Are you someone who isn’t naturally organized? That’s okay, I’m not either!
Today we’re going to be going over five killer tips if you’re not naturally organized. Like I said before, I’m naturally not organized . It’s something that I’ve had to work really hard at, so that I can get everything I want to get done, have less stress, and so that my days can flow. It’s all about working smarter, not harder. So let’s get into a few of these tips and see how you can also improve your organization skills.
#1. Organize your time, planning and goal setting. I think it’s important to have realistic goals and to be able to schedule out time to actually follow through. It’s all about the follow through. A lot of times when we’re goal setting, we’ll only do our ideal, and we won’t be specific. What I always try to do is just get more specific and see the step by step plan, and then what is my first step. How am I going to take action and how am I going to put that on my calendar?
#2. Work according to your priorities and values. This is a really good exercise. You should know what your values are in every area of your life. Then you should know what priorities there are. You have low priorities, and that might be going to CVS or going to do these kind of miscellaneous things that you need to get done. Then you might have higher priorities like being with your family or being able to get that project done at work. Also looking at the most important things to you. That’s your values and looking at your belief systems and how do you spend your time in alignment to that.
#3. Prioritization and decision making. A lot of times when we’re looking at all the things we have to do, we get into paralysis by analysis. We’re overthinking things and trying to do too many things.
What I recommend to do is make lists. Then go in, look at your beliefs and values, and make sure your decision making is in alignment with that. Then choosing what order you’re going to do things, especially prioritizing your time.
If you’re more awake and more focused in the morning, what’s your priority in that time versus in the afternoon when you’re a little bit more tired, maybe you’re going to be doing more brainless activities that you have to get done in the afternoon. So it’s being able to look at the full picture.
#4. Time awareness and promptness. This is a great activity. There will be times in my life where I’m not using time efficiently, and so I always go back to this exercise. For a lot of my clients, this is an exercise I work with them in the first four to six weeks so they just have awareness.
Get a hard copy of a calendar, use Google Calendar, your Mac, or whatever system’s best for you. I recommend getting a hard copy of a calendar, and a calendar that has 15-minute increments, and to plan out your time accordingly, especially if you’re late all the time.
Promptness is a big thing. If you’ve allocated 45 minutes to an event, putting in it takes 15 minutes to drive there, it takes five minutes to park. Put in every single thing, even put in fun and relaxing time into your calendar so that you’re able to start having clear direction.
This is a great exercise, and to me. Even if it sounds like “oh my gosh, I’m getting really into the weeds and really specific”, I guarantee you you’ll start learning where your time goes, and you’ll be able to gain more time.
#5. Boundaries. Once you’ve set your goals, you know your values, you know your priorities, you see where your time is going, then you have to start setting boundaries. If you set time aside and it’s a priority, and something comes in, and you could delegate to another time that you have open in your calendar, you need to do that. A lot of times, we’ll just say yes to a lot of things. Then we’re even resentful or tired. It’s really important to have clear boundaries.
I know for me, after my accidents I had to learn how to say no. I had to learn how to really delegate my time, because I was so tired and fatigued. For me it’s been a little easier now, being older, since this was 10 years ago, to really have boundaries.
Where in your life maybe your boundaries aren’t clear and to be able to be very clear with your boundaries, especially when it comes to time.
What tips work well for you to be more organized? I would love to hear your comments below!
