The Pink Muse: Changes That Can Help You Have an Organized Life

English: Gentaur schedule (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I'm generally a klutz by nature. I always forget things, become late, do my work haphazardly and sacrifice quality of my work for the sake of being efficient. I am good at forgetting to remember and remembering to forget. There was one time I was so absent minded that I locked myself out of my car with the engine running (I have no powerlock), with the spare key inside my handbag, which is also inside the car. Stupid, noh? Haha! I'll save that story for later.

That is why one of my goals this year is to become a more "organized" person so to speak. What is my idea of being organized? I think an organized person is someone who manages his or her time efficiently to do all the tasks that he or she intends to do within the day. It is someone who can, as much as possible do the things that he placed in his schedule without being haggard or stressed out.

Right now I am learning to be a more organized person and I discovered that there are some changes that I did that helped me become more organized and I thought I would share it to help some people manage their time and resources to feel lesser stress and more productivity:

1. Having a planner helps - I realized that having a planner is such a big help in keeping your schedule. Without a planner, it always feel like anything goes. You will not set schedules or deadlines for yourself if you cannot see your to-do list. Write your to-do tasks in the morning so you will have your mind set with the things that you have to do.

2. Do routines at same time of the day - the reason we forget some of our routines is because we always place it somewhere around the day but don't specify the time. If you cannot specify a time, try to at least make a routine only at AM or PM. For example, putting on eye cream is something you usually forget, then commit to always scheduling putting your eye cream at night.

3. Commit to your schedule - the reason you have a schedule is for you to as much as possible, do it without missing anything. Don't let laziness attack you. Have someone accountable around to encourage you to finish difficult tasks.

4. Check each task finished - when you're writing down your schedule, check each task accomplished. The mere act of crossing out of checking gives you a sense of accomplishment. I use it also with my students in therapy and it helps them set their minds throughout the activity and I notice that their compliance also improves even if they like or don't like what's in their schedule. Checking your finished tasks boosts your confidence to finish all of them.

5. Don't be upset when there are things that you weren't able to do - If unforseen circumstances caused you not to finish your to-do list, then calm yourself (like what I do) because there's always tomorrow, or even later. Being upset will only bring you negative emotions which will deplete your motivation to finish the rest of your tasks.

I hope these tips help! What are other tips you can think of that helps you become organized?