How to stay organised

Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not a naturally organised person. In fact, I’m more prone to being disorganised, than organised. But over the years I’ve managed to cultivate healthy habits, which have definitely helped me become the organised person I always knew I could be. From planning and making lists to ditching the unnecessary and organising things that really matter. You can become organised. You just need a willingness to learn and practice. So if you want to become the organised person you always thought you should be. Here are my top tips on how to get organised. But more importantly, how to stay organised.

TO DO LISTS ARE YOUR FRIENDS

Whether you choose to write your to-do-list in a fancy notebook. Or just grab the closest scrap or paper. If you can write down what you need to achieve that day then you can visually see what you need to accomplish. And can start ticking it off your list. Otherwise you’ll end up wasting valuable brain power by trying to remember everything you need to achieve.

PRIORITISE YOUR INBOX

For me, I use the four D’s of email management to manage my inbox. it’s incredibly useful, especially if you’re working on multiple projects at the same time. If you’re not familiar with the four D’s method, they are broken down into:

• DO – this is for the quick wins that you can do instantly
• DELETE – this is a personable favourite but take advantage of being this ruthless and delete what you can
• DEFER – this is for those emails that will need responding to, just not yet
• DELEGATE – don’t be precious over your emails, delegate what you can to stay efficient and organised

MAKE DEADLINES AND SCHEDULES

One of the key things about organised people, is that they don’t waste time. Keeping things organised and being productive go hand-in-hand. So make a schedule for the day or your week. Make deadlines and goals of what you need to achieve. And stick to them!

GIVE EVERYTHING A HOME

Keeping your life organised means keeping your things in their proper places. I find I can create so much more order by storing things properly and by labeling my storage places. It’s also a really great excuse to buy different storage boxes and crates and get out my trusty label maker. But as well as having a home for everything make sure you declutter regularly. Stuff doesn’t stay organised on it’s own. You have to find the time to reorganise and if necessary, declutter.

DON’T LET THINGS PILE UP

And the final thing I’ve learnt in how to be organised is not letting things pile up. When you’re being pulled in different directions it’s easier to let things pile up for you to sort when you have time. And that can be overwhelming. If a task is only going to take 2 minutes – do it then and there. Spend five minutes at the end of the day tidying bits away and pulling together what you need for the next day. Doing little things like this when you already feel swamped, will help keep the chaos down to a minimum.

So these are my tips on how to stay organised. Let me know if you follow any of these. And let me know in the comments if you have any other tips on how to stay organised.