Do you ever feel like your life isn’t quite as put together as you thought it would be? Don’t worry; you’re not alone. While it’s comforting to know that you’re not behind your peers, it can still feel disheartening when life doesn’t match the vision you once had. The good news? It’s never too late to figure out how to get your life together and start making positive changes today.
Many of us had grand ideas of what adulthood would look like—stable jobs, plenty of disposable income, a beautiful home, and maybe a somewhat glamorous champagne lifestyle.
While reality may have turned out differently, it’s still possible to create the life you want. All it takes is a decision to start now and a commitment to following a get your life together checklist designed to help you achieve your goals.
Getting your life together in 22 steps
If you’re ready to take control and start making changes, here are 22 actionable steps to get your life together, starting now!
1. Take stock of your current situation
To decide what you want your future life to look like, it’s important to first acknowledge the present.
If your life isn’t exactly where you hoped it would be, then it might feel easier to ignore your current circumstances. But you can’t make meaningful change without taking a hard look at where you are today.
First, make a list of your current circumstances in each area of your life. Areas you might make a note of include:
Be honest with yourself as you assess each area. It’s not about judging where you are; it’s about recognizing your starting point as the first step in learning how to get your life together.
2. Identify what’s working and what’s not
Now that you’ve taken stock of your life, it’s time to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. Go through your list and identify which areas you’re happy with and which ones need improvement.
First, go through the list of your current circumstances and indicate which ones you’re happy with. This part is easy since you don’t need to make any big changes there.
For the areas that aren’t where you want them to be, acknowledge them without judgment. This is your starting point for change. Acceptance is a crucial step in personal growth—it’s only when you accept where you are that you can begin to make meaningful changes. When thinking, “I’m getting my life together,” this acknowledgment is essential.
Sure, it might be hard to see just how many parts of your life aren’t where you want them to be. But now that you’ve identified them, you can create a simpler life by making a plan to change them.
3. Set specific, measurable goals
Once you know what areas of your life you’d like to change, you can start setting goals to improve them.
When you’re setting goals for yourself, especially financial goal setting, try to be as specific as possible. It’s not enough to just decide you’re going to get your finances in order.
Instead, you should set specific financial goals such as starting a budget, saving $1,000, or paying off your credit card debt.
Set one or two specific goals for each area of your life. Try to have short-term and long-term goals for each aspect that you’d like to improve.
Some areas might seem more difficult than others. After all, how do you set specific and quantifiable short-term goals for your relationships? Well, in that case, you could aim to have a coffee date or phone call with one friend each week.
Once you decide on your goals, make sure to write them down. A study by Dr. Gail Matthews shows that you’re 42% more likely to reach the goals you set if you write them down, according to Inc.com.
For an extra boost of motivation, write them down and place them somewhere you’ll see them every day.
Also, don’t forget how powerful positive morning affirmations can be. So, telling yourself, “I’m getting my life together” or “I have my life together” can have a huge impact on accomplishing your goals!
4. Start small and build momentum
You can’t overhaul your entire life overnight, so start with small, manageable changes. As you decide what changes you want to make in your life, break them down into small, bite-sized pieces. This approach is part of a practical get your life together checklist that ensures lasting change.
Sure, knowing how to save $10,000 is a great goal. But it’s not one that most people can achieve in just a few months. Instead, set a goal for how much you want to save each week, month, or paycheck.
Similarly, start small when it comes to changing your habits. Let’s say one of your goals is to get in better shape. If you currently don’t exercise at all, then it’s not sustainable to set the goal of working out six days per week. You’ll burn out pretty quickly that way.
Instead, start with one or two days. When you’re consistently sticking with that, then you can add another day or two. Getting your life together can be accomplished by getting 1% better every day!
5. Organize your physical space
A huge part of getting your life together is getting organized. Often, a disorganized physical space can make you feel disorganized in other areas of your life. Imagine waking up in the morning and having a hard time finding your keys because your kitchen is cluttered.
Suddenly, you’re late for work and have higher stress the rest of the day. And not only is your stress higher at work, but you might even be dreading going home, knowing that you’ll have to deal with the clutter.
Decluttering your life might not seem like it will make a difference when it comes to your finances, your health, or your relationships.
But you’d be surprised just how much you carry that stress and disorganization into other parts of your life. So, make sure you don’t skip this step. Try reading organizational blogs to help you.
6. Find the right tools to help with getting your life together
A big part of getting your life together is finding the right tools to use along the way. No matter what goal you’re trying to reach, there’s probably a tool designed to help you get there. Here are a few examples:
Habit trackers
A habit tracker is an app that helps to create new positive habits. You set up the habits you want to work on and schedule how often you want to do each one. Then, the app reminds you of your habits and allows you to track them.
Budget apps
There are plenty of budget apps designed to help you reach your financial goals. You can find different apps based on your budgeting style, the goals you’re trying to reach, and more.
Or try the best budget templates! Budgeting your money is a big part of self-care and getting your life together!
Fitness trackers
For someone with health and fitness goals, a fitness tracker is a perfect tool.
First, fitness watches can help you track your steps and workouts. Next, fitness tracking apps allow you to track calories in and out.
Project management tool
For anyone starting a business or working on another big project, a project management tool like Trello or Asana can help you get organized. It allows you to create specific tasks, assign them to different people, and create checklists of items to do along the way.
Journal
If your mind is what’s holding you back from reaching your goals, then journaling self care might be just the tool you need.
Studies have shown that journaling can have significant impacts on both your physical and mental health. It can decrease stress, decrease your chances of getting sick, and more.
7. Create a financial plan
One of the most important steps on the get your life together checklist is making a plan for your money!
Money is the number one source of stress for a large majority of people. It beats out politics, work, and family as a source of stress and has even more significant impacts on younger generations.
Whether or not your goals are financial in nature, knowing how to make a financial plan is crucial to your well-being. And having a clear plan will reduce stress and give you a sense of control over your financial future.
8. Minimize stressors
If there’s something in your life that’s stressing you out, it can have a negative impact on many different parts of your life. Let’s say you have work stress.
Like many people, you might bring that stress home with you at night. It can then affect not only your work life but also your relationships, health habits, and more.
To start reducing stress in your life, make a list of everything in your life that causes you stress. Are there any on the list you can eliminate entirely?
You may find this is the case for expensive subscriptions or social obligations that add more stress than they’re worth. It could also mean planning ahead for major life events.
Other stressors you simply won’t be able to eliminate. Examples of these include toxic people at work and family members. And while you can’t eliminate these stressors altogether, you can identify changes you can make to reduce the stress.
9. Find a mentor
If you have big career goals that you haven’t reached, then a mentor might be the perfect way to take your life to the next level. A mentor can give you career tips or advise you on business goals, introduce you to people in the industry, and work as a sounding board as you come up against career stressors.
Wondering how to find a mentor? Think of people in your network who have offered you advice in the past. Mentorship can be a formal arrangement — at times, even a paid one. But it can also be an informal friendship with a friend in your industry.
10. Establish routines
Routines are the backbone of success. When you have routines in place, you no longer have to rely on willpower to stick to your positive habits and reach your goals.
Think about a habit that comes naturally to you, like getting dressed in the morning or brushing your teeth. You don’t have to remind yourself to do those things. They’re a part of your daily routine schedule.
You can use those same systems to create other healthy habits and take better care of yourself. Want to commit to going for a walk each day?
Find the time when you can do it at the same time each day. It will become a part of your routine, and you’ll eventually find that it just comes naturally to you.
11. Break your bad habits
Being a human being makes you a creature of habit, even if those habits don’t really serve you. A key step on the get your life together checklist is identifying your bad habits. If we’re being honest, we can all admit that we have some bad habits in our lives that are holding us back.
Whether it’s staying up late at night watching television, overspending on things you don’t need, or something else, it’s likely affecting other parts of your life.
As a first step, sit down and make a list of bad habits that might be holding you back in certain areas of your life. Then, come up with strategies to reduce or eliminate them.
For example, set boundaries for yourself on how late you stay up at night. If you tend to overspend on home decor regularly, then pamper yourself and add it as a line on your budget so it’s accounted for.
12. Implement the one-minute rule
Do you ever have those tasks that are on your to-do list for days, weeks, or months, and yet you never seem to get to them? We’ve probably all experienced something similar in the past.
One simple strategy coined by Gretchen Rubin is called the one-minute rule. This rule states that if something can be done in one minute or less, you do it immediately.
Setting this rule for yourself helps clear up your to-do list from all of those small tasks that create a mental burden. This can be a great step to help you with getting your life together!
13. Shift your mindset
You might be surprised to hear that if you aren’t reaching your goals, your mindset might be one of the most important things holding you back.
If you find yourself regularly talking down to yourself or telling yourself that you won’t reach your goals, then there’s a good chance that you won’t.
But if you adopt a positive mindset and truly believe you can reach your goals, then you might find it easier to do so.
14. Practice gratitude
It’s easy to spend your time focusing on the things that are going wrong in your life. And when you’re working on getting your life together and making big changes, it’s natural to focus on the negative things.
Unfortunately, this can also drag you down emotionally and induce anxiety. It can cause you to feel like everything is going wrong.
A gratitude journal is an excellent way to focus on the positive and appreciate the little things in your life. Each day, sit down and write down three things in your life that you’re grateful for.
Aim to pick out three different things each day. They can be as big as your family and friends or as specific as a delicious meal you enjoyed that day.
As you write down what you’re grateful for each day, you’ll find that you naturally become more optimistic and start looking for things to be positive about. Try these journal prompts for self discovery if you don’t know where to start.
15. Take action towards getting your life together
It’s easy to say, “I’m getting my life together,” set goals and write down steps you can take to reach them, but it’s a totally different thing to take action and actually complete those steps.
Starting working toward a new goal is often the hardest step. When you want to save $1,000, those first few dollars are the hardest because you’re not in the habit of saving. When you decide to start working out, those first few workouts are the hardest because you’re not used to working out.
The sooner you take action after setting your goals, the quicker you can get past that first difficult step. Once you’ve started, you’ll find that your momentum helps you keep going. A great way to do this is to focus on challenging yourself to get just a little bit better every day.
16. Track your progress
Once you decide what changes you want to make in your life, it’s important that you track your progress.
Otherwise, you might never realize whether you’re on the right track. As a result, you might find that you never get closer to your goals.
Tracking your progress helps to ensure that you’re on track with your goals. It also helps to motivate you as you see yourself progress. There are plenty of tools out there designed to help you track your progress and stick to your goals and habits.
17. Practice mindfulness
Balancing a career with family and other obligations can get so busy. If every day is pure chaos from the moment you open your eyes, make sure to add practicing mindfulness to your list.
Mindfulness has many benefits that include getting rid of negative thoughts, improving your overall well-being, and boosting your enjoyment of life. Luckily, there are many resources to help you get started with practices like meditation and deep breathing.
Check out apps like Headspace, Calm, or Insight Timer for guided sessions and tools to help you incorporate mindfulness into your schedule.
18. Ask for help if necessary
Sometimes, all you need is a little help. Whether you’re looking for advice or emotional support, talk to someone you can trust. They could be a friend, family member, colleague, therapist, or mentor.
Seek professional advice or consider therapy if you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, or any other mental health issues. You don’t have to go through this alone. That’s why asking for help is also an important step on the checklist.
19. Develop healthy relationships
Building and maintaining healthy relationships is crucial for your overall well-being. Surround yourself with people who will uplift and support you.
This means evaluating your current relationships and setting boundaries with those who drain you.
Healthy connections are essential when you’re focused on getting your life together.
20. Invest in your self-care
Self-care is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. So make time for activities that nourish your body, mind, and soul.
This could include anything from taking a relaxing bath, reading a good book, exercising, meditating or journaling.
Prioritizing your self-care will help you stay balanced and resilient as you work on your goals.
21. Learn to say no
Learning to say no is a powerful skill that can help you protect your time and energy. If you find yourself overwhelmed by commitments, start practicing the art of saying no to things that don’t align with your priorities.
This will help you focus on what truly matters and will contribute to your overall well-being.
22. Reflect and reassess regularly
Life is constantly changing, and so are your goals and circumstances. So make it a habit to regularly reflect on your progress and reassess your goals.
This will help you stay aligned with your values and ensure that you’re on the right track. It will also keep you focused on your continuous improvement.
Expert tip: Take things one step at a time
As you set out to make changes in your life, remember to focus on small changes. Whether you have a small hill or a steep mountain to climb, small steps can get you there.
It is easier to reach your goals with incremental, sustainable actions than grandiose moves that will leave you burnt out and back to where you started. Working through the steps on your checklist will most likely take months or years.
So, be patient with yourself, check back often, and celebrate every progress you make along the way.
How can I start getting my life together?
Starting to get your life together might feel overwhelming, but it all begins with a single step. First, take a deep breath and recognize that it’s okay to start where you are. Begin by making a list of your current circumstances—what’s going well and what’s not.
This simple act of acknowledging where you stand is the first step in understanding how to get your life together. Next, set specific, manageable goals for each area of your life that needs improvement.
Don’t try to change everything at once; start small and build momentum. Use a checklist to keep yourself organized and focused on the tasks that matter most. Remember, it’s all about progress, not perfection.
How do I get motivated to get my life together?
Finding motivation to get your life together can be tough, especially when you’re feeling stuck. A great way to spark that motivation is to visualize the life you want. Think about how good it will feel when you’ve achieved your goals and how much more in control you’ll be.
Sometimes, it helps to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. When I was getting my life together, I found that celebrating small wins really kept me going. Start with one thing you can tackle today, and let that success build your momentum.
Also, surrounding yourself with the right positive influences—whether it’s friends, books, or podcasts—can inspire you to stay focused and motivated.
How do you get your life together when it’s falling apart?
When life feels like it’s falling apart, it can be incredibly hard to know where to start. Trust me, I’ve been there.
The first thing to do is to take a step back and breathe. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed, but remember, you don’t have to fix everything all at once. Start by identifying the most pressing issue—what’s causing you the most stress right now? Focus on that first.
Then, slowly work through the other areas of your life, one at a time. Remember, even small steps forward are still steps in the right direction. Surround yourself with support, whether from friends, family, or a mentor, and don’t hesitate to ask for help when you need it.
Getting your life together is a journey, and it’s okay to take it one day at a time.
What do I need to get my life together?
The good news is you don’t need to purchase anything to get your life together, you only need to want to change your life. You may need a pen and paper to start and some free apps along the way, but nothing expensive.
As you work through determining what will truly make you happy, laying out your goals and taking intentional action, be open to possibilities and use the power of mindset to stay positive. Stay committed to your goals and ask for help when you need it.
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Getting your life together is possible!
Getting your life together feels impossible at times, but it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty of steps and self improvement ideas you can take to make small changes and bring you a bit closer to your dream life.
You may not be able to control everything in life, but this get your life together checklist will help you focus on the things you can control.
Take action today by enrolling in our completely free financial courses to work towards your new goals!