How to Organize Your Life

CEBU, Philippines — Do you want to know how to organize your life? Well, it is about spending time so you can save time later on. And it takes time.

Organizing your life comes with certain steps. These steps don’t just endorse good habits – but habits that set you up for success.

1 Make small daily commitments. Take actions that let you practice being the person you know yourself to be. For example, have a morning routine – wake up to the sound of an alarm clock, have coffee with your special someone, make breakfast, and then hit the gym before going to work. Commit to it for as long as it prompts you to action.

Also make it a habit to take a side trip to and spend time in a new environment – like a coffee shop or local park – where you can reflect on your life so far. As Socrates put it, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Make sure your life is going in the right direction by taking opportunities to reflect and think.

2 Prioritize. How many times have you made a to-do list? You’ve probably lost count. But how many of those times did you actually write it in order of priority? Well, the people who best organize their lives are those who make prioritizing a priority.

Go grab an actual calendar – yes, a physical calendar instead of the one in your phone or computer – and figure out your top priorities. No matter what you might feel about one task or another, some things are always more important than others. Some things require immediate action (like doctor’s appointments) while other things can wait (like binge-watching that Netflix series that everybody’s talking about). Sometimes your stop-doing list needs to be bigger than your to-do list.

3 Learn to be productive. The most productive people aren’t necessarily those who spend more time to get work done. It’s those that get more work done in less time. An expert shares how it’s done: manage your tasks, set up a useful calendar of things to do, take notes properly, organize your files – both digital and physical, etc.

Remember – successful and productive people engage in continuous learning

4 Know your North Star. As early as now, you’ve got to know the kind of person you intend to be for the long run. Make a personal mission statement, to help you focus on what you really want out of life. It simplifies things. Building a mission statement gives you a brighter and more precision-based focus on what you want in life.

So sit down… and have time to think about what’s truly important to you and what isn’t. Oftentimes, identifying what you don’t want – or no longer want – makes you better understand what you really want.

Set goals to achieve in different areas of your life – health, personal development, personal finance, and professional advancement. These are battles you need to conquer so that you’ll eventually win the war. Make a note of what goals you’d like to achieve in five years, one year, a month’s time, a week’s time, and even on a daily basis.

5 Say either “Hell Yeah” or “No” to things. With your North Star ready, now you can really start heading on the right path. Now’s the time to ruthlessly determine and cut out the things that will only hinder you. This means saying “no” more than “yes,” both in your professional and personal life.

Accept that you’re only human. You can’t please everyone. If you say yes to every project or dinner invitation, you can lose time for things that truly matter to you.

6 Automate and review automation. It pays to embrace technology now. Consider automating the more unpleasant and redundant tasks in life: bills, credit card payments, grocery shopping, and even getting all your essentials such as vitamins and skin care products at the same time. There are several apps and websites providing these services nowadays; allow them to organize your life to a certain extent. Just make sure you’re still the pilot of your life.

7 Build better routines. Life is a series of routines that are based on habits. Even those with a less organized life might have a routine to begin with. The problem is their routine gets interrupted by unexpected occurrences due to poor planning, procrastinating, or even an ongoing emergency or crisis in life.

It’s not necessary to build new routines from scratch. Everyone have routines by default – it’s about turning these into better ones. Even the smallest changes can have strong positive impacts. Try to sleep every night at 10 instead of browsing Facebook and hitting the sack at 10:30. Who knows, those 30 minutes might let you start the day with more energy and less chaos.

8 Measure your progress. Keep track of your progress towards your goals. This is where spreadsheets become your best friend. And if you’ve used Google in the past, you know just how handy Google sheets are. Take advantage of them.

Use them to create graphs so you’ll get a visual understanding of how much or how little you’ve progressed with your goals. Track your progress weekly, monthly, and yearly as well. Not only do the results keep you motivated, but they warn you if you’re falling behind so you can make necessary adjustments.

9 De-clutter ruthlessly for one hour. De-clutter, and be ruthless about it. De-clutter your home and ensure everything has a designated place. That way, you won’t waste precious time looking for your car keys, pliers or even scissors at the moment you need them.

The same goes for your phone. Do you really need all those 40 icons? Chances are that a good number of those apps have only been opened once – right after downloading! Either store your secondary apps in folders or delete them. You know what the real important icons are: email, call, text messaging, calendar and reminders.

You can organize your life if you’re driven enough to do it. So rather than wishing for a miracle to make your problems disappear, you should instead be the miracle. If you have the will, you will have the way. (www.realmenrealstyle.com) - Antonio Centeno