It’s difficult to stay organized. Some people have a personality that harmonizes with being organized. Some people only need to blink and their bedroom looks like a bomb went off. Keeping a clean bedroom, house, car, and workplace takes effort. Here are five ways to force a little bit of order into your life.
- Put It Away: As soon as you are finished using something, put it away. It’s tempting to fall into the unorganized habit of leaving something out because you will be using it again later. That’s the main defense of not making your bed in the morning. You will be using it again soon, so why bother making it? Because that’s the opposite of being organized. The disorder is only efficient in the short-term.
- Plan Time: Having a game plan is important. To-do lists will certainly help you stay organized. Don’t forget to also plan time for being organized. Your to-do list should have a time slot for writing your next to-do list.
- Write It Down: Maybe this goes without saying, but you need to write your to-do list down. It’s tempting to keep a mental to-do list. Unless you have the world’s best memory, you will be more organized with everything in writing. You can write it down on paper, on your phone, or anywhere you will have access to it throughout the day.
- Less Stuff: The natural process of the universe is to go from a state of order to a state of disorder. It takes no effort to be disorganized and chaotic. The more material possessions you own, the more time it will take to reverse the natural process for all of your stuff. You don’t necessarily need to live like a monk in solitude, but do you really need that outfit you haven’t worn in 5 years?
- Perfection is Impossible: You might be tempted to work on task A until it is perfect. Meanwhile, tasks B through Z are now disarrayed. This comes back to the to-do list. You don’t need to deep clean the house every time you clean. Sometimes the satisfactory effort is good enough for the task.