If you want to get organised, but your mental to-do list is just too terrifying for you to want to get it on paper – what do you do?
Firstly, think about how long it’s going to take to get organised. Set aside the time to do it. Even if you have to set aside a whole day, set aside the time and commit to it.
Now for the fun bit… Let’s get organised!
Write it down:
I know, it’s too scary right? But you need to get it down so you can sort through and prioritise and schedule. The way you get it down is really up to you. But today I’m going to suggest you use a spreadsheet.
So start by writing it down. List every single outstanding job you have. Every niggling “I should get around to that one day” thought. Then you know where you’re starting from. Remember, you can add or remove columns as needed, so don’t be too worried about the design yet, just get it all down.
Now’s the time to look at the list and decide how best to approach it.
Order:
Look at each task and ask yourself:
- Is there another task that has to be done first?
- Is there something I need to be able to do this that I don’t normally have at hand?
- Is this really several tasks that should be split up?
- Have I listed several things that are really just steps of one task?
Edit your list accordingly. If something has to be done first, note that. If something special is needed, make a note. If you need to do several separate things for a task – make separate entries for all of them. If you’ve been a little too specific and added each step in a task, merge the steps into one task.
Then you’re ready to break it down a little and…
Categorise:
Sort your to-do list by category. You can have as many as you want, but try to keep it to a minimum. I suggest between 2 and 5 major categories (ie: Business and Personal) with no more than 5 subcategories each.
Now, add a filter, pick a category and…
Prioritise:
Go through and give everything in that category a priority from 1 (urgent) to 5 (meh). Now, go back and look at everything with a priority of 1 and reassess it. What REALLY needs to be done right now? Pick the most important task and make it number 1. Change everything else with a number 1 to a 2.
Repeat for each category, remove the filter and reapply to see your number 1 priorities…
Check:
If there’s anything on your #1 list that has something that needs to be done first – then you need to look at your prioritising again and reorder it. If something needs special tools or information – make sure that getting them is listed as a number 1 priority.
Maintain:
The first time you do this, it might be a bit daunting and probably a little painful, but the thing about getting organised is that with a minimum of effort you can stay reasonably organised. If you can do that, you’ll never need to go to extreme lengths to get on top of things again!
The easiest way to make sure you don’t slip back into overwhelm is to schedule time into your day or week to update your to-do list. Things will become more urgent and things will become unnecessary.
Just make sure you have a minimum of priority 1 tasks, and work through ALL priority 1’s before reassessing the list. That way, the urgent stuff gets done first and before you know it, you’re on top of your to-do list.
