How to Get Your Life Together Without Burning Out

The upside of your life becoming absolute chaos? It doesn’t happen quietly. Maybe you double-booked meetings at work, had to postpone a brunch date with a friend for months, or spent an hour trying to scrape your kid’s stickers off the floor. All the signs point to: Get it together, please.

As a newly minted mom of two, I’m right there, prime for some kind of intervention, but not anything that will take more than 10 minutes. (After all, I have emails to answer and laundry to fold and a toddler trying to climb my dishwasher.) A major overhaul to get my house, kids, and work in order — and then maintain it? It’s just not possible if I want to sleep more than three hours at night. But, simple ways to get life under control, without adding extra stress to your plate, can still make a difference.

Deal with emails ASAP

If inbox zero is not going to happen, join the club. And also: It’s fine. No one except you and your email account will know that you have 4,325 emails hanging out in there. What’s less fine is not responding to people who actually require a response, whether it’s one of your direct reports or a baby shower invitation.

So when you open an email that requires a reply or some action, deal with it immediately, then archive it. Buy that registry gift. Send that performance review. Don’t let it languish in your inbox while you decide how you want to respond, and ultimately, forget to reply. It’s one hairy task you can eliminate from your to-do list.

Reset rooms before bed

Once I get my kids in bed for the night, I like to become a glorified couch cushion and watch TV. But first, I reset the rooms I spend the most time in, which for me are the den and kitchen.

Everyone’s idea of resetting will look a little different. Mine involves putting away dishes, wiping down counters, and putting away any toys on the floor. It takes about 10 minutes, but just clearing the surfaces makes a big difference — and it’s not such an enormous investment of time that I feel beaten down when my toddler inevitably drops her peanut butter toast on the floor come morning.

Find (and use) your spare time

If you’re used to having big chunks of time for a long walk with the dog or to tackle a few loads of laundry, it can feel tempting to just skip them altogether when things get hectic. Instead, just do your tasks in snippets. If you can’t swing an hour-long catch-up with your college roommate, send them a “just because” text. Did your meeting wrap early? Use that time to do some life admin, like refilling a prescription or making a doctor appointment, or go for a walk around the block. These short spurts help you stay on top of your to-dos without pushing your limits or sucking up all of your free time. Speaking of…

Give yourself a break

When you’re juggling a lot, it can seem tough (if not totally impossible) to reserve time for yourself, in terms of both simply having the time and also not feeling bad about it. So give yourself a timeout: Sit outside without your phone for a few minutes. I’ve been doing this first thing in the morning before the kids are awake, and I always feel refreshed and steady, no matter how many times my newborn woke up the night before. Even if you’ve got seconds to spare or your backyard is a fire escape, taking the physical step away from your calendar, reminders, and other notifications can leave you feeling more clearheaded — and ultimately better able to take on the day.

Presented by BDG Studios