Are you feeling overwhelmed and disoriented? It’s time to take control of your life! In this post, I will provide practical tips and strategies to help you organise your life, reduce stress, and increase productivity – these techniques will empower you to achieve a more balanced and fulfilling lifestyle.
Do a Life Assessment
Look at your daily decisions and habits. Automate or eliminate where you can. Break things down into the following categories that apply and see where you need to put in some work to be more efficient, productive, fulfilled, and happier.
- Health and overall Well-being
- Personality & Character
- Relationships & Connections
- Career / Business & Finances
- Quality of Life (aka Lifestyle)
Also, acknowledge where you are doing well and give yourself credit x
Create a Life Map or Vision Board
Visualise the life you want. Sit down and picture it vividly in your head. Where do you want to be this time next year? How do you want to feel? Write it down like it already happened. This is how you plant the seeds for what you want.
Create & Utilise a Daily To-Do List
Create and utilise a daily to-do list. Jot down every single thing you need to do and methodically prioritise your workload. This allows you to put everything into perspective. I don’t know about you, but I love the satisfying feeling of ticking off each task throughout the day.
READ MORE: How to Write a Better To-Do List
Prioritise
Another effective way to live an organised life is by prioritising; What NEEDS to be done? And… What do you WANT to get done? – these two things are very different. I recommend prioritising your to-do list every day with a system that works for you – maybe it’s colour coding or it could be utilising symbols. Define your x 3 Most Important Tasks and focus on these first.
Set Goals
Based on areas you want to work on in your life assessment, create some goals and more importantly create an inspired action plan for achieving those goals.
Break down your big goals into 3-4 sub-goals so that you have smaller tasks that don’t seem so overwhelming, and check in every 3 months so you don’t forget about them.
Organise your Calendar
I’ve been using Google Calendar for years now and love it – I use it for appointments & events, obviously, but I also use it for my daily to-do’s & reminders – everything in one place (I like to keep my systems simple).
Set up Visual Habit Reminders
This is one of the most important ways to get and stay organised. When you’re trying to establish productive habits half the battle is just remembering to do them. That’s why it’s vital to create visual cues that will trigger the habit when you see them.
- Put your vitamins next to your breakfast items
- Place your planner or journal next to your bed or coffee cup
- Set out your gym clothes the night before
- Make healthy foods easier to see and access than junk food
Allow enough Time
Make sure you are realistic with your time – this is one of the easiest ways to organise your life. Overestimate, rather than underestimate and be strict with yourself.
Create a Budget
It’s really important to know where your money is going. Know your monthly income. Create 2 categories:
- Needs
- Wants
List your necessities like rent/mortgage, food, utilities etc. See what the total is and deduct that from your monthly income. Then put a certain amount away for savings, retirement, emergencies, or a special trip.
What’s left is what you can spend on wants like Starbucks, Netflix, books, and anything that you don’t technically need. If you can live without it for a month or more it’s not a need.
Make cuts where you can:
- Meal prep instead of buying lunch every day
- Wear the clothes you already have instead of buying new ones
- Don’t upgrade to a new phone every year when yours still works fine
Have a Weekly Planning Session
Have one day a week that you sit down and spend 10-20 minutes planning your week and checking in on your goals – I do this on Sundays. This is how you make real progress. The completion of any goal comes in slow and steady steps, it never happens in one leap or overnight.
Do a Life Admin Day
A life admin day is when you do all the tasks you’ve been putting off for ages.
- Schedule a doctor’s check-up, dentist, or optician appointment
- Post that parcel you’ve been meaning to send out
- Run errands that aren’t in your usual routine
- Clean the room or area that’s been messy for a while
- Go through your pantry and stock it up
Create a Sunday Routine
Preparation is key to getting your mind in the right head space to tackle the week ahead. Set aside 10 minutes to sit down with your diary & look over your schedule for the week on a Sunday.
- What nights will you not be home for dinner?
- What days do you need to pack your gym gear?
- Do you have any pre-work coffees & need to set an earlier alarm that day?
- Are there any important meetings booked that you need to plan for?
Plan your Meals in Advance
Organise not only your work life but also your home life by planning your meals – this is something I do over 3 days:
- Friday: Meal Plan (using the ingredients I already have in my fridge & pantry)
- Saturday: Buy groceries & stock up my pantry for the coming week
- Sunday: Meal Prep so cooking & eating healthy meals throughout the week is like a breeze
Set a defined day weekly to plan your meals and write your grocery shopping list. If you’re time-poor I suggest ordering groceries online to be delivered every Sunday or utilising a service like Abel & Cole or Hello Fresh.
Cultivate a Capsule Wardrobe
Knowing your Signature Style and having a capsule wardrobe with clothes that reflect that style will make you look and feel your best.
Take all your items out of the closets and dressers and hold them one by one while asking if that item makes you happy or is used often. Donate or discard what you no longer need, use, or love. A good rule is to discard anything that hasn’t been used in at least a year. Only keep things that you love and feel confident in.
Declutter your Kitchen
The kitchen is the heart of many homes, so make it a pleasant place to be in. Like most people you may have a goal to eat better, so now is a good time to set yourself up for success.
- Empty your fridge and pantry
- Throw away expired food. Donate anything that’s still good but you know you won’t eat
- Clean all your shelves and drawers
- Put healthy items in front so you see them first
- Make unhealthy items harder to reach or put them out of site
Deep clean your Bathroom
One of the most important places to clean is the bathroom.
- Sweep and mop the floors
- Clean the inside AND outside of the toilet
- Scrub the tub/shower, sink, and counter
- Clean and organise the drawers and cabinets
- Throw away anything that is expired or unused
- Stock up on new products
Rearrange your furniture
Sometimes you get done cleaning and your space still doesn’t feel as inspiring or fresh as you might like. See if you can rearrange your furniture or home decor to make the space more functional or visually appealing – this is something I do at the end of every season to enter the new season afresh.
Declutter your Desk or Work Space
Whether at work or home, clean and organise your work area. This will help you be more productive and feel happier while working.
- Throw away dried-out pens
- Have a designated space for pens, scissors, tape, paper clips, etc.
- Create an inbox for papers, bills, and other mail that you clear out once a week
- Dust and wipe down the area
Declutter unnecessary Papers, Books & Magazines
This might be an easy way to get organised, or hard for some if you have years’ worth of papers. Either way, you’re going to feel good once you unload this clutter.
I went paperless when I embarked on my Minimalism journey back in 2019. I had more than 500 books, 100s of magazines, files upon files with paper, printables, workbooks and so on. I sold/donated/gave away the books and magazines and threw all the papers away. Now, 3 years later, I own about 20 books (physical copies), 2-3 magazines, and one folder with important documents. When I buy books, I buy them on Kindle, borrow them from the library or read them online through the library app.
Digital Declutter
Delete unused apps, photos, files, playlists, and contacts. Uninstall apps and programs you don’t use on your devices. Unfollow social media ‘friends’ or random people you don’t even talk to. Unsubscribe to newsletters you never open.
READ MORE: 7 Ways to Simplify Your Digital Space & Gadgets
Give everything a place
There is nothing worse than starting your day in a chaotic, messy space. Everything needs a home, and A CLEAN SPACE = A CLEAR MIND. From storage cabinets to folders – find functional storage solutions that fit your style and utilise these to your advantage.
Download Apps that Elevate Your Daily Life
With so much on the go, and only 24 hours a day, how do you make the best of your time? How do you simplify your life and make it easier, while still completing all your tasks and finding some time to enjoy your life in the process?
10 Journaling Prompts to help you organise your life:
- What does “organised” mean to you? What does an organised life look like, feel like, and sound like? Is it having a perfectly clean house, a detailed planner, or something else entirely? Explore your personal definition of organisation.
- What areas of your life feel the most chaotic? Is it your work, home life, finances, or something else? Identify the specific areas where you feel overwhelmed or disorganised.
- What are the biggest obstacles preventing you from being more organised? Are there specific habits, beliefs, or external factors that contribute to your disorganisation?
- What are your core values? How can aligning your actions with your values help you create a more organised and fulfilling life?
- What are your long-term goals? How can breaking down these goals into smaller, actionable steps help you stay organised and focused?
- What are your daily habits? How do your daily habits contribute to your overall sense of organisation or disorganisation? Identify habits that support your goals and those that hinder them.
- How do you handle stress and overwhelm? Do you have healthy coping mechanisms in place? Explore how stress and overwhelm can impact your organisational skills.
- What are your biggest time-wasters? How can you identify and eliminate these time-wasters to create more time and energy for the things that matter?
- How do you prioritise tasks and responsibilities? Do you have a system in place for prioritising your to-do list? Explore different time management techniques and find what works best for you.
- What small steps can you take today to move towards a more organised life? Set realistic and achievable goals for yourself. Remember, small steps can lead to big changes.
Feel free to sign up to my Sunday Morning Letters HERE! It's like having a cup of tea and a chat with me on Sunday mornings - a strong dose of inspiration and encouragement to help you Curate & Live a Well-Designed Life; Consciously, Intentionally & Wholeheartedly. I want you to live your life fully - each day, less on autopilot and more on purpose - living a life of meaning ♡
