Do you want to start living a more orderly life?
Weary of the disarray and disorder that plagues your personal and professional life?
These 10 suggestions will help you become more organized, whether your goal is to revamp your routine completely, find better ways to store your stuff, or keep your workplace tidier.
1. Make a List
To-do lists have a poor reputation for being full of meaningless items that will never be completed. Don’t buy into the nonsense!
To-do lists can be a lifesaver when it comes to getting things done.
The trick is to avoid the common pitfall of compiling ever-longer to-do lists without ever getting around to actually doing anything on them.
2. Locate Storage Options
Assembling a “house” for each of your possessions will aid you in keeping them in order.
Having designated spots for various belongings means you can put them away after use and find them quickly the next time you need them.
In order to get started, gather all the stuff that is now just sitting around doing nothing.
It might be something as simple as your purse or bag when it’s not in use or as involved as finding a place to store your snowshoes while they’re not in use.
3. Declutter Your Living Space
There are many distinct kinds of clutter: stuff you no longer need, things you still use but are stored incorrectly, and garbage.
Take action against clutter by getting rid of the obvious trash and recyclables, getting rid of anything that is broken or no longer serves a purpose in your life, putting things back where they belong, and processing any paperwork, such as mail, files, and other administrative ephemera, that has accumulated in your home or place of business.
4. Do the Little Things Right Away
Don’t put off taking care of quick and straightforward chores; do them right away.
The longer you put off taking care of anything, the more difficult it will be to sit down and get it done finally.
There’s also the possibility that you won’t remember to deal with it at all.
Take care of it if it takes less than three minutes.
Return the book to its shelf when you’re done reading it, answer the email asking for a yes or no answer at work, and confirm your attendance at a social event by phone. It’s that simple.
5. Stick to A Routine
Do you stick to a set plan or routine daily? Having a schedule for each day allows you to prioritize your activities and accomplish more. You can use a digital calendar application like Google Calendar or an old-fashioned paper planner to get organized.
6. Construct Manageable Objectives
The advantage of setting short-term objectives is that you can see the results of your hard work sooner.
Do you wish to improve your office cleanliness?
You may make it a habit to clean your coffee mug and return it to your desk every day or to put away any papers you’ve used that day.
At home, you may aim to maintain one section of your kitchen counter clear at all times, or you could make your bed every morning upon arising.
7. Organize Your Priorities
Focusing your time and effort on your top priorities allows you to make the most of your valuable resources in life.
If you’re always on the go without stopping to think about what you’re doing, you’ll inevitably get exhausted, frazzled, and unorganized.
Do yourself a favor and list your top priorities right now.
Which of these questions best describes your present state of mind and your current list of priorities?
Your priorities may include both broad, long-term objectives and, more specifically, day-to-day activities.
What is the absolute priority? Making a quick list to evaluate potential solutions will help clear things up if you’re overwhelmed.
8. Keep a Sunny Disposition
Despite common opinions, it takes time and effort to become more organized.
Organizing one’s life effectively requires a lot of practice, time, and effort.
Even the most organized people always come up with new systems and organization methods.
An optimistic outlook will help you tremendously in this learning process.
Be kind to yourself while you work to improve your organization, and don’t judge your success by the standards of others.
Follow your own pace of efficiency. Each action you take toward becoming more organized is a positive one.
9. Use Your Time Effectively
Keep a time journal of everything you do in a day if you have no idea how you spend your time regularly.
Review your notes and think about how you could modify your current schedule.
Trying to get that dream job application out the door this week? It might be time to log off of Google+ for a while and focus on the task.
10. Work with Your Personality
Think being organized means having a filing system for your bills that goes from A to Z? This isn’t necessarily so.
Organization comes in all different shapes and forms.
You might like to file items from A to Z, while someone else wants to file articles from Z to A, while still someone else likes to point their bills by their due dates.
Refrain from thinking that one way of organizing something is the only way it can be done.
The actual test of organization is finding and using what you regularly have.
