With so much going on in our lives, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to getting—and staying—organized. The struggle to get it all together is real!
The good news is that the knack for getting organized isn’t something that you either possess or you don’t. Instead, it’s a skill—something that can be sharpened over time.
In our Organize Your Life series this month, we’ve been looking at the benefits of organization, and sharing our top strategies for getting organized. From tips for organizing your finances, to suggestions on making the most of your personal time, to strategies for streamlining projects and tasks—we’ve touched on a number of different ways to help streamline your life, work more efficiently, and get the absolute most out of your day.
To round out this series, let’s take a look at six steps to organizing your life with Day Designer. Our best-selling Flagship Daily Planner is an indispensable tool for just that. Let’s get started!
1. Map Out Your Month
A tool like Day Designer can help you map out your month, allowing you to see at a glance what you have going—and when. Instead of relying on sticky notes, cumbersome notebooks and long lists to stay organized, you can ensure that everything is organized by date and priority, ensuring that nothing gets forgotten and that you don’t accidentally overbook yourself or your family.
2. Write Everything Down
Writing everything down is another key benefit of Day Designer. Whether it’s appointments, projects, to-dos, or even brain dumps, the ability to get it all out and down on paper—all in one place—frees up valuable brain power for your more thoughtful, creative projects and tasks.
Don’t attempt to keep track of your appointments and tasks mentally; writing things down frees up your mind to focus on other things!
3. Schedule Time Between Commitments
Another key feature of Day Designer is that it allows you to schedule in time between commitments by mapping out your day. Not only will a slight time buffer keep you from having to rush from one task to the next, but it’ll save you from arriving late as well. A bit of breathing room is important!
4. Move Tasks Forward Each Day
As much as we wish it didn’t happen, sometimes tasks get pushed aside. Or the day goes too quickly and we just can’t get everything done! With Day Designer, it’s easy to move tasks that didn’t get completed forward, allowing you to fit them in the following day—and ensuring that things don’t get lost in the shuffle.
5. Break Tasks Up Into Time Blocks
Staying on-task can be a challenge. The layout of Day Designer makes it easy to break up tasks into time blocks—allowing you to designate time to those tasks, to ensure that they get completed. With time blocks, you allocate a specific amount of time—for example, an hour to focus on your prep for an important meeting or three hours to run all of your errands for the week. It’s a surprisingly effective way to stay motivated and focused.
6. Set Deadlines
Finally, without a timeframe, it’s easy for those high-level, but not urgent tasks to get forgotten or postponed. With Day Designer, it’s easy to divide your big-picture plans up into smaller steps, and assign deadlines to them by writing them down for them in your schedule. This allows you to ensure that you keep moving forward towards your goals.
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When it comes to getting organized, remember that the best approach is to operate from a place of positivity! Instead of berating yourself because you feel that your life is out of control, realize that life is chaotic at times—and that’s okay.
Creating order out of chaos isn’t something that comes easily. It’s something that we all struggle with! But in the end, taking small steps in the right direction and looking to create good habits that stick is by far the best solution. Be kind to yourself, and know that the end goal is to make things easier, less stressful, and better for you and your family!
Day Designer is designed to guide you through the busiest of days—helping you map out a plan to achieve your goals while creating time for the people and things that are most important to you. Choose your 2019 Flagship Daily Planner today!