We all know that person who gets on our nerves just because they are perfect. Of course, we don’t hate this person. But we are… kind of jealous, I guess!
It’s that stunning woman at work, who wakes up at 5 AM, has time to do her workout, get a shower, apply her perfect makeup, and get herself into an amazing outfit every single day. She’s effective at work, and she has time for all kinds of family activities. The rest of us are drawn out half through the work day, and we haven’t done half of the tasks she already covered.
It’s that student who also works out in the morning has time to prepare healthy meals, and attends the most challenging extracurriculars. He attends all classes, participates in constructive discussions, and always writes the term papers on time. For the rest of us, a schedule that packed is a mission impossible. We attend the classes, eat fast food, delay the homework, and hire a paper writer to help with assignments.
Those people who seem to achieve more than the rest are exceptions. The majority of us are struggling to make it through an average schedule, and we still feel like our private life suffers because we’re doing a lot.
Do you know what the problem is?
It’s not lack of time. Those exceptions don’t have superpowers. They just organize their days better.
Disorganization Is a Recipe for Disaster
Why can’t you live your life like you’re used to?
Why do you have to make an effort to organize yourself and your surroundings?
- It’s because disorganization ruins your life.
Let’s see how that happens, exactly:
- When you don’t have a plan for the day, your tasks seem overwhelming. At the back of the mind, you know you have to write that important report, but you don’t know exactly when you’re going to start. So you choose to do simpler things first, such as write emails, talk to your colleagues, or cover tasks that are not high on the list of priorities.
You’re dealing with procrastination here. It causes you to delay important tasks until it’s too late for you to pay decent attention to them. You’ll find yourself chasing an impossible deadline and undergoing a great deal of stress right before the due date. And you won’t achieve the best results.
- Disorganization stresses you out. You constantly say you don’t have enough time to clean the house, clean the working station, exercise, get a beauty treatment, and spend time with your kids. Some of these activities have to suffer because you’re convinced you don’t have enough time. Since you can’t achieve everything you want to achieve, you feel guilty. You’re stressed out.
- It just makes you ineffective. Plain and simple! That perfect lady in the office and that overachieving student have the same 24 hours a day that you have. But these people are effective, and you’re not. You’re not giving your best to your work, to your family, and to yourself. That has to change.
So How Do You Get Organized?
It all starts with micro-management. You need to start looking at the day as something that you can organize at stages. Let’s see how you can do that.
- First and Foremost, Get Your Sleep
You need eight hours of sleep, right? Don’t try to cut on sleep to gain time, since that causes you to lose time throughout the day. Here’s the logic behind that statement: if you’re not fresh and awake, you can’t be effective and you’ll be spending more time on the tasks.
So get your sleep.
We’ll add another hour to that, in case you need half an hour to fall asleep and half an hour to get truly awake. You’re left with 15 hours that you can effectively use.
Those are the 15 hours that you’ll cover in your daily schedule.
- Plan, But Do It in a Flexible Way
You don’t have to be too diligent with the planning. You can be flexible, especially when it comes to the time spent with your loved ones. Too much planning can make your life rigid and rather boring.
You definitely need to plan the activities throughout the day, especially the ones related to work. But do not get too attached to this list. If something urgent or unexpected comes up, the schedule should allow you to fit it in.
To achieve such flexibility, you’ll have to start working on each task earlier than necessary. If, for example, you need to write an important report and the deadline is in a week, you won’t pack it in the schedule of the last two days before the deadline. If you do that, any unexpected situation would leave you with a panic attack.
Always plan to cover large tasks in stages rather than in a binge.
- Develop Rituals
When you want to start an activity that’s not necessary for work or for harmonious family life, you tend to delay it. Many people want to start doing yoga in the morning, but they are not committed enough to that goal.
Maybe you want to start reading, watching documentaries, or hiking. If that’s just an imaginative goal, you don’t stand big chances to achieve it. You need to start taking action, and you need to turn that action into a routine.
If, for example, you want to start exercising, you should do it every morning without exceptions. Sure; that means you’ll wake up earlier than you’re used to. But you’ll go to bed earlier, so you’ll make up for that hour.
It will be hard for the first few days or even weeks. Your own mind will play tricks on you. “I’ll just hit snooze just one more time… I can’t do it today; I’m too tired. I’ll start tomorrow. No harm in that, right? I need more sleep…”
You’ll probably have to force yourself out of bed. So what? Do it! No matter what excuses your mind finds, get up and engage in the activity you set as a goal. After a month or so, you’ll notice it’s turning into a habit. You’ll be getting up without any effort, and you’ll be rolling out that mat early in the morning like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Keep it up!
- Clear the Clutter from Your Mind
Do you know why organized lists work so well? They keep your mind on a particular goal, so they help you focus. Instead of bouncing from one activity to another without an actual plan, you’ll know what you need to do to get through another effective day.
But even the most organized list can’t help if your mind is cluttered. You need to allow the focused state to enter your mind, so your thoughts can collaborate with this list.
You can achieve that if you take your time to think about each task you include on the list. Make the list for the next day before you go to bed. Don’t just randomly list activities. Take your time to logically arrange the points.
This is another routine that you need to develop. It helps you stay calm about the day ahead, knowing that you have a reasonable plan and there’s enough time for everything. So you’ll go to bed without much to worry about, and your mind will finally calm down.
Become and Stay Organized. You’ll Love It!
It’s not easy to turn yourself into a whole other person overnight. It takes some time and a lot of commitment for you to get into a more effective vibe. It’s really easy to give up somewhere along the way and go back to your old habits of delaying. Delaying is easy. Being effective is not that easy.
Make that commitment. When you become more effective, you’ll have more space to grow as a person. You’ll love it!