How To Plan and Stay Organized

Planning and organization are the keys to success. Without planning and organizing, it’s hard to keep track of daily tasks, routines, events, appointments, etc. It’s so important to take a couple minutes to sit and plan out your day.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The first thing I do for the week is tentatively schedule out everything I need to do outside my full time job. I work Monday through Friday for 10 hours a day so the little bit of day that I have free is used to write, read, edit, workout, and relax. Keeping my mornings open for exercise and social media allows me to wake up and not feel flooded with work. I find that I’m most creative in the morning and early afternoon. Then as the day progresses, I come up with ideas for content and execute them at night. After work is for writing and creating content.

In order to stay organized, I keep track of everything I need to complete in a physical and electronic planner. I still use a physical planner because I am a visual person. If I don’t have it in front of me, chances are I will forget to do it. I keep my planner open on my desk to either the general month layout or the daily spread so that I can see the hourly breakdown throughout the week. I also use the Calendar and Reminder apps that come with any Apple product to keep myself on task. It probably seems a little extra but when you’re as busy as I am, you need all the reminders you can get.

Another way I stay organized is by planning for error. Not every day is going to go the way you think. Work may be a little busier than you anticipated, or you may have to work later than you though, or that meeting that was supposed to be an hour turned into an hour and a half. It happens. My best advice for you is not to plan every single day down to the minute. Instead, plan a broad overview of everything that needs to get done.

A third way that I keep myself organized is my making sure I don’t overbook myself. If I already planned for a workout before work, I’m not going to take on extra hours or blow off my workout because I want to sit on the computer for an extra 45 minutes. It all boils down to balance which is crucial in planning and organization. Spending too much time on one thing and not enough time on another thing will only lead to things getting unorganized and messy.

One final way I like to stay organized is by keeping my work environment clean and clutter free. De-clutter your space to allow for an open space to get work done. It also allows for a clear mindset and less distractions. I’m a big believer in the “less is more” mentality. I try to keep as little on my desk as possible. My essentials for blogging are the only things that can be found on my desk right now. Besides my plants, those are essentials in life (#amiright ?!).

If you have any other tips and tricks for staying organized and planning for success, drop them in the comments below! I think it’s so important to stay organized because without it, life gets too chaotic.