The Seattle Sparkle Method to Get Organized and Stay Organized

June 2, 2023

You don’t know where to start. You don’t have the time. You are easily overwhelmed. If you want an organized home, you’ve got to simultaneously do the work from within. A while back, I created a guide to get organized and stay organized. For the next few months, I’m going to break down the guide into a series of blog posts. And instead of each assignment being a daily task, I’m going to break down the projects into weekly projects. I will give you the right steps in the right order to organize your home and keep it that way. As a creative person, you know messes will always happen (as they should!). With this guide, you will be able to dial in ways to naturally get the messes picked up with ease. When done consistently, you will see incredible results, and be set up on a cycle to continually maintain your home month after month. To be organized, it’s not about creating a disciplined routine. It’s about optimizing your environment to set up the conditions for inevitable success.

I used to work as a professional glassblower. When the starter bubble was perfect, the glass would blow out with such evenness and ease. But when the bubble was set up for failure, it was a constant struggle to keep the proportions even. Any expert in habit change will tell you that good habits are not about exerting willpower. They are about not putting yourself in the situations where you have to exercise will power as often. Surround yourself with people that inspire you do what’s in your best interest, rather than ones that tempt you to make unhealthy choices so that you stay stuck with them. Optimizing your home environment will create a snowball effect of productivity, inner power, and inner trust. As you set up these conditions, you will become more in-tune with your inner advisor, your intuition. The more you can hear that voice and act in alignment with your goals and values, the easier it will be to have (and maintain!) an organized home. This is simply a framework for you to get your home organized. Choices about what to keep and what to let go of are all up to you.

Instructions:

Start with a Sparkle Morning for self-attunement! Get your own blank notebook (or use the notes app in your phone) to stay on track. If these are things you already do every day, great! If not, don’t worry about trying to implement all of these habits right away. That would probably be really overwhelming! Just do what you feel inspired to do. Here are some simple instructions to get you started.

Gratitude: Write down the date and three things you are grateful for. Write down new things each day, don’t repeat what you’ve already written. Nothing is too big or small.

Meditation: Do you meditate already? Awesome! If not, start with a simple 5 minute practice. One of my favorite ways to do this is to use a timer (I love the Insight Timer app), hold a crystal in each hand, lay down, and pay attention to your breath. Breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5, breathe out for 7, and repeat.

Stretch: Square up your body at the start of the day. Again, I like to use the Insight Timer for this. Use your intuition to feel where your body needs attention.

Read: Read something inspiring or educational every day.

Sleep: Record how much sleep you got the night before. How much sleep does your body need? Write down your goal, and shoot for that. I love using the Oura ring to help me stay on top of my sleep goals.

Exercise: Get your body moving every day!

Other: Is there another habit you’d like to track? Do that here.

Nutrition Tracking: What did you eat today? How much water did you drink? Write that down. However, I know this can be a really touchy subject for lots of people. Only do this step if it helps you. Skip it if it’s this type of tracking is not serving you well.

Today I would like to: Use this space as a brain dump for all the things you’re excited about doing today. Or use it to affirm how you want to feel, like “feel centered”.

Organize/Life/Tidy: Each week, you will have an assignment that simultaneously addresses work to be done in your home, and work to be done in your life. You will be able to dial your home in in a holistic way. It’s not about getting everything done all at once. This workbook is meant to rotate you through activities on a monthly basis. Consistency and repetition will build the neural networks in your brain to break bad habits and create good ones. For this week, start with doing one thing that you’ve been procrastinating on for a while.

Timing: Decide how much time you can spend on each of these activities, and set a timer. Even if you only do 5 or 10 minutes each day, that is far better than not doing it at all. It’s also far better than going overboard and burning out. Building habits is about frequency and consistency, not about perfection. If you miss a day, that’s ok, but try not to miss two days in a row. But even if you do, that’s ok! You can always pick up wherever you left off. Even if you have a full time job, figure out how you can carve a moment out each day to attend to these activities. It will get easier! You got this! It’s ok to spend more time on some actions, but not at the cost of skipping over assignments. Do what you can to make progress, but pace yourself to avoid burnout. The most important thing is to have fun with what you’re doing. Take before and after photos, and make them as funny as you want. You also might want to do a quick silly video to document the process. It lightens the mood, and can feel really motivational.

Journaling questions for this week:

Use words and pictures to describe the following: Describe your ideal health. How do you feel? What are you doing? What do you look like?
Describe your finances. How are you earning, saving, spending, donating and investing?
Describe your ideal relationships. What qualities and values do you share? What are your interactions like?
Describe your ideal home. What does it feel like, look like, sound like, smell like? Draw a quick doodle in your notebook. (Use another piece of paper if needed).
Describe your ideal career. How are you serving others? How are you living up to your potential? What gifts are you utilizing?

Over the next few months, I will continue to post assignments to help you get your home organized. Make sure to stay tuned!