Are you one of those people who resolves to be more organised every year and is drowning in disorganisation by February? If so, here are 3 really easy ways to keep on top of things, as well as my top secret, fool proof, miracle tip that will turn you from a Messy Molly into a Meticulous Mel.
- Know your flow. Use the times of the day when you’re most productive to do then things you’re least likely to do. Put them first on your list to do in your ‘on’ period and once you’ve done the things that give you the most problem, everything else is a reward. For example, I’m not a morning person, so in the mornings I pfaff around from whenever I get up for about an hour & a half. In that time I read blogs, check my email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc. After 1.5 hours (or more realistically 2.5 cups of coffee) OR if I finish all of the above earlier, I make a rough daily plan and get stuck into it. My hardest to start jobs are all done either just after lunch, or mid-evening because they are the times I find I’m at my most effective.
- Time it. If you’re having trouble starting, set a timer for 10, 15, 30 minutes, or whatever period of time won’t scare you off, but will allow to get a reasonable amount done. Then knuckle down and commit to getting stuck into whatever it is that needs doing. Don’t let yourself get distracted and don’t pfaff around doing nothing. Just write that blog post, even if you just write a heap of separate paragraphs and figure out how to put them together later. You might even separate them into multiple posts. Or spend 15 minutes dealing with your email backlog, or responding to blog comments / social media conversations / scheduling posts or whatever. Then when the timer goes off – Stop. Don’t keep going (unless you’re really inspired) but preferably, put the timer on again for the next task.
- Only handle it once. Whether it’s email, paperwork, whatever, don’t shuffle it round your desk during the day. If it will take less than 15 minutes to deal with it, deal with it immediately. If it’s going to take longer, diarise a time to deal with it. If someone else needs input, forward it to them (cc the original sender if necessary), then delete it, file it or flag it to chase at a specific time. Whatever it is, don’t put it to one side in a “when I get around to it” pile. If you want to do that, and you’re sure it’s possible for you to do that, you probably need to face the fact that your input isn’t needed as badly as you think it should be.
Lastly of course, my top secret, fool proof, miracle tip – the real secret to staying organised is to take responsibility. You are the only one who can take responsibility for yourself and your business.
- If lack of time is the reason you’re disorganised, you need to stop doing some things or hire someone to take some of the things you’re not good at off your plate.
- If lack of resources is making you disorganised, then you need to find a way to get those resources. I recommend you talk to your accountant, your Virtual Assistant, your IT team, and anyone else you regularly network with. I’m sure someone will be able to recommend a wonderful solution for you, you just have to ask enough/the right people.
- If you’re constantly distracted by sparkly things, look in the mirror and remind yourself you’re an adult. Then schedule in some sparkly things time, because nobody wants to be a grown-up all the time! But when it comes to getting stuff done, you actually have to do the stuff. Sorry. 🙁
