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5 Essential Habits to Help You Stay Organised

Almost everyone wants to improve their lifestyle and become more organised, but are unsure where to start.

Do you feel stressed and disorganised but unsure how to improve yourself? Most people tend to be reactive as opposed to reactive when they identify things that require reorganisation in their lives. To break this cycle and become an organised person, you must first develop healthier habits. 

So even if you believe that you are a very messy person, you can learn to be organised. From noting things down, to discarding unnecessary clutter and organising things based on their importance, as long as you’re willing to learn and practice, you will become an organised person. In this guide, we will share with you six habits on how to organise your life to increase productivity and success so that you can live peacefully without stress and chaos. 

1. Create Schedules and Deadlines 

Keeping things organised is closely related to remaining productive. It’s best for you to establish and maintain a daily and weekly schedule. Set deadlines and goals and most importantly, stick to them!  

If you live a chaotic lifestyle, you will not have the time or space to meet your deadlines and thus achieve your goals. As an exercise, you could look at your wish list or create one and write what you want to achieve this year or later in your life. Then write down what you need to do to achieve them. There are unpredictable twists and turns in life. By scheduling everything on a calendar and adding all your tasks to a list, you can work within the boundaries of your week and focus on everything that is important to you. 

Scheduling your day can help you achieve your goals!

2. Declutter on a Regular Basis 

If you want to be a highly organised person, you need to make some time every week or more to organise your affairs. Things will not organise themselves; they must be reorganised continuously and consistently.  

The best way to stay organised is to allocate specific times of the day for tidying and cleaning. You don’t have to spend a lot of time doing this either, 15 to 30 minutes a day is enough. Doing this every week will help in reducing stress and keep you more productive.

3. Get Enough Sleep 

Getting enough sleep is crucial. While this can seem counterintuitive or that it has nothing to do with living an organised life, lack of sleep can affect your mood and eventually lead to problems with keeping your life running smoothly.  

For example, if you want to organise your finances by saving or investing, you will probably procrastinate on that decision due to lack of sleep. When you feel tired and exhausted, it affects your ability to make better decisions. You will end up making unnecessary purchases, rather than saving or investing your money. Additionally, lack of sleep affects all other aspects of your life. You cannot get organised, be productive, or achieve exceptional success, if you cannot think clearly due to constant fatigue. 

Never underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep.

4. Delegate Tasks 

Delegating and outsourcing tasks that can cause you problems to others is another important tip to help you organise your life. For example, if you find it challenging to look after your garden, and you constantly procrastinate doing it, then just ask someone else to do it for you. If you have a budget, you can always outsource your work to others to maintain your productivity.  

Many of us want to do too many things every day. And we can’t just stuff everything into our day and try to do it ourselves. If you look at successful entrepreneurs, they certainly don’t do everything by themselves. They formed a team and hired professionals to help them complete their journey. Likewise, you have to think in the same way as you spend a lot of time working every day, and then catering to daily needs and routines. Therefore, the best way is to outsource and delegate your tasks. Start by identifying tasks which can be a nuisance, and delegate them to people specialised in these fields; as it can not only save you time but also get the job done well. 

5. Take Time Off and Rejuvenate 

One of the biggest mistakes most people make when trying to live an organised life is that they only focus on decluttering and organising and forget that they need to rest and recharge. Not only do you want your space to be organised, but you’d also want your mental space to be equally organised. The best way to manage your mental space is by spending some time relaxing and rejuvenating.  

When you are in a relaxed state, your thinking becomes sharp, allowing you to make better decisions. Similarly, when you’re fully charged, you can continue to follow through on your plan. Whether you are planning to clean up and organise your life, or work on a project that you have worked on for many years. The key is to maintain balance to avoid exhaustion. 

Self care is important when it comes to living a more organised lifestyle.

To Wrap Up 

Now that you’ve discovered these five tips on how to organise your life, one thing to remember is that living an organised life isn’t simply about delegating tasks or decluttering your home. Being organised is a principle, a way of life.  

If you’re looking to improve your productivity and organisational skills, Ceed is here to help you unleash your full potential! Speak to one of our life coaches to find out more. 

Different Types of To-Do Lists to Help Organise your Tasks

So you’ve got a list of tasks you need to do, but you can’t seem to work through them. As the list grows longer and longer, you’re left unmotivated to begin, continue and complete your assignments for the day. 

To-do lists should help you get things done, rather than complicate things and disrupt your productivity. By prioritising and organising the most important tasks from the least important, a practical to-do list should prepare you for the day to come. 

But different types of lists work for different people. Whether it’s using one type or combining multiple methods, an effective to-do list that works for you can help you progress through your tasks and achieve larger goals. 

Create a to-do list that helps you get tasks done
Creating an effectively list can help aid your productivity!

Here are a few different types of to-do lists to try out: 

Bullet Journal System 

Bullet journaling is an all-in-one organisational method that sorts out tasks (things you have to do), events (noteworthy moments in time) and notes (things you don’t want to forget) into a single journal using a technique called rapid logging

Rapid logging is essentially capturing information as bulleted lists. Bullet points are used alongside symbols to identify each category and the importance of each bullet. 

The versatility in customising your bullet journal means you can create a daily, monthly or yearly list that keeps track of all your tasks and priorities in one place. 

Bullet journaling is also a forgiving system when tasks haven’t been completed. According to research by I Done This, 41% of to-do items are never completed. Labelling a bullet with a new symbol signifies that it can be completed for a later date. 

While this type of to-do list requires a lot of upkeep, common reasons as to why people stopped using this method are that they were falling behind and weren’t sure if it benefitted their productivity

The Burner List 

Rather than listing multiple projects in overwhelming detail, this simple two-column list is intentionally limited to prioritise tasks that need to get done as soon as possible. 

The Burner List is split into four sections: the front burner and counter space on the left-side column, back burner and kitchen sink on the right-side column. 

  • Front burner: this is your top priority list. Your most important project, and the tasks it entails, will be listed here. 
  • Counter space: this space allows you to add more tasks to the front burner project if necessary. 
  • Back burner: your second most important project and its related tasks will be written here. 
  • Kitchen sink: this section is for miscellaneous tasks that you need to do but are unrelated to your front and back burner projects. 

Using the analogy of a chef cooking, the chef will focus more attention on the front burner (first project) while occasionally working on the back burner (second project) as well. 

Burner Lists are designed to be disposable, as you “burn” through the lists once you’ve completed your projects. Recreating this list allows you to constantly prioritise a new project but also discard unfinished tasks that have become unimportant. 

Whether it’s a work project or personal endeavour, the Burner List is accommodating when priorities shift from one project to another. 

While you won’t have room to write everything down, you can focus your time and energy on the tasks that matter the most for your projects. 

Digital Calendar 

If you’re sick and tired of bullet-point lists, using a digital calendar can help keep track of your tasks. By imputing tasks into your calendar, you’ll be able to schedule when to work on your tasks and for how long. 

Preparing ahead of time what tasks you’re going to do and for when limits indecision and forces you to start working immediately. Not only does a calendar keep you on task, but the ability to schedule breaks throughout the day helps you relax in between your tasks. 

With a digital calendar, it is easy to book recurring events, e.g. work meetings, as well as move tasks around due to scheduling changes. But if you underestimate the time it takes to complete each of your tasks, you might have to keep pushing tasks back to get your immediate task done on time. 

Digital Task Management Apps 

Having a to-do list on a mobile app is handy if you need to refer back to your lists often, especially if you’re working on a variety of projects that include many tasks. 

From Asana to ClickUp, there are a plethora of digital platforms that organise your tasks using a range of features, such as project sorting, prioritising tasks and scheduling recurring tasks. 

The ability to share lists with other people is ideal for collaboration as people will be able to work on different tasks that contribute to the same project. 

Completing tasks can be a source of stress for many, so Todoist has gamified task management through their Karma point system. Rewarding users with karma points once they have completed their tasks, people will be more likely to stick to their tasks as they progress through higher levels. 

While digital apps can create visually pleasing lists which sync across various devices, it will take some time to learn how to use these apps, especially when there’s a multitude of features to choose from. 

The Done List 

For those who get overwhelmed with to-do lists, the Done List may help you manage your stress when it comes to completing tasks. 

Rather than setting out your tasks for the day, the purpose of a Done List is to list all the things you’ve accomplished during the day. These achievements will determine the tasks you set for yourself tomorrow.  

This system recognises that people do not get enough done because they have too much to do. By reflecting on what you have done at the end of each day, you can reflect on your productivity levels and motivate yourself to work on your tasks the next day. 

It’s easy to feel guilty when you haven’t completed your tasks, but the Done List takes the emphasis away from incomplete tasks and focuses your attention on good things you’ve achieved. 

Having to update this list daily might seem like a chore, but over time, you’ll be able to track your progress when it comes to the tasks you’ve accomplished, whether big or small. 

Be proud of the tasks you managed to complete
Listing everything you’ve done today is a good way to keep motivation high!

To Conclude 

A to-do list is an essential productivity tool that helps people keep track of the tasks they need to work on. As it is something you will be using very often, you must find a to-do list that works for you. 

With tasks ranging from work to personal, it may be better to adopt different types of to-do lists depending on what projects you’re working on. 

Remember to revise your to-do lists often, whether that’s tackling a hefty task head-on or prioritising time-sensitive work, to allow your workflow to continue. 

An effective to-do list will get you organised, boost your productivity and give you a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day – making your life a little less stressful and a little more easier! 

If you’re looking to improve your productivity, Ceed is here to help you unleash your full potential! Speak to one of our life coaches to find out more. 

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