Friday, January 1, 2016

January Resolutions - Or the KonMari Con

It's New Year's Day. Time to set some goals for January.

Rather than New Year's Resolutions, I'd rather set myself SMART goals - you know, specific, meaningful / measured, action based, realistic and time based goals - yes, I know it's corporate wank, but it works for me. I'm an over achiever - this is how I work.

I find it's easier to set myself monthly goals. More gets done that way.

Also, remember, I'm between jobs at the moment, which means I have a bit more time on my hands. I also need a lot of time to myself at the moment. After the last two weeks I'm intending to spend a lot of time with me. I need this.

So, here's my to do list for January.

KonMari the flat.

A lot of people are talking about this book. "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo. 

Marie Kondo is a Japanese Tidying Up expert. Personally I think that she's an articulate, airy-fairy obsessive-compulsive with far too much time on her hands. I read her book when I was down at my parents' place. They thought that this was the funniest thing they'd seen in ages. 

Regardless, the book has resonated with me and over January I will be tidying my flat using the KonMari method. The first job is going through clothes. This means taking out EVERY piece of clothing I own, looking at it and asking "Does this bring me joy?" I then have to do this with my books.Then the rest of my flat.

As I said - I really to think that Marie Kondo is a bit of a nutcase, but it's given me the impetus to really do this properly. 

I'll blog the process. It will be interesting. Also, after living in this flat for ten years, I've accumulated far too much crap. It's time to do something about it.

The KonMari method means that you have to be particularly brutal, which I'm prepping for. Having to drag out every piece of clothing means that I need to clear some space in the lounge room. I also need to find the other side of the couch which is currently under a heap of crap.,


The second January resolution is the spend at least an hour at the gym a day(or a solid hour's walk), six days a week. I need this for me. I'd like to get myself running again, but this will be a slow, steady process. In the mean time, lots of exercise. It makes me feel good. I have the time to do this.


Thirdly. January is the month of no chips. Just no chips. No chips off people's plates either. No chips at all. I don't need them.


As a fourth goal, over the month I want to copy all of my CDs over to a removable hard drive - and dispose of the CDs. They've been sitting there for years. Time to do something about them.Hell, I remember when CDs came out. They're all but redundant now.


Lastly, write for an hour a day. I'm on holiday, this should not be hard to do. Another things I really want to do to feed my soul.

So there you go - that's my January sorted. Specific, Measurable, Action-based and achievable, Realistic and Timely goals.

The KonMari process is scaring the hell out of me - but I'm sure I'll be loading some pictorial evidence over the coming days.

References:

Kondo, Marie, " The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" , Berkeley, Ten Speed Press, 2015

2 comments:

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi Pand,

Mrs PM does that kind of tidying up all the time and I have to step in to stop her from attacking my stuff.

Talking of CDs, my collection has been ripped onto my desktop and iPod but I still listen to them (in the car mainly).

I'm old-school - I will never get rid of them.

Good luck with your sot out though.

:o)

Cheers

PM

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year to you PP-QOD! Whilst I haven't read her book, I've seen articles and watched her YouTube. Yes, possibly obsessive compulsive, but her "does it bring me joy?" is a simple and brilliant test.

Unfortunately I don't have the budget to be that ruthless with my wardrobe just yet, so I use a couple of other questions: have I worn it in the last 12 months? and (the big one) does it fit me now?

Having cleared two houses/estates I got quite ruthless and brought that mindset home with me.

It starts off very difficult as you argue with yourself: I paid a lot for that! (but the cut just isn't right). I love it (but it doesn't fit and hasn't for years) etc, etc. If I'm really torn I will set the item aside for a week, ponder my emotions and revisit. But it does get easier as the clearing out is cathartic. The honesty is cathartic. The resulting lightness and space uplifting. I've done the walk in pantry, cupboards and storage spaces. Once you get into the groove, it gets easier and the result feels fantastic!

Now ready for the big ones: my office and spare room where "stuff" has just accumulated.

Have fun and sending you hugs!
Cheryl