How to be more organized

Imagine a typical Monday morning.Ned’s mobile phone alarm goes off at 7 am.He snoozes it  in 15 minute increments till 8 am and then rushes to the bathroom with a start.He can’t find clean clothes to put on and just wears the shirt from Friday on which he had spilled wine and douses it with loads of deo to mask the smell.

His head hurts from last night’s beer overdose  and he crave latte immediately.There is no milk in the house though and he makes do with black coffee for now.He opens the fridge scrounging for something to eat and realizes that it is empty.He rushes to office without breakfast and then plans to order a bagel once he reaches there.

He is late for the 9 am meeting and can’t find his notes for it on his cluttered office desk.He makes a dash into the meeting room but is unable to understand what the pie chart on the projector is for.His eyes are bloodshot and he craves sleep.

After the bagel his boss asks for an update on last weeks projects and he realizes that he and the team he  leads are lagging behind and are completely off schedule because he was playing PSP2 in office for 6 hours last week.His boss yells at him and ruins your Monday.New + old  pending work renders his Tuesday and Wednesday sleepless wherein Ned work and his team 18 hours a day to try and meet deadlines.His team members deem him an incompetent asshole and lose the last shred of respect they had for him.

Sounds familiar?

The above mentioned disaster is a result of improper organization.Being organized is a key life skill.It helps us manage our time,routine and life better.It helps us attack and finish mundane tasks and helps free up time for more relevant things.It gives direction to our day.

Some of the methods to be more organized are:

Take control of your life and time:Realize that it is your life and you’re in the drivers seat.You have control of your time and how you use it.It need not be going with the flow all the time.

Plan ahead :The above example shows that a lot of hassle one faces on Monday morning can be eliminated by planning for the week.Small but relevant tasks like readying the clothes, shopping for groceries on weekend do not take much time but can ease the coming week greatly.

Prioritize:Prioritization is the key to finishing tasks in time.In the above example prioritizing work over gaming fun would have left Ned in a comfortable place.

Declutter:The de-clutter begins in the mind when you establish a clear plan and cut out anything that blocks you from executing it.A cleaner desk is just an aftermath of this clarity.