Aren’t we Un organized??

There are two types of human species existing in the world. One type of humans is those who organize not only their personal and professional lives flawlessly but also make effort to manage the lives of people around them. These people follow strict schedules, and set standards for themselves on being punctual, clean and orderly. Anything less is unacceptable to them.

The second category of men finds relief in a messy apartment, cluttered desk and disorderly workstation. At times these people have a great capability to look for things they require from this state of mess around them. Being unorganized doesn’t seem to bother them.

A woman who manages so many tasks at a time to run her home needs to really organize herself. This way in daily life, she will feel that on days, when she prepares for the next day the night before, the mornings will become so much easier and less chaotic. Planning the kid’s lunch the night before, laying out their clothes and making children put their books into their school bags well before time can twirl your life into less nerve-racking days.

Becoming organized is not so hard, provided you are determined to achieve it. Once you learn the skill of becoming ordered, you will find that gradually living an undisciplined life will start irritating you and you will not stay without clearing out the mess around you before you start working. So let’s embark on the journey from sheer dis-organization to ultimate arranged life and learn the art of self-organization in few simple steps.

Step 1

Always place a calendar on your working desk. Marking your appointments, bills, due dates, special moments on your calendar will help you in keeping track of all your pending tasks, making you punctual in your dealings with people around you.

Step 2

People who maintain a To-Do-List have reported that doing so helps them recall items they need to buy, places they have to go and all other tasks that require a reminder for their accomplishment. Once you complete a task on your To-Do-List, keep crossing off items.

Step 3

Take out a day for organizing your files. Label each of these files (hard or soft) with an easy to understand phrase and compile all related bills, and documents separately in these files. Doing this once will save you from so much trouble next time you sit down to work or look for a document.

Step 4

The biggest mistake people do is keeping all unnecessary things clinging to them. Learn to get rid of items that you don’t require. Dispose of documents that are of no more use. Give clothes that no more fit on to you. Clean out days old food stuff from the fridge and keep small boxes to store the one that still can be used. Doing only these few chores will make your life so much less stressful.

Step 5

Remember to put time limits in your life. Work against deadlines and try to meet them. Discipline your waking hours and once you start on an assignment, define a definite period of time to complete it.

Step 6

Identify your goals on daily basis, Ensure these goals are small and achievable. Now organize your time and life according to these goals. This way you will know what you are working towards.

Step 7

You cannot become self-organized in just one day. Managing your life well is an ongoing process and it will take time. Don’t get disheartened if there is too much burden on you in the beginning. Gradually, as you keep cleaning out your drawers, wardrobes and workstation, things will start to make sense and you will see accomplishments in your life.

In the end, remember to start with organizing your immediate surroundings first. This could be your room, your office table, your car dashboard, and your medical files. Doing so will give you a huge sense of accomplishment, with little fruits coming your way and save you from mess explosion at the end of the year or at a point when time is critical and you are required to do something urgently. Once you are organized, you are less doomed to curse yourself, making you more pleasant with people around you and your tasks much more effective. Try to believe it!

Filed under: organizing, calender, disorganized, get rid of clutter, household organizing, organizing, organizing tips, organizing your files, organizing your life, to-do lists

Intelligent way to plan your day and act accordingly!

How many times you have heard people saying that there is so much to do, so many things to achieve, yet so little time in life. We all can’t stop complaining about how much we need to do and how we are most of the time unable to do so. One of the most important thing that takes us forward is the discipline in life. Getting up early, sleeping on time, managing day-to-day tasks and not leaving things for tomorrow is the key to a better life. You need to plan your goals and divide them into monthly, weekly or daily basis.

Divide your chunk into monthly, weekly and daily tasks

Sit on one weekend, and plan your monthly goals due for that month such as launching a new product idea, identifying target audience for it, finding ways to market it. Then divide these goals into weekly basis. For example, one week for idea concept, two weeks designated for identifying audience and last week for marketing. Once you have done this, further divide the plan into daily tasks. Before you start your day, go through your daily plan and without thinking just start working on them. This term is also called as Get Things Started (GTS). This is our mental perception that plans usually fail and you can’t follow them for a longer period of time. But after experiencing it lately, I have realized that making a plan is a great help. Before my week starts, I use Microsoft Office OneNote (a useful application in Windows 7) and start writing my weekly tasks. Then as i keep working on them, i fill each task with the updates.  This is the best way to keep your focus while also keeping a check on what you have achieved.

Fill your bucket with rocks instead of sand

When working on daily tasks, it is essential  to spend more time on important things (due for that day)  instead of wasting your time on answering phone calls, replying to emails, attending meetings etc. Stephen R.Covey said concentrate on filling your daily bucket with rocks instead of sand. Rocks are the important tasks due on your part such as setting goals, launching a new project, creating vision for your team. Sand is the time we spend on tasks such as checking emails, cleaning your desktop, chatting, facebooking etc. Give all your focus to the rocks when you are working on them. Close your emails, turn off your mobile and just shut your door. You’ll see how productive you can be at the end of the day. How about trying this for real and then evaluating your results after every month. You will definitely feel that you have accomplished far more than before.

Filed under: organizing, organizing tips, organizing your life, planner, planning your day