How to Organize Your Life

Identify the cause of disorganization. Why do you feel your life is messy? For some people, busy work schedules make it difficult to organize their lives. For others, lack of motivation or not knowing how to rearrange itself is the cause. To start organizing your life, you need to identify the cause and make the resolve to change.

Consider what needs to be sorted out. While it would be easy to say that the things to be organized are “everything,” what is really needed are certain individual areas of life, which are more cluttered than others. Where is the most disorganized part? Consider planning skills, cleaning the house, or running errands. Which of these is the most stressful for you to complete? Remember to consider aspects of work, friendships, as well as thought processing in general.

• If you think everything in life needs to be sorted out, pick one specific thing and focus on that only, then move on to something else.

Make notes on the calendar. If you have a busy schedule (or even none!) buy or create a calendar and put it somewhere so you’ll see it often. It can be placed near the key, on the refrigerator or at the office. It only takes a few minutes to fill out an entire calendar of important upcoming dates and events.

• Avoid filling in common activities that clutter the calendar, only write things that you have actually planned for sure. This could include classes, your work schedule, doctor’s appointments, large events like weddings and funerals.
• Review the filled out calendar and look at a typical weekly schedule. When is your time to rest? Do you have a short period of time between events that you can use for yourself? When are you the busiest?

Have a good plan. Next up after scheduling is planning – an organized list of daily activities. Although it sounds strange, it has always been used by organized people. Whenever you plan a project event for work or school, or need to keep track of multiple tasks and errands, mark them off on the planner.

• Try color-coding plans to organize them better. Use a single color to mark events (such as homework or going to the store) and several colors to mark important events (like red to show what must be done). on time).
• Always carry a plan with you. It is useless to have a plan but leave it at home or under a pile of things. To make sure you stay organized, keep it in your purse, in your car, on your desk, somewhere you can remember to use.

Create a to-do list. Make sure the to-do list looks as impressive as using the daily to-do schedule. However, when looking at your to-do list, break these down and make them more manageable. Do not list in a general or vague form (for example, cleaning the house or exercising more). Give yourself a clear direction with small, easy-to-do tasks (e.g., clean the kitchen, scrub the toilet, and run a mile).

• Add a box next to each task to mark it as done, even though it may sound unnecessary. Checking the box for the tasks done for the day will remind you that you worked hard, and give you a sense of satisfaction and pride in what you do.
• Put your to-do list where you can see it often to remind you of the task to do. You might even consider keeping it in your plan.
• Complete the largest projects on the list first, then the smaller projects and tasks. For example, complete “cleaning the fridge” before “filtering emails” to keep you motivated and make yourself more productive.

Fix stagnation . Procrastination is arguably the hardest item on the list, taking a toll on organizing your life. Instead of postponing things, do them immediately. Force yourself to do tasks and don’t wait to complete them. If you can do them in 2 minutes or less, do it now. At the same time, divide large tasks into smaller tasks for easier management.

• Limit your time to about 15 minutes and work as hard as you can during this time. No distractions, breaks or stops for any reason during this time except for emergencies. Then, allow yourself to stop when the allotted time has elapsed. However, it’s possible that you’ll get on with the work again because you’re finally able to get on with the project you’ve been avoiding.
• By all means, put some distractions aside. Often the distractions are the internet, the phone, sleep, or even a book. Whatever the distractions, spend some time working in a place where they don’t exist.

Start the day off right. When you wake up, eat a proper breakfast, shower, wash your face, get dressed, and put on your shoes. Do all the things you need to do every day like you would at the office. This will change your mental outlook; With a willingness to show yourself to the world, you have laid the foundation for success. You’ll be more confident knowing you’re prepared for anything, and so you’ll have a more direct attitude to getting things done and a sense of organization about your work. ^[1]

Write down everything. Whenever you come up with something important, keep it in mind, or when prompted for something to do, write it down. You can write it down in your planner or in the notebook you keep with you. Writing down the wrong ideas will not only get them out of your mind (and put your mind at ease), but it will also help you save them so you can revisit them later without forgetting.

Don’t overload yourself. If you feel like your time is short and your schedule is tight, consider removing some of the less important things from your plan. Does going to coffee with friends have to be today? What about a plan to do the assigned work outside of working hours? If you are doing too many things at once, you will feel confused and prone to anxiety. Cancel plans when necessary to give your mind more space to think.

• Learn how to delegate work to others. If you know you have to go shopping but are too busy to come up with ideas, ask a family member or close friend to run errands for you. As long as you’re not procrastinating on key tasks or giving things that are personally important to someone else, delegating work is fine.
• Don’t accept to do everything you’re asked to do if you know you don’t have time for it. Your friends won’t hate you, your boss won’t think you’re lazy, and obviously your lover will understand if you need some free time for personal work and handling. ^[2]

Don’t be a perfectionist. If you only feel that you have completed a task when it is “perfect,” you will leave a lot of unfinished, messy work in your life. On a similar note, if you wait for the right time to start the task until you think it’s the “perfect” time, you will have to wait a very long time.

• Don’t delay the project anymore, and know when the project is considered complete and can be stopped. When you reach a point considered “good enough”, reduce the task, and move on to the next item.
• If there are some projects that you just can’t seem to get the hang of, try taking a break and then coming back to it after you’ve completed a few other smaller tasks. You will achieve more in the same amount of time, instead of becoming bored and wasting time on a single, imperfect task.