5 WAYS TO ORGANISE YOUR LIFE
5 WAYS TO ORGANISE YOUR LIFE
“The trouble is you think you have time.”
We couldn’t put it better than Buddha.
But we can help you take control and pilot when your time flies. Here are the five of the best ways to manage time, ease stress and organise your life.
PRODUCTIVE PLANNING
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”
One of the biggest misconceptions about planning is that it’s only vital for the the big things, i.e weddings, events, exams, etc.
The perception that one requires planning for a specific one off occasion but not for the incessant spiral of multitudinous obligations, aspirations, commitments, burdens, promises, deadlines and appointments reaches unfathomable heights of illogicality. We grant you planning permission.
Any and everything you need to remember should be written down. A short pencil is better than a long memory.
Daily schedules, notes-to-self, to-do lists, priority lists, calendars, weekly plans, monthly plans, yearly plans, the famous 5 year plan. Some are better suited for different purposes: a daily schedule for managing the workday; a kitchen calendar to organise the family’s upcoming events, activities and chores; or an annual system to track the progress of your career performance etc. Just select the ones that suit your areas of improvement, if all, then all – we don’t judge.
Whether you keep it on the fridge, your desk, smartphone or inside the bathroom cabinet where you keep your toothbrush, there is something to be said about the inescapable visibility of ones to-do’s.
They’ll be no saving it for that promised land of productivity, ambition and achievement you call “tomorrow”. You will be shamed by your dawdling procrastination as it taunts you with its unavoidable stare.
As well as spurring your motivation, you’ll be able to instantly prioritise your responsibilities at a glance, thus managing your time more effectively. Furthermore, nothing beats that sense of satisfaction when you tick off your accomplishments.
OWN IT? HOME IT!
“A place for everything, everything in it’s place”
Is there any better feeling than finding your keys in the first place you look? Do we even want to know it? Keeping your life organised starts with keeping both your time and environment organised. So housing your possessions kills these two birds with one smart stone. Think about the ease of grabbing a knife and fork at dinner time. Now think about that mini meltdown when you can’t find a clean fork in the drainer. If you regularly experience the latter and not just concerning cutlery, then pay close attention.
If it has a home it can’t get lost. If you know where to put it then you’ll know where to to find it, it’s all in the art of putting it away. Hairbrush, headphones, remote controls, etc. put it away IMMEDIATELY after use and never waste a second “looking”.
Boxes, buckets and baskets can be used to group like items you have and don’t use all the time, saving yourself some valuable shelf space. Why not keep the cleaning supplies for floors and surfaces in a plastic bucket and bring it from room to room on chore day. Mind blown? We know. The simplicity of storage space should not be overlooked, but beware of the truism that is out of sight out of mind. In other words, don’t compromise practicality for neatness.
DON’T pile your pills in the back of your medicine cabinet.
DO neighbour your vitamins with your alarm clock so it’s the first thing you see every morning.
Remember, the ‘home it’ habit isn’t solely for neatness; it’s to set a system that makes your life easier.
THE BIN IS YOUR BUDDY
“Use it or Lose it”
Are you one box of clutter away from an episode of hoarders? Let me introduce you to something: the bin. Clutter increases stress, anxiety and stops productivity. Visual disorder can make us feel mentally disorganised. “Perhaps it’s because clutter clogs our perceptions of what’s possible in a given space, and restricts our impressions of our available choices- or even of our identity,” says Wanda Urbanska. The word ‘clutter’ derives from the Late Middle English word ‘clotter’ which means to coagulate. This explains why we clutter carelessly when our energy stagnates. Everything around us is a reflection of our inner self so it’s no wonder that disorganisation of our surroundings serve as a mirror for a stuck state of mind.
Ready to take action? Take a bin bag. When you’re cleaning or tidying up, pull one of the ties over one of your wrists and carry it as you go. If it’s It’s harder to justify an item’s relevance than to drop it in the binbag – you know what you need to do.
Tasking near the trash is an efficient way to clear the chaos before it even gets a chance to clutter. Try reading your post over the bin to instantly dump the junk mail and nuisance newsletters. Change your handbag and empty your pockets by the bin to ditch receipts, chewing gum packets and used tissues. It’s best to deal with things as soon as they come through the door as it’s a only a short way out.
Who doesn’t love a bin you don’t have to take out, doesn’t smell and never get’s full? It’s your desktop recycle bin of course. Take control of your technology and delete/uninstall everything you haven’t used in the past 3 months to save yourself space, time, performance lags and pestering update prompts.
but more on tech next…
TELL YOUR TECH WHO’S BOSS
“Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything, except over technology”
Show your phone who the smart one really is:
1.Back up everything
2.Make friends with folders
3.Filter your mail (primary, notifications, newsletters, by subject, recipient etc)
4.Archive – it will always be there when you need it
5.Save, manage and protect all your passwords
BYE BYE BAD HABITS
“Do something today that your future self will thank you for”
The extent to which YOU take responsibility over something is the extent to which you take control over it; denial is not just a river in Egypt. There’s no better way to lose a habit than to replace it with a better one.
Indecisive? Exercise the art of unapologetic prioritising. Always late? Set every clock you have 15 minutes ahead of time. It takes 21 days to form a new habit so by putting a pattern of productivity into practice you will reap results this time next month!