb in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (everyone there still calls it Saigon). My objective, a restaurant where my husband and my lunch awaited me, stood on the opposite side of the street. I could see the food, smell it and, if you know me, you'll realize I had built up quite an appetite.

Stranded in the Chaos

The only barrier between me and my lunch was crossing the street. Now, this sounds like a simple task, but at noon in Saigon my objective might as well have been the far side of the moon. The road was crammed with motor scooters (called "motos"), bicycles, motorcycles, cyclos (pedaled rickshaws), cars, trucks and buses. The fewer wheels a contraption had, the more passengers it seemed to carry. I saw a family of 5 riding a Honda scooter — sans helmets, of course.

Even the center lines contributed to the confusion. Rather than dividing the traffic into two lanes, each moving in opposite directions, in Saigon the yellow markers apparently serve only to indicate that you are on a paved road. People passed, stopped, turned around and crisscrossed the center lines with utter abandon.

Traffic flowed both ways in the same lane, more traffic merged from the side streets, and people pushed their motos off the curbs into the flow at odd angles. At any given moment traffic bore down on me from as many as 6-8 directions, front, back, sides and all angles — everywhere, it seemed, except from above. To me it was a scene of incredible chaos with no order.

The traffic lights compounded my problem. In Saigon they serve only an advisory purpose. Even when the light turned red, traffic continued to flow, as drivers blatantly ignored the red light! The lanes of traffic impatiently waiting at the green light would edge forward into the traffic that was ignoring the red light. At some point traffic trying to move with the green light would build up enough momentum (and vehicles) to stop the traffic running the red light. Traffic would then flow correctly until the light changed, and the whole process started again.

Dancing through the Chaos

Under this onslaught the flashing green "walk" sign over the crosswalk taunted me from the far side of the street. I was ready to look for something to eat (and a place to sit) on my side of the street when an older Vietnamese gentleman took my arm.

In English he kindly said, "Crossing the street is not a problem, but a dance." With that we stepped off the curb and entered the maelstrom together.

My heart pounded as we walked slowly across the street. Instead of greeting us with blaring horns, irate shouts and screeching brakes, the drivers saw us and adjusted to us. As long as we made no sudden movements (like diving for the curb or running screaming from the street), we were fine. I felt like we were swimming through a school of fish. The tempest flowed smoothly around us, and before I knew it we were across.

I thanked my benefactor and went on to lunch. Later that day I taught the same technique to my husband and friends — at one point crossing a busy boulevard with an entourage of 8 people strung out like a Broadway chorus line.

Later I thought about how the traffic in Saigon is a metaphor for business. There is a sort of graceful chaos, everyone going in their own direction, some traveling with traffic, some across it and some against it. Buses and trucks barrel through the streets, stopping for no one. Certainly collisions and accidents happen — but for the most part the system works. People reach their destinations and life goes on. And the best way to survive is not to struggle against the flow, but to approach it like a dance.

Invitation to the Dance

Do you dance through your own life, career and business and the surrounding chaos? Or do you struggle against it, exhausting yourself, causing collisions with others and keeping yourself from reaching your chosen destination?

On any given day, each of us must adapt to life and pass through it gracefully. Occasionally things are going well, then out of the blue a big truck bears down on us, forcing us to stop or change directions. How we deal with such routine chaos determines whether we prosper or fail.

In my own office I have 17 employees, each traveling in different directions but all basically headed for the same destination. I cannot interfere with their travels but must move gracefully through them. In my business, students, vendors, other businesses, obstacles and competitors often appear in the road in front of me. I have many choices: collide with them head on, turn down a side street, take a detour, avoid them altogether or simply flow with them. How well I adjust my dance to this chaos controls my future success.

In the turmoil of your own business each choice you make affects your outcome. You can adjust to the chaos and deal with it gracefully, or you can allow it to stop you or force you into costly detours. The choices are yours.

In Saigon I chose to cross the street thanks to my new-found guide and enjoyed the reward of a wonderful lunch. Then I plunged back into the chaos, now wise enough to guide others on the journey. Every day in my business I face the traffic, dance with it to the best of my ability and hope to enjoy continued success. You can do the same thing if you cultivate the grace to flow with chaos.