How to get practically organized?

Many people falsely believe, getting organized means cleaning a space. Whereas cleaning a space might make it look neater for some time, it never enables you to find the right thing at the right time. Getting organized is an attitude that defines the way you place everything, how much time you take to get to them, and prevent you from purchasing things what you already have just because you are unable to find them.

Develop easy to maintain systems:

The most widely repeated organizing rule is to find a place for everything and to keep them in place. Unless you exactly know where a particular item belongs to you would never be able to find them when needed. Majority of time gets wasted in “Hunting” required tools then actually chalking things off your to-do list.

For Example, you want to tackle the number of business cards in your wallet that are over whelming you. Put a glass jar on your mental piece where you put your keys and other stuff after retiring from the day’s toil. Make it a habit to toss all of your business cards in that jar that you collected that day. And, over the weekend, nicely place all of the business cards, hoarded in the jar, in a business card binder/organizer.

 Write it down:

No matter how good your memory is, never burdened your mind with what can easily be written down. Mental notes easily slip off your mind. Habit to write down all appointments, phone numbers, birthdays, emails to be sent, personal notes, ideas, shopping lists can save you from big troubles. Keep a pen & paper in your purse or download an application on your mobile phone where you can take notes. Later on, when feasible, replicate these notes on your master calendar/planner in appropriate categories.

 Stick to One System:

Many people suffer from Yo-Yo Organizing not because they don’t have a system; rather, they have more than one organizing systems. It scatters the information and organizing tools in themselves become a cause for clutter. If you are a visual person like me, paper-based system is best for you. And if you are techier, then cell phones or computer applications will serve you well. Regardless of what system you chose, stick to it.

Color –code:

Often, taking help of colors, to get organized, pays off big time. For example, if you have always dreaded filing your papers, bring some colors to your filing system. Red color files may contain documents that are both urgent and important. Green files will keep hold of your tax related documents and yellow files will enclose your business documents etc. In this way, you’ll exactly know where a particular type of paper needs to go.

Follow Through:

Buying another organizing containers will not work unless you are disciplined enough to stick to your systems and finish things off your to-do lists. If you don’t feel motivated to put things away that you once picked out, set yourself a timer for let’s say 20 minutes and give yourself a challenge to put as many things as you possibly can. Reward yourself for your achievements.

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