Spring cleaning is commonly known as the practice of deep cleaning your home, from dusting windows to cleaning out closets. However, this act of re-organizing and refreshing shouldn’t be solely limited to your home. Proactive people consider spring cleaning as an opportunity to gain a new perspective on priorities, take a fresh look at a to-do list, and find ways to boost their personal and professional life.
Check-In With Your New Year Resolutions
According to the University of California, Berkeley, setting goals will raise your self-confidence and continuously motivate you to progress forward. If you set New Year’s resolutions for yourself at the beginning of 2018, take time to check in with those goals and examine the steps you’ve taken to achieve them. Be sure to acknowledge your hard work if you have accomplished those goals and then begin to consider new resolutions to challenge yourself. If you have fallen behind, you may want to examine your resolutions and explore setting more attainable, short-term goals to give yourself the best opportunity to achieve success.
Check items off your to-do list that you’ve been avoiding
There are usually a few items on a person’s to-do list that generate a sense of dread and are continuously put off for the future. However, you can accomplish these items more easily than you might think. If you have not already done so, make sure to put pen to paper and write down your to-do list. Take stock of the tasks that you feel the most resistance towards accomplishing and examine why that might be. Is it a task that that will require a lot of time or one that feels overwhelming? Take a look at your calendar and find a day you can block out specifically to accomplish that to-do item, or break the task down into multiple steps that you can tackle individually so the overall goal seems more achievable.
Organize your time with a planner
Does the day ever seem to fly by and you aren’t sure where the time went? By better managing your time, you can reduce stress, get more work done and have more opportunities for engaging activities. Keeping track of meetings and appointments can help you stay organized, and having time set aside for friends and family can improve your sense of well-being. Try purchasing a calendar or a planner to record the dates and times of upcoming meetings, gym classes or special events. Or, if you prefer a more tech-savvy solution, use the calendar on your smart device and set alarm reminders for important dates or events.
Volunteer your time
When you spring clean your house, you are left with a sense of fulfillment and gratification. You can also recreate this feeling by donating your time to a worthy cause. According to the Mayo Clinic Health System, volunteering gives us a sense of purpose, reduces our stress levels and teaches us valuable skills. Visit Volunteer Match to find a volunteer position that peaks your interest. You can even volunteer to help spring cleaning projects for non-profits that don’t have the resources to pay for cleaning and de-cluttering.
If you’re in the Riverside area, consider one of these volunteer opportunities.
Apply for that job you’ve always wanted
If you have been considering a career change, this could be the perfect time to apply for a new job. Use this spring season as an opportunity to refresh your resume and take a look at new career opportunities that could provide you with a more satisfying experience than your current role is offering. It can be a daunting experience to begin the application process for a new job, but just like re-organizing your closet, you’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment once you get started knowing you are one step closer to achieving your goals.
The UCPath Center is hiring and you could be a perfect fit for one of our open positions. View our 
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