Books - Get Your Sh!t Together

I was in Copenhagen for work last week, and whilst I was travelling I had decided to read a new book called Get Your Sh!t Together (GYST) by Ruth Field, the author of Run Fat B!tch Run (which I haven't read but a friend has raved about it). I'm fairly organised but with everything going on just now I feel like there's more I could be doing to keep on top of things and I'm all for picking up new tips and advice.

I really enjoyed the book. I was reading it on my Kindle, and highlighted a number of pages to revisit.

The main take-home message is that once you start doing things, then it becomes easier to do more things:

"Everything you do is action-generating - the more shit you tackle, the more shit you are able to tackle"

I'm certainly finding that this is the case. 

I've been getting more organised at the house - decluttering, rearranging and optimising locations for stuff... you get the gist. Anyway, once I finally got my sh!t together and actually made a start, it's becoming much easier to just keep going.

I got my first shelf up, and since then I've just kept going!

"The gritty truth is that human beings all thrive on doing stuff and even more so on completing stuff. We are less ourselves when we are inactive: we languish, we shrink. But when we are busy completing tasks and achieving things, no matter what they are or how big, small or insignificant, it somehow calls forth our better natures."

Some of the advice was obvious to me, like to cook in batches and this is something I try to do. Another tip is to simplify your life by dumping some sh!t - "when did you last use/look at/wear this? If the answer is: not in the last year, dump it without a trace of regret." Again, I'd say I'm pretty good at this and I do try to sell on things if I'm not using them.

I also strongly agree with Ruth's opinion on watching TV... I can be guilty of this!

"Every time we switch the TV on and sink into the sofa, we are also choosing not to do X, Y and Z. And this is fine. But acknowledge the choice and stop complaining about not having enough time."

One thing I've now done since reading this book is hire a cleaner. I'm struggling to keep up with everything and hummed and hawed about enlisting some help, but I've decided enough is enough and it will be worth the money to outsource this. There are more of my friends that have cleaners than I thought there would be too... it's just something that isn't talked about much, but when I started asking around I found that a few of them had hired help.

There are a few other things I want to work on, like holding onto grudges (they will be holding me back and preventing me from my GYST potential), stop watching the TV as much (see above!) and making sure that I do what I say I'm going to do.

I think the only point I'd disagree on is that Ruth doesn't like list making. I love a good list, and I personally find that a list helps keep me on track. I'd forget stuff if I didn't have it written down.

Anyway, all-in-all I enjoyed the book and if you're struggling to get your sh!t together and don't know where to start, then I'd highly recommend giving this book a read.

A few other books that I've got on my Kindle for reading next are 'Be Awesome - Modern Life for Modern Ladies' by Hadley Freeman and 'Happier at Home' by Gretchen Ruben.