Living The Organized Life: Step 2

Last week, I talked about making lists and how that is the very first step of getting your life organized. now that you have all your lists, we can start doing something with them. This step is vital to becoming and staying organized. I separated last week and this week so that there is time for our minds to take a break- sometimes we miss things and when we look at lists too long, it all blurs together. Make sure you have the lists handy that you made last week. Now- what to do with those lists.

• The list for all of your commitments is more about deciding if you can keep up with these tasks, if you need to get rid of that commitment, or if you need to delegate some of the tasks involved to someone else. This is always the hardest part of my journey, and I prefer to save it for last. I'm not very good at letting my responsibilities go to someone else though. If you have tips on how to do this, I am all ears. 

• The lists of projects you are working on or have coming up is vital. In this list, you need to separate into different lists for each project. At this point, I start adding a timeline and to-dos for each project. This will also help you see if you need assistance on any projects. 

• For all the tasks you do yearly/ seasonally/ or in a particular month, be sure to narrow it down to a certain month/ week. You don't want to have "sometime in 2013 I want to organize the garage" then all of a sudden, it is December and you have yet to complete this. At this point, these should be organized by month. 

• For those tasks you need to complete weekly, choose a day to always do them on and create a chart (either digital or paper). For instance, I have a chart with each day of the week and on each day is a few tasks that I need to complete each week. I schedule tweets on Wednesdays, send newsletters for the team on Wednesdays, organize my inboxes on Monday, plan school on Saturday, and plan my week on Sunday. There are other mundane tasks on the chart as well, but I have to do them every week. 

• The list of items you need to do every day is a little trickier. The reason for this is that you need to include things that you may not realize you do every day. The purpose for this list is that we all have those days where we feel like we are forgetting something or we just don't have it together and feel lost. You may not use it every day, but you need to have it handy and organized. This list should be compiled. I keep mine on my computer (using Wunderlist),  but I used to keep it written in my planner. I will go more into this next week when we utilize those lists. 

• Go over that "master" to do list you created last week and see if any of the items belong on any of the other lists you made. Are there any items on this list that need to be delegated to someone else? Are there any items you have completed, or have decided against completing? 

• Make sure your list of other things to include in your planner/ to do diary is complete. Make sure you have all birthdays/ anniversaries/ holidays/ special dates gathered. Prioritize what other things you want to keep track of in your planner. I used to keep my water intake in mine, but I've changed my bottle and can keep up with it that way now. I do however keep up with my weekly fitness goals, motivational quote, meal planning, and hubby's / son's appointments and important dates.  

Do not put any of this in your planner/ to do diary yet, just make sure it is organized, complete and handy. Next week I will share how I organize my planner and to-do diary. 

This may seem like a mundane/ useless step, but it is one that if I skip it, disaster strikes.