Making order out of chaos seems like an impossible task to most. To me, it looked impossible, too. Comments like “my life is out of control” would further exasperate me and make me feel hopeless and helpless.

I felt as though I simply didn’t know how to get control of my life. I was running a business, cooking, cleaning, homeschooling, AND working out. Frankly, I felt like my life was driving me nuts! If you have any of these things going on in your life, then you know what I mean.

To make matters worse, I wanted so desperately to go on my own personal discovery journey. I aspired to be more; to make myself a better person in every way that I could. I wanted to volunteer more, I wanted a better marriage, and I wanted fun experiences.

There was no way I could handle adding any of those things into the mix… until I did the seemingly impossible. I had to make order out of chaos.

Order Out Of Chaos: Are You Fed Up?

Caught up in the whirlwind of it all, there was no way that I was ready to change my life at first. I would often end the night laying awake, feeling restless yet totally exhausted. I wanted more out of my life and felt so empty. It was as if my life didn’t have a purpose. I was just getting by. I had turned into a robot, and I sure didn’t have any passion for life.

Slowly, I began getting angry. It seemed as though I was angry at everything. It took so little to make me explode. The stress that I was putting on myself was more than my body could handle and one day, my body told me so.

Finally, I was FED UP! That was ENOUGH of such a mediocre existence. I knew something had to change. I knew that I had to drastically change my life.

Order Out Of Chaos: Are You Ready To Change Your Life?

Looking back at the younger me, I was never easy to become angry. I was a happy young girl and a happy young adult. What was wrong with me? Slowly, evaluating what was wrong with my life, and yes, doing the hard inner work is what it takes but I figured it out. It’s painful work sometimes. There you are faced with all of your demons. Not fun!

When you get that stressed out and that angry, you begin to realize that you don’t even recognize yourself. You begin to not like yourself and you definitely don’t like your life! It’s ridiculous really! There I was in a beautiful home, running my own business, the mom of three beautiful and healthy kids but I was miserable. Don’t fall into the judging phase like I did. Well if you do, maybe it is comforting to know that it is a phase. Ask yourself, are you ready to drastically change your life?

Order Out Of Chaos: Do You Have The Right Mindset?

Realizing that you don’t like your life, and making a decision to make some hard changes in your life is all well and good. It’s not enough to actually make the necessary changes in your life… until you master your mindset first. I’ve been there. So what does it take?

It takes a commitment to growth in order to do uncomfortable things. Beyond that, it takes having faith in the strategies and tools that you’re given.

I’ll give you an example: Meet Jon. We’ll call him Jon for the sake of his privacy, but suffice it to say, he’s an old client of mine. He had just left the hospital from a heart attack, and found out that he had diabetes.

He didn’t welcome the advice the doctors gave him. Why? Because, not only did they want him to change his diet and exercise, but they also wanted him to reduce his stress. The suggestion that they gave him to do that was meditation.

Changing his diet was one thing but what is this silly meditation thing? In his mind, he believed that meditation was only for hippies, yoga instructors and people who had too much time on their hands. He couldn’t be more wrong! There is real research on the power of meditation, even if just for five minutes per day! Some of the most successful companies use meditation in the workplace to elevate stress. Take Google for example, they are increasing productivity and helping to create a happier work-place environment.

Order Out Of Chaos: A Plan Will Help!

Okay, so you’re ready to get control of your life, huh? Great!

I wrote an article that will help with your work-life balance and I highly recommend you read it: 6 Strategies For Improved Work Life Balance. It’s an extremely in-depth article, and is among one of my most widely shared articles, so I know you’ll get a lot out of it.

Now on to a simple plan to get you started…

If you want to make order out of chaos, it takes doing the right things at the right time. If you want to get control of your life, you will need a plan. Here are a few simple things you can start with.

1. Take a long, hard look at your life. Create a chart about the good, the bad, and the ugly. 
   Write a list of the areas in your life that need improvement on the left. Then, draw a line down the middle. On the right, you have to write what you can do to change those things.Choose at least one small strategy for each of these things that you can do immediately to work toward improving them. Update this list daily. Always have tomorrow’s small steps planned out ahead of time.
2. Embrace the things that you cannot change.
   There’s no reason to think negatively about having too many things to do. A positive mindset is important!
3. Avoid excuses.
   I’ve been there. It’s a coping mechanism but it won’t get you to where you want to go in your life.
4. Open up to others.
   You need support, not in a venting or complaining but as a way of asking for help. Off-load your duties and tasks.
5. Fix the small, annoying things. 
   You know what they are. They’re those things that linger in the back of your mind, staring judgingly at you. The things that only feel big just because you don’t like doing them. You’re overdue for a checkup. You have to renew your drivers’ license. Etcetera. Take care of these dumb little things that are bugging you FIRST, then move on to other, bigger things later. Trust me, getting rid of this stuff will give you a huge sense of accomplishment, as well as peace of mind. Without them to think about, you’ll have more focus to invest into what needs it most.
6. Add daily positivity.
   Don’t act like Jon in my story above to think that something so simple as daily positivity isn’t important… IT IS!!

If you truly want to make order out of chaos then you need to get serious. Eliminating chaos and gaining control of your life is not easy task. I’ll be honest, it’s a HUGE undertaking. It took me years and what’s more, I had to make some extremely difficult choices that changed the lives of my loved-ones too.

Are you for the task of getting out of chaos and into a balanced life?