#4 Get organised
Being disorganised has a direct impact on your health and well-being. It can make us feel overwhelmed and out of control and contribute to stress levels in our bodies, lives and even relationships.
The New Year brings the usual bombardment of how we can Declutter our minds or Detox our wardrobes or Revamp our storage space. There are a growing number of books and professionals who can apparently help us to get more organised.
Many areas of our lives could do with a bit more organisation (and so are topics for another day). In this blog, I share some tips on how we can improve the way we organise our time. For me, the degree to which I feel that I am managing my time does have a huge influence on my mood. There never seem to be enough hours in the day to fit in everything in that we plan to do (both at work and in our personal lives).
Can you relate to any of the following?
Feeling so overwhelmed by a growing to do list that you have no idea where to start
Getting through each day or week rather than enjoying it
Spreading yourself so thin that you don’t feel that you are focusing properly on one task
Being continually distracted by incoming emails, chat messages, text messages
Feeling bad about saying no (whether it is a social events or client demands or a meeting requests)
Spending far too long trying to find an important email or document or message
If the answer is yes then you (like me!) may need to get more organised. I have put together some practical ways to organise our time:
PLAN YOUR DAY / WEEK
Create a plan for the day or week ahead so that you have a clear picture of how your time will be filled:
Recognise your most productive time of the day and plan to do the tasks that require most focus or creativity
Factor in time to deal with the unexpected – there will always be urgent matters to deal with or demands on your time that you did not plan for
Don’t forget to build in ‘me’ time – a walk outside, a lunch break, exercise
Allow time in between scheduled meetings and calls to take a break / prep / gather your thoughts
Choose your preferred method to create your time plan or to do list – what works for me is using an online planner to categorise and prioritise tasks and my calendar to block out time for significant tasks
Be prepared for the fact that the plan is likely to change so be prepared to revisit and reprioritise
FOCUS ON ONE THING AT A TIME
It is very difficult to do anything well if we are trying to do too much at the same time. But we are all so often distracted by continual messages or new unexpected tasks or just a wandering mind. Who doesn’t feel a sense of achievement when you can tick something off and know that you have done it to the best of your ability?
Try to be more mindful about doing one thing and giving it your full focus - if you get distracted just become more aware that this is happening and re-focus
Don’t be afraid to tell people that you won’t be available while you are working on an important task
Don’t put important tasks off – we naturally tend to prioritise activities that we enjoy first and procrastinate when it comes to the things that we should be doing
BE REALISTIC
Don’t take on too much! Most of the time WE control how busy we are.
There are only so many hours in the day so don’t be afraid to say NO – think twice before you say yes to something you are pretty sure you can’t fit in
Don’t stress if you don’t get everything done on your to do list but do avoid future stress by:
o Asking for an extension to a deadline straight away – not after it has past
o Keep people informed – in my opinion, there is no such thing as too much communication but if you stay silent or don’t give regular updates – that is when problems arise
Don’t overpromise – there is nothing to be gained by saying that you will do something and then not doing it. Instead, set realistic expectations then you will delight if you deliver quicker than expected rather than disappoint!
AVOID DISTRACTIONS
We live in a culture now where people expect an instant response but there are no rules to say that we have to be available 24/7 and respond within 5 minutes.
Assign time to check and respond to emails or chat messages
o any actions that can be dealt with quickly, do them straight away
o move other tasks / actions on to your to do list
o move document attachments to somewhere where they will easily be found when you need them
Plan chunks of time when you completely shut off from chat, messages, email and social media or your favourite web sites. These are like black holes that suck you in and before you know it you have lost a lot of valuable time
I am not claiming that it is easy to keep on top of all of the demands on our time – it’s difficult. But we can all make a bit more of an effort to unwind our busy state of mind and get more done as a result.
