The Best Ways to Stay Organized and Motivated
Today I am so excited to share with you the ways I stay organized and motivated in my day-to-day life. Organization is such a hard thing to keep up with when you have a job, a home life, and maybe even an academic life, but organization leads to better motivation! I’m going to tell you all the things I do to never miss an appointment, event, or assignment and how I get ahead in work and school.
To-Do Lists
To-do lists have got to be one of my favorite ways to stay on task. I’ll put day-to-day tasks like chores, grocery shopping, and other things as well as schoolwork, blog updates, and personal to-dos. They help keep me motivated because every time I check something off that list, it is so
Weekly Schedules
On top of to-do lists, I also like to make a weekly overview of what I have going on. This is more for my schoolwork than for anything else. I’ll separate the readings, exercises, papers, and forums, dividing them up between the week and set daily goals for what I want to get done when. This helps a lot because all of my classes are online and it’s a graduate program for English, so it is very heavy on reading and writing. I never forget an assignment when I use my weekly schedule.
Yearly Planners
By now, you all probably think I’m crazy and very obsessive about my schedules. Well, I am, but that’s okay because I don’t freak out when things don’t go as planned. I always set early goals for myself so that even if I don’t get everything done on time, I’m never actually late. Just a little less early that I would have been.
With my yearly planner, I put all birthdays, events, and deadlines that have to be met during the month and year. This is just a larger picture of everything that I have going on from day-to-day. I don’t forget birthdays and I don’t forget events. The thing is, though, I absolutely hate using my phone’s calendar, reminders, and everything else. I have to have a paper planner (in the same way that I can’t read an eBook) because I can easily access every month without having to click on the date to see additional things going on.
Don't Take Work Home
I cannot stress this enough: do not take your work home. I realize that some people have to do this, or if you work remotely, it’s really the only place you can work. If you can, though, dedicate space for your work. Whether it is a small desk, or a whole office, only do your work there and leave it there when you’re done. I know a lot of people who take their work home with them, so what ends up happening is they get bogged down because their whole life has become work! I compartmentalize everything (I don’t recommend doing this for your emotions, but I can’t find a way to stop :). When I’m at work, I think about work. When I’m at home, I think about home. Don’t be that person who can’t find the line between work and fun. You’ll always be a Grumpy McGrumpers.
Set Aside Time for Yourself
This one, while not directly related to organization, keeps me from getting what I call the “don’t wants.” Other people tend to call this burnout, but I think the “don’t wants” sounds way better.
Always, always, always set aside time to do things for yourself. Whether your guilty pleasure is shopping, getting your hair done, getting your nails done, or taking a bath for hours, set time aside so that you can decompress from the stresses of life and just do whatever the heck you want. When I set aside time for myself, it is usually to improve on hobbies that I’ve been wanting to become good at doing (sewing, painting, guitar, piano, the list goes on). Doing these things really helps me to get out of my head and just relax. I also love to bake chocolate chip cookies, but that usually involves dishes, so I wait until my husband is home so he can do them….
The Result
The whole point of staying organized and keeping yourself motivated is not so you can do a billion different tasks at once (although, that happens to me sometimes). The point is that in staying organized and motivated, you give yourself the chance to be happier and more fulfilled in every aspect of life. I don’t know about you guys, but when I finish that to-do list, or I clean my whole house, stepping back to see what I have accomplished gives me so much joy that I can’t even begin to describe it.
