RULE 6: “set your house in order before you criticise the world.”
J.B. Peterson – 12 Rules For Life
AND. He is not the only one. The damn book by James Clear, Atomic Habits…. Talking about “resetting the room” and all that.
Do they not know cleaning sucks. That I don’t want to use my free energy to clean, I want to use it to be with my family, toplay, to write, to work. Maybe use some of the lessons to get fit. But clean. Stuff that.
BUT.. (swears under breath)…. they are right.
My wife is likely to agree that I am nailing ‘keeping ontop of the cleaning’ at the moment. Not so long ago I did read J.B Peterson’s book and rule 6 really stuck with me. But not because I want to be great at cleaning.
It is because I want to be great at life. I want to journal, blog, design new products, grow my business. But I can’t be as effective if my workspace is a mess, if I can’t find what I am looking for because it is hidden under a pile of crap. When there is mess, I am distracted. When it is clean, there are no looming jobs that need my attention. Plus, with constant motion, the overall expense of energy seems to be less to maintain clean, than to do one big clean a week. So I get to be lazier, sort of. It really came down to the challenge, that if I want to change the world, to start with yourself. So that’s what I am doing.
So by nailing the habit of cleaning, I have found that I have more free time for writing. I can get out the door earlier for work, because the kids are good to go, the house is clean and I don’t have any guilt about not ‘resetting the room’.
So while in principle, stuff you Jordan, for telling me to clean my room. Also, thank you, it has helped.
You will notice a couple of key themes in my writing.
Personal development, business and philosophy. I am interested in how these three things can result in designing a career (and life) worth living. If you are interested in learning more about creating a successful career and mindset, then please follow my blog.
I have a threshold of neatness that if crossed I need to stop what im doing and get everything de-cluttered and in order. I always feel lighter afterwards and there is a zen state that comes from minimlaism and avoiding the energetic connection to the objects in our environment.
Yep. I totally agree. It wasn’t until I made cleaning a priority, did I see the benefit to getting it right.
Reflecting on atomic habits, I have found that if I can nail my night time ‘re-set’. Then the next day is always better.
Having read both books, I agree. It’s similar to saying that if we take care of our own yard, we aren’t as tempted to look at how green someone else’s grass appears.
Oh cool. I like that analogy. I’ll use that for sure.