How to Organize Your Life in Five Steps

Remember that Thanksgiving dinner? Remember all those delicious looking plates stacked all the way to the ceiling? What about the warm pie waiting next to the sizzling turkey? Wow, suddenly you had to choose what goodies to serve yourself because there was NO way you could try everything in one meal! There was too much food and you had only one stomach and limited time. What did you do? You probably decided to have a little bit of everything so you could have enough room for that warm apple pie. Right?

You’re probably wondering why I’m talking about Thanksgiving dinner when I’m supposed to give you an awesome tip on how to save your life from waaay too many things to do. Well, your life can be like that dinner a lot of times. You have too many choices to make, things you want to do, and still you want that apple pie! You have a busy life, hardly have time to sit back and enjoy half an hour of quiet. You are so busy you can’t accomplish anything. Don’t feel bad, we’ve all been there. I’ve been there, and it can be frustrating. So, what can we do? I’m not promising to fix your life for you in a matter of minutes, no, but I am lending you a helping hand to get you organized.

Step One: Write Things Down

Everyone will agree with me on this one, don’t rely on your memory. If you have a lot going on in your life and you’re trying to remember every single detail of what needs to be done, you’re doomed. I don’t mean to sound negative, but if you’re like me then you forget what you where supposed to be doing in a matter of seconds. And trust me, this is not fun. So instead of trying to rely so much on your memory, try writing things down. You can do this on you phone, planner, or favourite notebook. Just be sure to keep your list where you are sure to see it.

Step Two: Prioritise

If you have too many things to do and you aren’t getting anything done, you probably have to make the same decision you made on Thanksgiving. (That again? Yeah.) You couldn’t eat everything, so you only picked the things you wanted the most. This is a huge step towards getting organised, and it’s called prioritising.

If you have too much going on in your life and can’t do everything, just pick the things that are most important right now. If you have to meet a deadline, and have tons of laundry to do all on the same day, just work to meet your deadline and then do your laundry. Pick out what is more important right now and do it with all your might. The rest can wait. You can’t do everything in one day, so pick the things that are most important and do those first. It is better to do a few things and do them well than to have too many things to do and do them all wrong. Just like you couldn’t eat every meal at Thanksgiving, you can’t do everything at once in you life.

Step Three: Set Goals

If you don’t have goals, then you can’t have accomplishments. It’s a fact. If you’re trying to make your life more organised, then set daily goals. By no means am I telling you to cram your days with tasks. Nope. Just fill your days with easy-to-accomplish goals and your life will change! The key here is to keep it simple. Don’t take more than you can carry.

Step Four: Never Say, Tomorrow

The temptation to leave a task, no matter how small, for tomorrow, is bigger than any mountain. “Wait,” says the little voice. “Do it in an hour. Do it tomorrow, you need to rest.” Don’t do it! If you fall into the temptation of leaving things for later, you’ll never get your tasks done. If you can do it right now, then do it and get it over with. Turn procrastination into your worst enemy.

Step Five: Don’t Get Distracted

A lot of times there will be things that distract you from getting goals done. And that’s ok. If you have friends you want to hang out with, selfies to post, and posts to read, do it. But don’t do it right before you plan on beginning a task. If your about to begin on your homework, or cleaning house, or anything for that matter, don’t grab your phone. The most probable thing is you’ll fall into the black hole of distraction. And this won’t get the job done. So make a balance between your work life and your social life (and your Netflix life). This will actually save you a lot of time, and work, in the future.

Now that you have a few tips, go and show everyone you can be organized!

Anna