How to Organize Your Life In One Day
Simple, quick tips to start the decluttering process.
Getting organized is the foundation to building a wealthy life. When you're organized you're able to focus, prioritize your time, resources and finances, and grow instead of repeating the same time-wasting patterns every day. But most people never optimize their lives because they don't know where to start. Getting organized feels like an overwhelming, impossible task, especially if you already feel as if you don't even have the time to do the things on your task list.
Here are 5 ways to organize your life in under an hour so you can stop procrastinating and start enjoying your day.
1. Write everything down.
You can't get organized if you don't know where to start. The first step is writing down everything that needs to get done, and being as specific as possible. This means listing the actual tasks rather than just vague ideas ("clean room," "write report"). It also means including personal goals ("get in shape") and anything that is nagging at you or feeling like it should have been done already. Ask yourself if there is anything holding you back from being successful; this could be procrastination, fear of failure, or any number of other things.
Once everything has been written down, evaluate each task based on its importance:
You're going to use the tried and true Eisenhower Matrix to now sort these ideas into categories.
In the morning, as soon as you wake up do ONE thing before 10am and set a timer to allow yourself a finite amount of time to get it done. There's a saying that goes, "if you give yourself an hour, it'll take an hour... but if you give yourself a minute, it'll take a minute." Create boundaries with yourself and your time and stick to them.
Schedule a time when the "urgent + important" tasks will be accomplished and put them into your calendar immediately.
2. Sort your list into three categories: tasks, daily goals, and weekly goals.
It's important to prioritize your life. You want to make sure that you're spending time on things that will bring the most value and fulfillment, as well as move the needle with your money-making tasks. When you look at the tasks on your list, ask yourself: "Is this aligned with my goal?" If it isn't, put it in a different category.
Tasks are the smallest unit of work. They're discrete actions that can be completed within a reasonable amount of time and effort. A daily goal is usually just one task repeated every day (for example, going for a run). A weekly goal is typically several smaller tasks completed over the course of one week (like meal prepping every Sunday night).
3. Start with the biggest task
Start with the biggest task first.
You'll want to prioritize your list: look at all of your tasks, and order them in terms of importance. You can do this by asking yourself questions like "What needs to be done first?" or "Which task has a deadline coming up?" and then putting those items on top of the list. The goal here is getting through that long, daunting list in one day as efficiently as possible—which means some tough decisions will have to be made! For example, if one set of chores isn't dirtying any dishes or taking up much time but another requires cleaning out all my closets (which no one really loves doing, but it's not as awful as you might think it is!) then I would choose cleaning out my closets first since it's such an unpleasant task for me that I'd rather put it off until later if possible.
4. Start scheduling your to-do list (analog or digital).
There are many ways to use a calendar to help you organize your life. For example, you can use it to:
Help avoid time commitment conflicts by scheduling tasks and appointments in advance.
Prioritize work by making sure that the most important things are on top of the list, so they get done first.
If the idea of a digital calendar scares you go old-school. But whether you use a paper planner or a calendar app, remember that YOU are in charge of your time and it is a precious, finite resource that you should budget and allot the exact same way you do your money.
5. Reflect on your day, and adjust as necessary.
Reflecting on your day and adjusting accordingly is a crucial part of creating a system that works for you. Self-evaluation is the foundation of an organized life. Ideally, you should do this at the end of every day, but even if you only do it once a week or once a month, it's important to take time out to evaluate how things are going, and look for ways to improve.
Don't dwell on mistakes: This is one of the most common pieces of advice given when talking about improvement in any area, but it's worth repeating again because so many people fall into this trap of self-judgment! If you make a mistake or find yourself 'wasting' time during the course of your day, don’t beat yourself up over it—simply make note of where things went wrong so that next time around they go better. Don’t overthink it: It can be tempting to obsess about how well your system works for you—and whether or not there might be something better out there—but honestly? That's not necessary right now! You have enough work ahead without taking risks with your productivity by trying every 'hack' or 'trick' to save a few minutes during your morning routine; just stick with what feels comfortable and natural right now until we've had more time together (which will hopefully come soon!).
You can go from a messy, disorganized life to a focused and productive one in less than an hour if you know how to get started.
Before you dive in, take a few minutes to plan out your day so that it’s not just a bunch of random tasks. Write down everything you need to do and sort them into categories. Next, start with the biggest and most difficult task on your list (AKA: what you’re most likely procrastinating on) and work through it one thing at a time until it's complete. Finally, schedule the items into your calendar or planner so they don't get lost in an endless stream of emails and notifications.
Once this initial burst of energy has passed, reflect on how productive your day was. Did everything get crossed off? Are there any tasks that could be done differently next time? If so, adjust accordingly before starting again tomorrow!
Creating an organized lifestyle is something you will do for the rest of your life, so get comfortable making small tweaks to optimize your day and don't get anxious about 'figuring it all out' immediately.
