5 steps to organise yourself! If disorganisation is congesting your life and youre feeling scattered and frustrated as a result, its time to get organised. To achieve organisation on the outside, you will need to take steps on the inside, by clarifying your priorities, objectives, and how you want your belongings and lifestyle arranged. PART 1: KEEPING EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE Organise your space. Whether its your home, bedroom, kitchen, home office, closet, or desk, you need to see whats in there, throw away anything you dont often use, and give everything else a convenient and clearly designated space. a. Organised doesnt just mean tidy. The purpose of organisation is to be able to find, exchange, and evaluate items quickly. However, organisation can also help keep them tidy by providing a quick, logical space for adding and removing things. By organising your items hierarchically, youll just have to make a few decisions as you work your way down the hierarchy into increasingly narrower categories, rather than browsing. But dont overdo it, because its much faster to look at several items than to open and close or remove and replace a container. b. Put it back. Right now! Once you establish where everything belongs, you need to get in the habit of putting it back there as soon as youre finished using it. Dont put it on the kitchen table or on the couch and move onto something else, thinking to yourself that youll put it away later. Thats a big no-no. c. Reusable bags are your friends. Store away items in plastic bags. This way, the items will be compact, clean, and dust-free. But they will also be all over the place if you don’t have a storage system! Try drawer organisers for drawers that are enclosed. PART 2: USING A CALENDAR, PLANNER & SMARTPHONE a. Use a calendar. Get a calendar and put it in a place where you see it every day, preferably in the morning. For most people, thats on the refrigerator, on their desk, or on their computer desktop. Wherever you put it, make it part of your routine to refer to it every day. b. Use a planner. A planner is especially useful if you have a lot of appointments and your days are so varied that you have trouble keeping track of your schedule. For example, if you travel a lot or attend classes at various times of day, its much easier to carry a planner with you to consult frequently. c. Try a smartphone. A smartphone, particularly synchronised with network-based personal information manager, is even better than paper calendars and notesbecause the data is searchable, it can easily be entered into phone or wb-based tasks that need to be done. PART 3: MAKING LISTS a. Write it down! A short pencil is better than a long memory. Anything and everything you need to remember should be written down. Even if your memory is great, nobody is perfect and it doesnt hurt to put it on paper, just in case. Record phone numbers, appointments, birthdays, shopping lists, and things to do, and record them where you can easily find and refer to them when you need them. b. Make to-do lists. Make a to do list for your day. Your daily or immediate list should never be more than five items long, or else youre taking on too much and setting yourself up for failure. Mark one or two of those items as things you absolutely must get done that day, and pursue those tasks relentlessly until you get them done. PART 4: KEEPING TO THE SCHEDULE a. Follow through. Theres no point in making a to-do list if you dont discipline yourself to complete the tasks youve assigned yourself. There are many ways to stick to your to-do list. Stop procrastinating, remove or ignore distractions, and hop to it. If something keeps slipping to the bottom of your to-do list, take a good look at it. Is it really important? If so, get it over with, or at least get it started. If not, put it back in the long-term list for someday or get it off the list altogether. Dont let yourself get hung up on something for too long. b. Set a time. Setting a time frame in which each task has to be done throughout the day is another good way to keep one from procrastination, and keeping to their agenda. Knowing that one has designated a time slot for each item on the list lets one know that there is no need to rush to finish things. Don’t rush to finish it. If one were to rush to finish a task, it might not have been done as accurately as if one had taken the time and done it gradually and more effectively. c. Combine similar activities. Make all your phone calls at one time. Do all your errands at the same time. Pay all your bills at the same time. Do all shopping in one trip. PART 5: WORKING EFFICIENTLY a. Multitask. Task-switchingtakes time, so dont try to think about one thing, like a TV show, while thinking about another, like studying. Its most effective to multitask when one task is mindless, like folding towels, or can be set aside for automatic processing for a length of time. Just keep in mind that some studies have shown that multitasking may diminish ones ability to focus on one thing at a time. b. Delegate responsibilities. Make sure the person you appoint to do the task has all the tools necessary to do the task. Its hard to be organised if you insist on doing everything yourself. c. Make more decisions. Clutter and disorganisation is often the result of failing to decide what to do about, or with, something. Start flexing your decision muscles with little things, and youll soon find yourself more confident about taking action on the stuff around your home, on your desk and in your office. Try it today!
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 05:03:08 +0000
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