Lesson 1: Clear Your Mind and Do Some Life Planning

Lesson Overview

Objective

• Grow your BOPO
• Clear your mind a bit
• Center yourself on your ideals within your personal roles

Assignment Summary

• Put a “Personal” section and a “Shopping” section in your BOPO
• Write down a few things in the “Shopping” section
• Write your roles and purposes in your roles in the “Personal” section by following at least the first two of five steps outlined in this article

Recommended Readings

• http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/02/08/create-a-life-plan/
• http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Life-Plan
• http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-writing-things-down-can-change-your-life.html

Lesson

“Like all good craftsmen, we need a blueprint to guide our work, a shop where we can do our work, and tools to help us accomplish our work.”

--Brett, “Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future.” The Art of Manliness blog.


In this lesson, we’re going to make some space in your brain for some good introspective thoughts. Remember, the purpose of this course is to get your home to support your ideal lifestyle. To do that, we need to hone in on what that ideal lifestyle is. To start getting your ideal lifestyle in focus, we will build BOPO a bit, use BOPO to clear some mental clutter, then do some guided thinking and writing.

Make Sections in BOPO

Start by making two sections in BOPO. You can call these sections whatever you want, but I recommend something along the lines of “Personal” or “Vision” or “Goals” for the first section. The next section could be called “Shopping” or “Shopping Lists” or “To Buy” or something like that.

To make sections, do one of the following:

• Tab Dividers: Pull out a set of handy tab dividers and label some tabs. I recommend labeling in some sort of non-permanent way (using pencil or using a label that can be changed out of the tab) because you’ll likely be moving these tab locations as we build more BOPO later. 
• Post-it Notes: If you don’t have tabs dividers handy, use a post-it note sticking out from a piece of paper to create a tab. It’s not too pretty, but it will function in the short term. 
• Big and Bold: If you don’t have post-it notes handy, just use a piece of paper and write the section title you want in big bold letters along the edge of the paper. It won’t stick out from the rest of the papers, but it will be easier to find while flipping through the binder than having no sort of section division at all.

Or come up with your own creative solution and tell me about it so I can suggest it to others.

Mental Clearing: Make Shopping Lists

Once you have these sections set up, go to your shopping list section. Start writing down all the things you can think of that you have been meaning to put on a shopping list. It may be helpful to take a mental (or actual physical) walk through your house, noting what things you need to buy refills or replacements for. If you want to, you can start detailing a full-out meal plan and grocery list, but that’s something we’ll be having a lesson on later. The main goal of this task is to capture and dump those things you keep meaning to put on a list but end up leaving somewhere in the back of your mind. For me, these are things like a new shower curtain liner, hand soap refill, and some new winter boots.

As you make this list, notice your mind relieving itself of the weight of trying to keep these “to buy” items in your memory. Bask in the mental space you’re creating. Feels good, doesn’t it?

Now, whenever you realize you need to buy something, you have a place to download that thought so it doesn’t take up precious brain space and keep bugging you over and over again.

If you have another method of making shopping lists that works well for you, feel free to skip this step and keep using what’s working for you. Otherwise, you’ll probably find it very helpful to have one place you can always go to create and find shopping lists.

I like to divide my shopping list up by where I go shopping. I have grocery lists specific to each store I buy groceries at, and other lists for things to buy online, at Target, or at Costco. You may find it easier to organize your shopping list by category of items. Do whatever works for you.

Mental Focusing: Start Writing Your Life Plan

Now that we have some free brain space and power, let’s put it to work by following the five steps outlined in this fantastic post found on the Art of Manliness blog. Even if you’re not a man, this post (and really, the whole blog) is great. I have learned many helpful life strategies for myself, my husband, and my sons from this blog.

Working through the five steps outlined in this article is going to take some time. Break up this assignment over the next week if you want. If you can at least make it through the first two steps ([1] define and prioritize your roles and [2] define your purposes for each role), you’ll be ready for our next lesson. I recommend completing all five, but if that’s just not going to happen, do the first two and move on without guilt.

Writing your life plan involves some introspection and note-taking. Write your thoughts in the “Personal” section of your BOPO or wherever else you like to keep ideas of this kind (a personal journal, perhaps.) The point is to get your roles and purposes in your roles clearly stated in a place where you can easily reference them.

We’ll be thinking back on your roles in our next lesson, where we’ll take your thoughts on this subject and build on them as we visualize an ideal day.



What did you discover about yourself through this exercise?

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