A hot topic
on the list of many New Year’s Resolutions is to get organized. I can identify with this because all of my
life it has been a struggle for me to keep chaos at bay. I would get hyper-organized for a very short
spell and then fall off the wagon a few weeks later with mountains of messy
piles of stuff everywhere. I would find
myself late for meetings often because I couldn't find my keys or something to
wear.
I know some
people who always seem to have it together.
They are always on time, neat and prepared. They may not be the best at what they do but
because their lives are in order they seem to get the attention of bosses for
raises and people generally think of them as being reliable. I have always envied those guys. How are they able to achieve order consistently?
Recently, it
dawned on me that perhaps there might be a way for me to be reformed. I began a thorough search on YouTube, Google,
and Twitter to find out how to adopt better organization skills. It was through 6 months of research and
practice that I discovered that being more organized is a trait that can be
learned!
Part 1: The
Mindset
Think
Differently
I learned
that organized people and unorganized people think differently. Let’s think about our perception of the
organized person in-depth. The organized
person is ready for opportunities, on time, productive, and quite successful at
the things that he or she pursues. Most
of us have many of these qualities but not all.
To the organized person, success is the goal and they are always finding
ways to streamline the process so it becomes second nature.
Identify
Your Main Goals
Your main
goals could be anything from getting good grades in school to starting your own
business. Whatever it may be, you will
need this goal to motivate you and keep you on track. You have to truly want this goal badly. If it is a goal that you really don’t care
about, you’ll find plenty of excuses to goof off. Organized people have goals that they want
desperately. This gives them the drive
to persevere through unpleasant tasks in order to achieve their goals.
Take some
time to figure out what you really want in life. What if you could do anything or go
anywhere? What would that be? Being organized is actually being more self-aware
and being in touch with your innermost desires.
And then going for it!
Know What
You Have
You’ve seen
those organized people with labels on everything. Well they are not insane. They have identified all of their belongings
so that they can find them when they need them.
Remember the keys I mentioned?
Organized people are not demolishing their homes looking for their keys
five minutes past the time they were supposed to leave for work. They know what clothes fit them so they are
not ripping apart the entire closet to find something to wear that fits. It is usually these small things that trip us
up.
You’ll want
to go through every item you own and ask yourself if it is essential to your
life right now in fulfilling your goals.
What do you truly need and what can you do without? Identify the people, activities, tools, and
resources you need to achieve your goals.
Make sure that they are easily accessible and you know how to reach them
any time you want them. This is what I
have heard organized people refer to as a “system”, which is this process of
how and where things will be kept as said in the old adage, “There is a place
for everything and everything has a place.”
Design organizing systems for your most used resources.
Purge
Purging
consists of giving something away, donating, recycling, trashing, putting
something in storage until you need it again, or putting projects on a back
burner. You’ll want to purge or
eliminate any distractions or obstacles that are in the way of your goals. This could be any extraneous tools you don’t
need, clutter in your space, clothes taking up room in your closet that don’t
fit, and even negative people that don’t support you.
Create a
Stop Doing List or Not To Do List. Think
about all of the routines that no longer serve your goals. What are the common distractions you face
daily or weekly? What things drain your
energy but get you nowhere? Is
something not working quite the way that you like that is practical to remove
or put on the back burner? Are there
things that you are doing that could be done by someone else for a small
fee? Stop doing those things.
Say “No”
There will
be many distractions set up by people who love and care about you as well. It is important that you stand your ground if
it is a needless disruption. Don’t be
afraid to say, “No”. Think of it this
way; saying “No” to something that distracts you from your goal is saying “Yes”
to your success.
Keep It
Simple
You’ll want
to think carefully about new projects, items into your home, and
responsibilities. Is your plate already
full of things to do? Will it help you
to achieve your present goals? Remember
that less is more. I learned this from
reading about minimalists who are organized by default. If you have less to organize, the easier it
will be to achieve goals. It’s a
stress-free way to become more organized without trying.
Part 2:
Action!
Keep Rituals
If you get
anything from this article, I hope this will be the game-changer for you. It has certainly helped me on my journey to
becoming more organized. I discovered
that the most important element to make a person more organized is the daily
rituals they perform. We all have
rituals, but organized people usually perform rituals that unorganized people
don’t want to do. Here are some rituals
I’ve picked up from some organized people:
Weekly
Once a week,
they rewrite their To-Do List and main goals to plan the week ahead. I typically do this on Sunday.
Daily
o They begin
getting ready for each day, the night before.
They lay out their clothing and all of the tools they will need for the
day.
o They get
up an hour or two before they have to go to work or school to plan the
day. They may even begin tackling their
hardest task of the day. Trust me when I
say every time I do this I feel more energized all day long.
o They spend
10 to 15 minutes a day tidying up and putting things in their designated
areas. They stay on track of time using
a timer. I was amazed when I first tried
this. Now, it takes me about 3 minutes
clean up each day, than taking all of the weekend as it did before.
Advice For
The To-Do List
Make The
List
Create a
to-do list that is as long as you want based on the things you will need to do
or the steps you need to take to achieve your main goals. What are they? Write it all down on paper. Break it down into as many small goals as
possible. Be sure to put the date on
it. In fact, date everything. You’ll be able to keep track of your
progress.
Prioritize
From that
list prioritize the most powerful tasks by number. The most powerful tasks are not maintenance
tasks that keep you afloat. Isolate the
tasks that would elevate you and put you at the next level. They are the most effectual.
Keep It
Short And Sweet
Choose only
the top 5 tasks to work on at any given time to keep you from feeling
overwhelmed. Feeling overwhelmed leads
to avoidance which is the source of procrastination. Break down the goals into
small realistic segments you can achieve easily every day.
Use A
Calendar
Organized
people seem to be friends with time and I believe that is because they are very
intimate with their calendars. Project
what date you’d like to get things done.
And try to get things done ahead of schedule so that you have time to
decompress before the next event.
General Tips
For Getting Things Done
o Do not
multitask if you aren't good at it. Instead
do one thing at a time but do it effectively, efficiently and excellently, thus
giving the illusion that you are multitasking.
o
Concentrate on doing things more effectively than efficiently. The perfect achievement is to have both of
them but prefer to get things done right once so you don’t waste time doing
them over again.
o Look for
shortcuts or ways of outsourcing mundane tasks that you don’t have time
for. Are there any apps and gadgets that
could ease the task?
o Visualize
how happy you will be when you achieve your goals. Use that vision to keep you motivated. How awesome and proud will you feel? Never lose sight of this.
o Organized
people understand the power of now. Do
the job or task at hand now. Doing it
later only begins the pile up of things to do.
Get it done now and relax later.
Whenever you
complete a task, be sure to arrange to treat yourself to something
special. It could be a coffee, a cookie,
a glass of wine at the end of the day.
My final tip
that I learned from organized people is to be patient. Organization is always going to be a work in
progress. In order to master it, one
must continue to work hard on it until it becomes natural. The organizing systems you create may fall
apart and frustrate you. Just remember
that change is good. Change is an
opportunity for you to grow stronger skills.
Be creative, improvise or ask for some advice. There are plenty of resources on the internet
for you so don’t worry.
Some of the
people that I researched were:
o Andrew
Mellon
o Julie
Morgenstern
o Peter
Walsh
o Brian
Tracy
o David
Allen (Inventor of the GTD map)
Here are
some resources on YouTube that I used:
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