Considered Australia’s own Marie Kondo for organising brain-clutter, Brisbane Mumpreneur, Jo Burgess, recently appeared on Today Extra, spilling the beans on her best kept brain decluttering secrets.
Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, Jo is the creator of one of the highest rated family organisation apps on the app stores – Life Sorted.
Life Sorted is a shared family organiser app, designed specifically to reduce stress and overwhelm around family scheduling, through increasing productivity and improving family communication..
Our modern lives are bursting with to-do lists. But to get them done, we need to first declutter our minds. Because our brains love order and need space to function effectively, having a system to keep our minds decluttered really helps.
In this interview with Sonia Kruger and David Campbell, Jo explains the 5 steps you need to declutter your mind KonMari style.
// Step 1: Don’t default to saying yes
This is the most important step, as it sets you up for the steps that follow. Whenever your time or energy is requested, instead of defaulting to saying “yes”, try saying, “Let me get back to you on that”. This allows you to take time to evaluate the impact of the request before making a decision.
// Step 2: Ask yourself – Does it spark joy?
Just as you would hold a physical item in your hands, ask yourself whether or not this things sparks joy. How does it make you feel? Think about how it will feel on the actual day amongst other things.
Close your eyes, and imagine yourself doing the thing – whether that be baking that cake, attending that event or managing the netball team.
// Step 3: Does it align with your priorities?
Focus on your priorities and what matters to you – quality time with your family, chasing your dreams and taking care of yourself.
It doesn’t mean that you stop doing the cooking or the laundry because they don’t spark joy, but look at the extra non-essential things that have crept into your life and decide whether they are worth your precious time and energy.
Try volunteering less, signing the kids up for fewer after-school activities and saying “no” to extra work hours if these don’t align with the way you want to live this one precious life.
// Step 4: Politely decline
If you notice resistance (changes to your breathing or a feeling of heaviness is a giveaway), say thank you for the opportunity and then politely decline. Simple. It is less stressful to say “no” upfront than it is to regret your decision later, causing more stress down the track.
// Step 5: Store and organise your incoming brain traffic
Just as Marie Kondo uses as system and boxes for organising household objects, books and clothes, we need a robust tool like our Life Sorted app to capture and organise our brain-clutter. Life Sorted is essentially a shared family organiser app designed to manage a family’s schedule, to-do lists, shopping lists, birthdays and more.
We created Life Sorted to help families keep everything in one central place, reducing stress and improving communication.
With the Life Sorted family calendar app you can:
- keep everyone in the loop with what’s going on
- ensure you never forget another birthday
- set reminders for yourself and others
- create to-dos and shopping lists to share the load.
If you’re ready to start your own ‘brain decluttering’ journey – the KonMari way – download the Life Sorted app! You’ll be amazed by how productive and free you will feel! The Founder of Life Sorted, Jo Burgess, is available for speaking events and workshops. Click here for more information.
Read the full interview transcript HERE.
