Tips on How to Stay Organized and Manage Time Effectively
Hi everyone,
Welcome back to Poised! A couple of weeks ago, I asked my followers on Instagram how they want to be impactful and what struggles they face as students and in the workplace. You all provided great information! The purpose of Poised is to encourage people, women specifically, to pursue their goals and dreams with style and confidence. I want to share my journey with you all with the intention that it will inspire and help at least one person. I am not perfect. Through trial and error, coupled with grace, I am growing into the type of woman, wife, mom-to-be, and Boss I've always wanted to become. I want the same sense of peace and growth for my readers, and I hope Poised helps you all accomplish your hopes and dreams.
With that said, a lot of you shared that one of your main struggles is time management. I can relate 100%. I often struggle with time management, and to be honest, procrastination is my best friend. Especially when it involves a task I do not feel like doing (i.e., completing a boring work assignment). I realized I procrastinate out of fear or boredom. However, I've been working diligently on improving my time management by being organized and intentional-driven. Here are some tools that have been helping me stay on top of tasks and accomplishing goals with confidence and grace.
Have the Proper Tools
I think the first step in conquering time management and staying organized is the proper tools. I am a huge fan of journals, planners, and lists. If I do not write it down, it is not happening. Writing my goals down on pen and paper makes the task real and attainable. Lately, I've been using the Savor Beauty Planner. I cannot say enough positive things about this planner. I love it because it is broken down into 90 days. The planner forces you to identify your goals and set intentions each week to achieve your goals in 90 days. Sometimes we try to do too much with little time. Breaking my goals into 90-day segments has helped me accomplish more with less stress. I also love how the planner incorporates self-care into your routine. It is important to take care of ourselves. We can't accomplish much if we are tired and burned out. We should also reward ourselves when we're doing well, so I love how there is an emphasis on self-care in the planner.
I also love journals and notepads to write down my to-do lists. Lately, I've been using Effie's Paper journals and #goals notepad. These tools have been great when I need to write something down. For example, I often come up with ideas about Poised, the baby, or life in general that I don't want to forget. So I use the journal to flesh out my ideas and then incorporate specific tasks into my planner. Plus, Effie's Paper is black-owned, women-owned, and her products are super cute! So why not have stylish tools to help you stay organized.
Here are links to the tools I am using to stay organized:
Set Intentions
I am big on setting intentions and being purpose-driven in all areas of my life. I recommend sitting down and identifying the purpose of why you want to accomplish a specific goal or task. I found that connecting your goals to a specific purpose gives me the drive to go after them to the best of my ability. When I am achieving things just because, for example, for prestige or competition, and let's be honest, we all have set those superficial and shallow goals every once in a while. I realized I don't accomplish them because no purpose or passion pushes me to go after them. That is why I try to set an intention each day and make sure my goals align with that intention. For example, my intention lately has been to be productive but at peace. I can get overwhelmed and stressed over the amount of work I have to complete. Stress is not good for my baby or me. So each day, I set tasks that allow me to be productive but maintain my peace by doing things that are important and help me get closer to achieving my overall goals. This concept leads me to my next tip, tackle the important tasks first.
Tackle the Important Tasks First
Raise your hand if you often leave the hardest task last? *raises hand* I know I use to do this all the time. I would complete the easiest tasks first to make me feel like I was getting work done. This type of planning led me to procrastinate and stress over the more important, high-priority tasks due in 24-hours! I took a class through my job about time management, and they introduced me to the Eisenhower method. President Eisenhower would divide his tasks into four categories:
Important and Urgent
Important and not Urgent
Not Important and Urgent
Not Important and not Urgent
Important activities have an outcome that leads to us achieving our goals, whether these are professional or personal.
Urgent activities demand immediate attention and are usually associated with achieving someone else's goals. They are often the ones we concentrate on. They demand attention because the consequences of not dealing with them are immediate.
I try to focus my days on important and not urgent and important and urgent tasks. The important and not urgent tasks help you achieve your personal and professional goals. If I can do anything each day towards a professional or personal goal, I am successful. Try to schedule these out in advance, so they do not become urgent. The important and urgent tasks are often things that come up at the last minute (i.e., a crisis at work). Try to foresee which tasks could become urgent and important and plan accordingly. Of course, some things are out of our control. Lastly, don't stress over the non-important and urgent or non-important and non-urgent goals. These are just distractions that you can possibly reschedule or delegate.
In summary, ways to get organized are to use the proper tools, set intentions, and tackle important and urgent tasks first. These tips have proven useful for me, and I hope they help you with time management and staying organized. Let me know how you stay organized and manage time effectively in the comments. Also, don't forget to subscribe to my blog below.
xoxo,
Taylor
