5 Tips for Getting and Staying Organized
5 Tips for Getting and Staying Organized
Let’s talk about planning, y’all. Some people do it and love it, some do it out of necessity but hate it, and some don’t do it at all. Me? I love planning. I love organizing. But I also know it doesn’t come easily to everyone. However, being organized is extremely beneficial. Being organized can give you control back over yourself and your day. It allows you to manage your time more efficiently and gives you a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. It can also help you feel less overwhelmed when thinking of what all has to be done. All these together will increase your productivity and leave less room for negative thoughts surrounding failure, doubt and guilt from not getting done what you set out to do.
I have always been an organized person, even as a kid. For example, I recently took a trip down memory lane in my parent’s attic and found an old set of dolls. Apparently I named each of them and then divided all their belongings into Ziplock bags. On each bag I wrote their names to make sure each doll always had their items in one place. I also remember having this American Girl Christmas tree. It came with so many tiny ornaments! I counted each type of ornament, sorted and labeled them all so that while I was disassembling the tree each year I could make sure none went missing. I did this with everything! But I imagine I did it then for the same reason I do it now. I am an individual who likes to have control of my surroundings. I like to have things in their place and be on a routine so I know what to expect. If my surroundings are a mess, my brain is a scrambled mess and until the mess is gone, I cannot think straight! So organizing and planning has always been therapeutic for me.
As we get older, we tend to take on more responsibility. For me, this meant I had to try even harder to “get it together” and then keep it together. With added responsibility, I feel I am more prone to anxiety, depression and just being overstimulated and overwhelmed by all that is happening around me. But, I refuse to be fully overtaken by any of these emotions. Any time I find myself migrating towards any of these feelings, I reset and go back to the basics. In all stages of my life so far I have used my simple planning/organizing method. I used it when I was in college and single, then when I was working and married, next, when I was working, married, had kids and finally, married, had kids, and staying at home full time. No matter what stage I was in throughout my life so far, I have been successful using just a few basic ideas to plan and organize my life in each of those stages.
Over the years, my “ideology” to getting and staying organized in life can be summed up in the following:
- Plan Ahead
- Set Realistic Expectations
- Prioritize
- Be Consistent
- Be Adaptable
Plan Ahead
First things first. Get yourself or make yourself a planner. Some people can use their phone or computer or just a simple notebook. I have never been good at using an electronic calendar. I get a kick out of physically crossing something off a list with a pen. Just deleting something off my phone or adding a check mark on my phone just does not do it for me! I need an actual planner that is laid out in a weekly and monthly format. I have used several different planners but my all time favorite is Erin Condren’s Softbound LifePlanner. I have the larger version (8×10) but they do have a smaller version that’s the exact same. This planner is plain with no extra frills like stickers, colors, quotes, etc. I have used those in the past and Erin Condren has those as well, but I have found now that I have more to manage I need something much less busy, and the one I have been using is exactly that.
For me, planning ahead is taking the time once a week to plan out the coming week. Right now, every Sunday night I sit down and intentionally write out what I need to have done on what days that week. Included in my planning are:
- Appointments or activities scheduled (gymnastics class, soccer game, library story time, dentist appointments, social engagements, etc.
- Preschool for my oldest (what lessons of what subject)
- Activities to engage the kids in (crafts, outdoor play, games, etc.)
- Meal planning (based on what activities we have in the evenings I plan what meals to make each night)
- Make a grocery list/order groceries to pick up
- Finances (pay bills, edit budget, etc.)
- Exercise (what days and types of exercise on those days)
- Household chores/projects to be completed
On the last week of the month, I write out the next month’s budget so that weekly I can check it and hold us accountable. Any time I schedule an appointment or vacation, no matter how far in advance, I always put it in my planner so I don’t forget. And a few things I track annually are birthdays, holidays, and important dates. Reading this might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but below are some guidelines I follow when planning all the above to ensure it is not too much.
Set Realistic Expectations
To regain control over your day, increase your productivity and better manage your limited time, I highly recommend having a plan for your day. However, there is such a thing as over-planning your day. I have been doing this for so long that it takes me no time at all to get my week planned because a lot of things become repetitive. I have also learned what details and specifics not to include in my weekly plan. It can seem really nice to go hour by hour and detail out exactly what you want to accomplish in those time frames but I have found I would always fall short of those expectations. I tried to do too many things in too little time and that’s just setting yourself up for failure.
So, set realistic expectations. The key is to start small and if you find you have extra time to include other things then, by all means, do it! Know yourself and organize your day in a way that makes the most sense for you. For example, I am not a morning person. I have tried so many times throughout my life to change this and have never succeeded. So, I do not plan for myself to get up early and do all these things because I 100% know that they will not get done. On the other hand, I am a night owl and can accomplish so many things between 10 pm and midnight and it makes way more sense for me to complete tasks then. Once you have figured out what you actually have time to do in a day and when it makes the most sense to do them, prioritize your daily tasks.
Prioritize
There is a big difference in needing to get something done and wanting to get something done. When planning or organizing your day, be sure to prioritize the tasks that need to be done or have to be done and complete those first. Once those are done, then you can focus on other tasks you want to do. When I plan out my week, on each day I write the tasks that have to be done on that specific day. On each weekly spread in my planner there is a notes section. In that section I include items I want to get done that week. Any task in that section I am unable to get done, I carry over to the next week. I have found keeping these types of task separated and off of a specific day somehow allows my mind to acknowledge they are optional tasks. Prioritizing this way can be hard, especially if the task you need to get done is not nearly as enjoyable as the task you want to get done. Be mindful of this. You are only hurting yourself when you push those “need” tasks off until the end of the day and running short on time!
Be Consistent
Consistency is key. Once you have established a plan, stick to it! You will not regret it. Getting organized is not easy and takes a lot of self accountability and self control. You are the only person you are reporting to and no one is forcing you to do this. But you can absolutely do it! The more often you sit down and plan, the easier it gets and eventually becomes second nature. It is such a relief once you have a plan to just open up that planner every day and already know what to expect.
I recommend checking your planner each night in case there is something you need to prepare for the next day. For me, this might mean I need to pull some ground beef out of the freezer to thaw for dinner the next night or making sure the diaper bag is fully stocked if we are leaving the house the next morning. I then recommend checking your planner every morning, just to refresh your memory and ensure nothing gets forgotten or overlooked.
Be Adaptable
Perhaps the most important thing to remember when planning is, be adaptable. Life will inevitably get in the way of your plans and you will have to change them. Maybe something will become a priority task that wasn’t before, maybe your child will get sick and you can no longer do half of the activities you had planned that week, maybe you woke up and just cannot get it together and you scrap the whole day, or maybe you had an employee quit and now you have to account for that person’s duties. Having a plan is just a guideline, an attempt to control the narrative of your day. But if you expect that things will change, and they will, you will be read to quickly adapt your plans when they do. Life is messy and unpredictable. By planning we try and make as much predictable as possible, but there will always be something that we weren’t expecting. Don’t let things out of your control control you. Embrace them and simply alter your plans to make it work.
I truly believe that being organized can be a game changer for people in all stages of life. There is a level of clarity and peace that comes with it. Am I perfect and do I always have everything in order? No. But I definitely practice what I preach. The majority of the time, even after all these years, you will find me planning once a week in an attempt to control the chaos around me and following through with my plans each day. Being adaptable was one that took me a while to grasp. I didn’t like when things changed but now I have come to expect things will always change and that has helped tremendously. Planning and organizing are something I love to do and help others with so if you are someone who struggles with this, I hope this helps get you started!