Organise Your Time, Organise Your Life

Decluttering and organising always seems like one of those tasks we dread - the pressure of dealing with our mess is too overwhelming and so we leave it for another day, week, month, until there's no choice but to face it. Perhaps that is because we have spent all that time trying to avoid our responsibility.

There are quite a few good reasons why it seems difficult to begin organising. Perhaps you have never properly organised before. The fact that you have not actually experienced a good organisation makes it unlikely for you to want to experience that feeling in your life. Another clear reason is you have too many things. Whether that be tasks or even possessions, the fact there are so many causes you not to want to do anything at all because it seems overwhelming. Additionally, organising in general takes time. With the many other activities and priorities in your life (friends, family, education, etc) organising is not really at the top of your list.

However, clutter can really affect both your physical and mental health. It can cause stress, fatigue, and even depression. Physically, it is clear to see how it can affect you; a cluttered home can cause fire hazards, dust, and even mould. Studies show that a clutter household is associated with your food choices as it makes you more likely to choose unhealthy foods over healthier choices.

However, with decluttering, it can help you sleep better, boost your productivity and even help you sleep better.

I often found myself adding more and more activities onto my things to do. I say this is because I am bored – really, I am just avoiding life’s responsibilities for me and thus I am stuck with a pile of tasks that I do not know where to begin with. Inasmuch as I do enjoy keeping myself busy, I realised having so many activities to work on confuses the brain more and causes you to, in fact, become more disorganised. I had to start finding effective ways for me to remain organised with all the tasks I set out for myself, whilst having some-time so that I do not crumble underneath all the stress and pressure of completing these tasks.

You may not know where to start with the organising. So here are a few ways which helped me organise my time and my life:
1.      Think about your three most important tasks. I consider the three main priorities I need to achieve and I try to make sure that I focus my day around these three tasks. By doing so everything will start to fall into place.

2.      Make yourself an easy and workable task/ to-do list. I often find myself breaking my day up into the simplest tasks such as “brush your teeth” and “eat breakfast” so that I can still reward myself and my body for the hard work it goes through day in and day out. If I keep these measures in place I can judge when I am overworking myself or not doing quite enough.

3.      Colour coding. I find colour coding to be one of the most effective bits of organisation for me as I find it very pleasing and easy for me to pick out certain tasks or assignments if they are colour coded. Make sure the colour system works for you; sometimes you do not need to have too many colour variations for everything, just enough for you to differentiate the different tasks you have.

4.      This one is quite important: Do one thing at a time. I know because I try to do so much, doing it all at the same time proves to be ineffective. So, finding one task to do first and completing that first before moving onto the next task.

5.      Another quite important one: Do it now! Tomorrow will never come if you keep saying it so start doing it ASAP.

6.      Simplify everything as much as you can. This relates to the second point. If you start to simplify tasks you start to notice how much easier it is to complete them.

7.      Make sure there is a place for everything, and you have put everything in its place. By doing so, you have now organised and arranged specific places for your possessions and your mind will be organised with these allocated positions.

8.      Put it away now. Relating to point seven, make sure whatever you use, you return as soon as you finish using it. That way you are remaining organised throughout your day and you do not need to overwhelm yourself with the thought of organising piles of stationary or books later.

9.      Make use of the word no. Saying no to certain things helps you take control of your time and your priorities. You do not need to attend every event or social gathering that it is taking place. You do not need to help every friend or do every task if it is not required of you. Take time for yourself and have that break. There is no need to overwhelm yourself for tasks and activities that can be done later or are taking a big toil on your health.

Decluttering and organising can really seem like a big task when you do not know where to start but if you use some of these nine tips then perhaps it will become easier for you to start. The amount of stress, fatigue and other negative effects on your health will begin to reduce and you’ll start to see a change in your livelihood. Remember, if you can organise your time, you can organise your life.
​
-Tabitha

​