Living and working in a society of achievers, as we do, we can all benefit from a little lesson in organization. Even if you're not the president of a major corporation and your main accomplishment is getting your children to soccer practice (...and shame on you if that's the case...) you'd do a better job of it if you were more organized as you move throughout your day.
Here's how I suggest starting out:
Step one: Take that ugly calendar that your insurance guy gave you for free for Christmas OFF THE FRIDGE. If you have your kid's pictures on it and you need it to keep track of where everyone is, fine, but if you really want to organize your life, you'll make note on it for your family to know your schedule, but you will NO LONGER rely on it as your primary calendar.
Step two: Go buy a date book. Get one that is pretty/attractive/fun - whatever it needs to be to make you want to use it. I use one that covers a three month period of time. It's completely blank. I have to fill in every date on every page. I get to DESIGN MY LIFE! If you want more info on this particular book, just ask me. Leave me a comment or email or something. There's nothing wrong with using your Blackberry/Iphone for staying organized AS LONG AS IT'S WORKING. Some people such as me, need the eye to hand coordination. We need to see it, write it down, check it off and feel that sense of completion. If your piece of technology is working for you then, yay for you! You're all set. But if you feel like you'd do better seeing it in writing, which makes us sit down and PLAN things, then....read on.
Step three: Understand that you'll have to carry that datebook around with you everywhere you go. Get over it. Put it in your purse/tote bag/brief care. It goes with you. You'll be writing notes to yourself about things you want to do. Make sure your planner has a place for notes, journal, future tasks, things to delegate. Here's something I learned from one of my mentors: If you're performing tasks that anyone else on earth can do, you're not designing your life. You're performing tasks. Any time you're doing something that someone else could do your reacting to what someone else expects of you rather than controlling your life plan. If you can hire someone to perform a task for you, DO IT. Hire a kid or a neighbor or someone who needs a little money. It's a WIN/WIN! You'll get to give because you're paying them and you'll get some tasks done and will have some time available to focus on your life.
What can you DELEGATE? Here are a few ideas:
Laundry
Gardening
Paperwork
Cleaning your house
Painting
Grocery shopping
...anything that isn't contributing to your GOALS is something that should be a delegated task.
Step four: Goals? What are they? There are many areas in our lives where we can set goals that we want to achieve. Here are a few of my favorites: Family, Career, Educational, Spiritual, Financial. Choose 2 or 3 and set some goals for yourself. Want to get out of debt? Make it a priority. Want to finish your education? Make it a priority. Want better relationships with your family? Make them a priority. Want to contribute more time to your church? Make it a priority.
Once we set goal in a few different areas of our lives and KNOW what those goals are and REMIND OURSELVES every day of them, we can begin to arrange our lives AROUND those goals. Ask your self this: What's REALLY, REALLY, REALLY important to me? Then, if you're spending time doing random, unexpected things during your day, KNOW that you are NOT heading towards your goal.
With every step you take during your average day, ask your self this: "Is what I'm about to do going to lead me towards my goal, or farther away from my goal?" Once you get clear on what your goals are and WHY they are important to you, you'll find yourself making a priority of those goals and will find yourself headed straight toward them!
Step five: When you're writing your TO DO list each night - remember, you're going to do that every night! - make sure the goals you've written are in front of you. ALWAYS keep those goals in mind when you're planning your day. Do everything you can do to incorporate your goals into your daily activities.
If you'd like to have more information on designing your life and achieving your goals, check in to my blog frequently...I'll be adding more soon.
In the meantime.....have a fabulously designed day!
No comments:
Post a Comment