Becoming more organized is a common goal for a lot of people and for good reason. An organized life often feels like a more productive and proactive life. You feel like you’re ahead of the game as opposed to constantly feeling like you’re playing catch-up. With today’s hectic schedules, both in your personal and professional lives, it can be hard to just “get organized.” It helps to have some tips and tricks on hand to get you there.
1. Consolidate Your Apps
Seriously, how many tabs and apps do you have open right now? It’s so much to manage! And while you may be a master multi-tasker, anyone can get worn down over time by an increasingly heavier load. Running team project tools, communication apps, and customer relationship management software can get chaotic. It seems like there’s an app for everything these days, and many businesses just keep adding them on.
The good news is it doesn’t have to be that way. Where once software developers were focused on creating one app for one task, an increasing number have recognized the need for consolidation. Now, you can get do-it-all small business software that will allow you to, well, do it all. You can chat with your team, manage customer relationships, create invoices, run marketing campaigns, and even run your calendar all from one place.
2. Get the Right Calendar (And Use It!)
Speaking of calendars, make sure you’ve got the right one for you. Yes, there are dozens of great options out there, and some of them come with these do-it-all platforms, but you’ve got to get the one that meets your needs. Your calendar should provide an overview of your day and your week at a glance. It should offer space for creating and removing events, and it must allow you to create lists. (You don’t want to have a whole separate space for your to-do list.)
Now, once you pick out your calendar, you must use it. The key to getting organized is not just to have a calendar but to actually use it regularly and correctly. That means you need to block out time accurately for meetings, breaks, events, and even leisure time. If you struggle with managing conflicting schedules, using a meeting scheduler can streamline the process of arranging and coordinating meetings. Also, make sure you share your calendar with essential people, whether they’re friends, family, or colleagues.
3. Delegate
So, you’re a natural leader. Maybe you’re an executive at a firm. Perhaps you’re a small business owner. You might even be a work-from-home parent. One big problem with many leaders? You struggle to delegate. You’re so used to working hard and doing everything yourself that you never learned to hand off tasks that don’t need your direct contact. This has led to you having way too many items on your to-do list each day, which can feel impossible to organize.
Well, there’s a simple solution. Delegate more! You don’t have to hand off everything at once; take it slow and identify which jobs can be done by others. Then, shift your perspective from lone wolf to inclusive leader. Think of delegation as a form of training your team members to be their best. Communicate the essentials of the task and focus on your staff getting results. Now, you’ve eliminated items from your calendar, and you can organize what’s left.
4. Minimize Clutter
This one probably feels obvious, but part of the reason to delegate is to get rid of non-essentials. You can take this approach with your calendar, with your to-do list, and with your life. Where is there clutter that you can get rid of? You might be spending too much time scrolling mindlessly through social media. Maybe you’re allowing meetings to drag on longer than needed. Make the cuts in your day where you see “clutter.”
And getting rid of clutter doesn’t just refer to your to-do list. It also means your physical space. Look around your home and your office; being surrounded by “stuff” can often feel claustrophobic and overwhelming at the same time. Take the time to throw away, or pack into storage, items you don’t need in that particular space. A little at a time, you’ll be able to create more open spaces, and what remains will be easier to organize.
5. Build Structure and Consistency Into Your Life
Last but not least, you’ll need to create a predictable schedule, for your space and your time. You may have learned this as a new parent — children need predictability. Well, so do adults. A lack of predictability can make it harder to be productive, proactive, and organized because you don’t know what to expect. You set yourself up to always be adapting and shifting to whatever chaos comes.
When you build structure and consistency into your life, you create a predictable model that becomes easier to work with and around. You know what’s coming, and when, and you can plan accordingly. Within this inherently organized structure, you can organize everything else, from meetings and events to your desk. Then, when you’re ready to stretch out of that comfort zone, you’ll just build a new predictable, organized structure to go with your growth.
In the end, there are many components to getting organized, and as you can see, it runs throughout your life. At work, at home, with friends, and with colleagues, you’re aiming to become reliably well-put together. It can make your days flow easier, and you can feel like life in general is more manageable. As a bonus, everyone around you may start asking you for your secret, so they can have the calm, relaxed manner you’ve developed, too.