How to Be Productive When You’re Chronically Ill
Organization and Action Steps to Productivity When You’re Chronically Ill
We understand this blog better than any we have written. That is because both owners of this site suffer from an autoimmune illness. In fact, we started a different site years ago to discuss autoimmune disease, #spoonies, and chronic illness. It is called Personalized Cause. Check it out. We offer ways to create awareness within your community.
It’s difficult to organize when you feel exhausted and pain is part of your day. Many who live with fibromyalgia, for example, suffer on a daily basis. We suffer from lupus, which makes it hard to organize when you have high levels of fatigue and painful joints. But organization makes us feel in control of our lives and gives us the opportunity to more easily navigate our setting and home. For that reason, organization is important when we are chronically ill. You may need to ask for help, but also doing organization a little bit at a time makes a big difference in the long run. And remember, mental and emotional space is more important than physical space. Look to The Uncluttered Life’s Declutter Deck® for tips and tricks about home organization.
Organization
Productivity is doing something with purpose. Being busy is just doing something.
If you want to get more done, reduce your need for perfectionism. If you try to make everything perfect, you may spend too much time on one tasks. It will be taxing to get anything else done.
Everything in life has a price. This is either time, money, or energy. You can decide on which one to spend your chips.
20% of what we do gives us 80% of the outcome.
Gratitude is something you add that helps you want less stuff. It also helps you ease the burden of wanting to be like everyone else. When you have a chronic illness, it’s a given that you’re not like everyone else. This is where the idea of #spoonies comes in. You only have so much energy to go around.
Action Steps
Simplify. The first step is to have less stuff. Find a way to decrease the steps of what you are doing. Look for products and ways of managing your life that make life easier.
Declutter and get rid of as much as you can. You don’t want decision fatigue when you are chronically ill and have physical and mental fatigue already.
Learn to say no to things that are physically and mentally draining. Participate in support groups if you have the time, space and energy.
Cut out all or nothing thinking. Get creative about how to rest and still get things done. This will take a lot of creative thinking to manage the demands of your life.
Set up systems that help you adapt things to work for, not against, you.
Call your to-do list a wish list. It makes it less demanding.
Have daily minimums. This gets you into habits and gives you momentum.