My Happiness Project - January

I knew that in order to dedicate time to other areas of happy, I needed to first work on time management and organization.

January was all about stress relief.

Sometimes the simple things in life can cause me to worry. Worry translates into stress. And stress keeps me up at night and causes little wrinkles on my face.

Let me be honest- as I begin to walk the fine line of my twenties, wrinkles have suddenly become important.

I looked at the day-to-day things that stress me out the most and brainstormed ways to tackle them- which would destress my days, thus making room for more happiness {and less wrinkles}.

Daily Stressers:

1. Dirty dishes in the sink
2. Laundry on the floors {whether clean or dirty}
3. A messy car
4. Lack of direction
5. Clutter in general

I noticed that these five little things always seem to build unnoticed until they become overwhelming, causing two things: 1) I worry or stress over them, and 2) they become so big that it takes a ridiculous amount of time to  fix them.

Enter a tip from The Happiness Project - the one minute rule.

Simply put, if it takes less than one minute to do something, go ahead and tackle it then rather than putting it off.

The one minute rule became part of our daily life.

• It takes less than one minute to rinse a glass and place in the dishwasher- which eliminates dirty dishes in the sink.. Less stress, cleaner kitchen.
• It takes less than one minute to put dirty laundry in the hamper rather than tossing on the floor. Less stress.
• It takes less than one minute to toss empty coffee bottles / trash into the garbage container under our carport. I decided to do this each afternoon when I first get home. Less stress, cleaner car.
• I am a planner- everyone knows this. It takes about a minute to jot down a list for the day's activities. Less stress, more direction.
• It takes less than one minute to throw junk mail away rather than letting it clutter the counters for days. {Just one example}.

I'm not saying I won't ever have to clean out my car or straighten up my house. What I did find is that it kept things from snowballing. It kept simple chores from turning into major time consumers. I'm more likely to want to cook dinner if I come home to a clean kitchen {cooking for my little family makes me happy}. On the other hand, if come home from work and must spend time cleaning out dirty dishes from the sink before I even start cooking, I'm more likely to hang up my apron in defeat.

Anytime I had a choice to do something now or later, I'd always ask if it would take a minute or less to do.

This spilled over into my classroom and I even had my students applying this principle- which resulted in tidier bookbags and more organized binders. Which resulted in a happy teacher!

Simple, right? That's what I'm looking for- simple changes that can add minutes to my day for other happy things. By tackling simple things right away, I have more room in my schedule for time with Mary Grace, chats with my husband, afternoon walks, or a book {all of which make me happy}.

For February, I chose to focus on my husband. This is a whole post unto itself, so stay tuned to see simple ideas we are using to stay connected.

Happy Monday, Ya'll!