Have you ever wondered how other people manage to do it? The ones who never forget a birthday, never miss an appointment and still manage to have a tidy home, happy kids and a good work-life? Well, today we are sharing with you our 4 ingredients for an organized life, along with letting you in on a secret.
Let’s kick this off with that secret, and that is that no-one has it all together all of the time. No-one, no matter what social media might be telling you. We all have our ups and downs and we all drop the ball from time to time. We all miss things, we all have untidy homes at times. The key is in minimizing the chances of these things happening, which can be done with some of our tips.
You will find that there will be two types of people falling into the organized camp, and you definitely want to be in the latter camp.
The first will be the people running themselves to the bone in an effort to keep every single plate spinning. They are burning themselves out and they know it but can’t seem to find a way to switch off. Yes, they might be ticking the boxes, but at what cost and is it sustainable?
The second are the ones that do actually let things slip but take care that they are not the things that matter. These are the people who are very good at accepting what life throws at them. They are generally organized, they usually have a plan, and they can change things around at the drop of a hat. When their plans are derailed, as they often are by sick kids, work projects falling through and home emergencies, they switch themselves onto a new path.
Manage your aspirations
You want to aim to be organized, to have most things ticking along as they should be when they should be. You want to aim to be able to roll with any changes and you want to feel that you can relax. The goal is that by being organized, you free up time and things run smoothly, so take care to avoid getting more stressed by attempting to be more organized.
Accept that some days will not go as you want them to, and quickly work out what you can do to get back on track. For example, if you have a full day planned and then your little one is ill, remind yourself that they are your priority, give them your attention whilst only getting urgent jobs done and move all other tasks to the next few days. One day, or even one week, should not derail you if you have planned ahead.
Make lists
If there is one thing that all organized people have in common, it will be this one right here. You must make lists if you are to have an organized life.
You might have an amazing memory, and in fact, many people who are naturally organized are fortunate enough to have one. It can often come with the territory and it certainly helps as you are less likely to forget that appointment with a good memory. However, good memory or not, you will always want to be getting everything listed out too.
You might choose to use an app to do this or you might favor pen and paper, just go with whatever you feel more comfortable with. If you do opt for pen and paper, aim to keep everything in just one place, perhaps using a planner or a bullet journal.
You will want to make lists for everything. It is worth having a master list for big tasks, specific lists for things such as birthday party planning or gift-buying, and then you will work daily with your to-do lists.
The benefit of keeping those master lists if you get an overview of the coming month or months. You can then break down everything you need to do into more manageable chunks and spread them out over a few weeks.
Create routines
To get everything running smoothly on a regular basis, it is helpful to create routines for those things that you need to do often.
For example, it can help to create an effective morning routine, which in turn helps you to start your day on the right foot. This should set you up well each day, and if you have a family, it should prevent chaos each morning as you rush about to get ready for school.
You should then put in place various habits and routines for other parts of your day. You might like to assign certain days for household tasks, for getting some exercise, for spending time with friends and so on.
You might then want to create bedtime routines to help your children sleep well, routines to help you to work effectively and systems that keep you on top of household paperwork.
If there is an area that you know causes you stress or takes up too much time, have a think about how you could create a routine around it to help you.
Think ahead
If you want to stay organized, you are going to need to get into the habit of thinking ahead. Organized people are always thinking ahead.
To give you a practical example, if you never want to miss a birthday again, get yourself a calendar or grab your phone, and note down all of the birthdays that you want to celebrate. Make it a habit to check this towards the end of every month ready for the following month. When you see that you have a couple of birthdays that next month, go and get both of their cards and gifts now so that you have them ready and then find a suitable time to drop them round to them before the big day.
In this example, even if life throws you a curveball, you will have these things ready in plenty of time so you will stay on track.
