It’s a day like so many others: you sit down to work, but your mind is already mulling over everything you need to accomplish. You want to wrap up early to attend a networking event, but your calendar is cluttered. Later, you have a doctor’s appointment, and you’ll need to swing by your friend’s art show. Somewhere in your busy schedule, you need to find time for a healthy lunch, stretch, and relax.
Balancing cluttered inboxes, tasks, and personal responsibilities can be exhausting. When you’re stretched too thin, succumbing to chaos impacts your ability to maintain an organized life. If only you had a few more hours in the day to get everything done — but you’re stuck with that 24-hour limit.
Learning how to get organized with purpose can help you feel more in control. Building good habits will empower you to strike a better balance between work, life, and healthy habits — allowing you to be more productive and feel less stress.
18 tips to organize your life
If your to-do list includes "figuring out how to get my life together," these tips will help you get organized. Whether it's your mind, social life, or even your closet, these skills will help you stay on top of everything.
How to organize your thoughts
If your mind feels cluttered, you're not alone. Constantly moving from one task to the next without good habits for rest can feel overwhelming. — and lead to burnout. Here are some ways to slow down, reflect on your goals, and act with more intention:
Journaling
Regular journaling practices help declutter your mind, keep track of emotions, and build healthy habits for resilience. Regular journaling practices can transform your mental fitness and emotional well-being, giving you the resilience and perspective to adapt to your day-to-day goals and responsibilities.
Personal development plan
Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at Dominican University of California, found that writing down your goals each day makes you 42% more likely to accomplish them. When you don’t have a clear action plan, you’re like a kite without a string floating from one thing to the other.
Taking the time to intentionally write out your goals and map a path to achieve them empowers you to turn big ideas into manageable, step-by-step achievements. Use tools like Todoist or a Google calendar to create step-by-step plans and track progress.
Meditation
Mindfulness and meditation practices may help you find a sense of grounding — and, according to the American Psychological Association, it's proven to reduce stress and anxiety. All you require is a quiet space and a few minutes to focus on your breathing and quiet your mind.
Mindfulness and meditation help reduce distractions and create space for clarity, providing a mental reset that enhances productivity.
How to organize your time
Time is a valuable resource, and the way you manage it directly affects your routine. Here’s how to make the most of every minute:
Set up daily routines
Building a daily or weekly routine adds structure to your time, improving productivity. Routines (like a morning review of your agenda, weekly yoga session, or monthly 1:1 with your manager) provide structure to your time, helping you manage it more effectively. Building routines automates decisions and reduces mental fatigue, making it easier to keep your focus and avoid feeling overwhelmed by choices. To stay on top of things, use a Google calendar to track tasks and manage your time more effectively.
Wake up earlier
Waking up earlier gives you uninterrupted time to reflect, plan, or enjoy moments of calm. Revamp your morning routine by waking up earlier to include productive activities like making your bed and organizing your desk.
Even 15 minutes can set you up with more clarity to approach your day.
Track your time
Identifying how you spend your time can be a life-changing exercise. Time-tracking tools (or a hand-written log) help you spot unhealthy patterns, like the amount of time spent procrastinating or excessively checking your cell phone.
You can’t fix problems you aren’t aware you have: defining your time management strengths and weaknesses is the first step to developing good habits. Then, improve upon it. Use time management tools like Todoist to keep track of your activities and eliminate time-wasting habits like procrastination.
How to stay organized at work
Your work defines a big part of your life. Learning to stay organized at work not only helps with productivity but also reduces stress. It has a positive snowball effect, facilitating better decision-making and meaningful work-life balance.
Here are a few simple organizational hacks to revamp your workday:
Make to-do lists
Keeping an organized to-do list is crucial to not missing any important tasks. And this organized to-do list saves you from last-minute crunches that cause stress and hinder performance.
There are plenty of prioritization methods to choose from, from the Eisenhower Matrix to color-coding your agenda, helping you separate urgent and important tasks from the non-essential. Plus, who doesn’t love ticking off a completed task from their to-do list?
Block out focus times
Slack messages, emails, and unexpected visits from a coworker offer no shortage of distractions. And if you work from home, blended boundaries can get in the way of your concentration. Setting focus times helps you dive deeper into tasks without distractions. Time blocking for specific projects or tasks can shield you from interruptions, allowing you to dive deep and make much-needed progress.
Try creating a virtual boundary (like pausing notifications or blocking social media) to get into a flow state, ensuring you spend your energy efficiently and effectively. You can also use apps like Google Calendar to set specific blocks of time for work and tasks.
Learn to delegate
You don’t have to do everything on your own. That’s why you have a team to support you. Learning to share responsibility with your peers ensures your day isn’t tied up with an endless list of little things, freeing up time to maximize your skills and know-how.
Delegating not only frees up time but also helps foster collaboration and trust with your team.
How to be organized at home
Your home is your sanctuary. Keeping it neat and stress-free can give you peace of mind, even while you’re out and about. Here are a few tips for building new habits that foster a positive living environment:
Declutter your space
A tidy space leads to a clearer mind. Too much stuff in your living or working space is more than inconvenient — messy spaces create cognitive overloads and signal your brain to release the stress hormone cortisol, which can negatively affect your mental health.
Regularly declutter your home, especially high-clutter areas like your closet or desk. Consider tidying up at the end of each day (even if only for 10 minutes) so you begin each morning without looming anxiety about a mess you need to deal with. If you work from home, you can tackle your professional and personal space in one go.
Follow the one-in, one-out rule
Another way to keep your space decluttered is adopting the “one in, one out” rule. When you buy something new, get rid of something old. This habit encourages you to keep your home clean, manage your spending, and feel more gratitude for the things you have. Plus, it helps keep your space organized and reduces unnecessary stuff.
Create a command center
Showing up late to a meeting because you couldn’t find your keys doesn’t leave a great impression. Designate a specific spot for essentials, like keys, wallets, or shopping lists. This helps avoid disorganized mornings where you scramble to find things.
How to organize your social media
Social media can be a powerful tool, but it also creates unnecessary distractions. The rush of dopamine it provides can disrupt your sleep, increase anxiety, and even create addictive bad habits.
Here are ways to strike a healthy balance:
Limit your time
Social media is designed to keep you wanting more: getting you stuck in a doom scroll is the algorithm’s goal. Set specific times for social media use. Use your phone’s settings or apps like Google Calendar to limit daily usage and focus on more important tasks. A digital detox might be just what you need to get back on track.
Unfollow people
Clear your social media of people and pages that no longer add value, reducing unnecessary mental clutter. Consider hitting the unfollow button if your feed is filled with content from people or pages you don’t interact with. Likewise, if you negatively compare yourself to other social media accounts or personalities, you can prioritize your peace and wipe them from your feed. It’ll help you focus your time and energy on the connections that really matter to you.
How to get organized in your self-care, nutrition, and free time
Being organized at work means prioritizing your personal needs. However, many people feel guilty spending time on leisure (even though they shouldn’t).
It’s crucial to understand that self-care is anything but selfish — it’s necessary for healthy physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Here are a few ways to build healthy habits into your schedule:
Schedule it
Your digital calendar isn’t just for scheduling important dates and meetings. Use your calendar to schedule personal time, such as workouts, self-care routine, meals, or even fun activities.
Keeping track of personal time helps reduce stress and ensure you are sticking to a routine.
Penciling in time for yourself in your calendar is a visual reminder of the importance of prioritizing yourself (not just your work). And consistency can create healthy mental connections and eliminate the guilt you might feel setting time aside for yourself.
Meal plan
If cooking is a source of stress, organizing your meals can save time and create a pathway to a healthier lifestyle. Try planning your meals weekly and using apps to help you prep nutritious meals. Meal-planning apps, ingredient prep, and cooking in bulk can work together to ensure you have food that nourishes and reduces your temptation to consistently turn to less healthy options.
Prioritize free time
Make time for leisure activities that recharge you. The activities you choose to do in your free time deepen your sense of self, encourage you to set boundaries with your time, and allow your mind to flex its creativity. Even something as simple as making your bed in the morning can help set the tone for a productive day. Whether you want to learn a new instrument or relax on the couch with a movie, the joy you feel while pursuing a hobby can refresh and reinvigorate you.
Keep Track of Your Finances
Whether you’re saving for a big purchase or simply trying to manage day-to-day expenses, keeping track of finances is essential.
Track spending
Whether you want to buy a home or hit a certain number in your retirement fund, your financial goals are only possible when you have a thorough understanding of your spending and savings.
Consistently monitoring your finances cultivates financial wellness and a healthy financial future. And you’re not alone: a financial coach can help you develop better money management skills if you aren't positive about where to start.
Use financial tools or apps to keep track of expenses and income. This helps you align your spending with your financial goals and reduces stress from unplanned expenses.
10 more ways to stay organized
- Prioritize tasks: Identify high-priority items first, then tackle everything else.
- Plan ahead: Use your calendar or Google Calendar to schedule tasks and appointments.
- Tidy as you go: Clean as you go to avoid a messy pile of tasks later.
- Keep track of bills: Organize bills with reminders to avoid missing payments.
- Use apps: Tools like Todoist help manage your to-do list and increase productivity.
- Create daily habits: Consistent habits, like making your bed, help structure your day.
- Organize your closet: Regularly purge your closet to reduce clutter.
- Use labels: Label items for easy organization, especially in a cluttered desk or kitchen.
- Limit distractions: Set aside phone-free time during focus hours.
- Delegate: Learn to delegate tasks that don’t need your direct attention.
Organization tools and techniques
- Pomodoro Technique: Break tasks into 25-minute focused work sessions with 5-minute breaks to avoid getting distracted and procrastinating. It's an effective method for handling tasks without feeling overwhelmed.
- Google Calendar: Use this app to schedule daily routines, manage appointments, and ensure you stick to a productive schedule. The visual reminder of your priorities can help reduce stress.
- Todoist: This app allows you to keep track of to-do lists, prioritize items, and set reminders. It’s especially useful for organizing both professional and personal tasks, keeping you on track.
- RescueTime: Helps monitor how you spend your time, showing which apps and sites are taking most of your time so you can focus on high-priority tasks and be more productive.
- Trello: A great tool for tracking larger projects by breaking them down into manageable tasks. It’s ideal for team collaborations and personal organization.
Organizing your life isn't so complicated
Life will always be filled with moments where you feel like you need an extra few hours to get through it all. But you can avoid persistent and chronic feelings of being overwhelmed by learning how to organize your life — including picking up the tools and resources to be more flexible and resilient.
Start small, build good habits, and you’ll notice how getting organized improves your productivity and overall well-being. You can also leverage organization apps. Over time, you’ll notice the positive effects on your mental and physical health and find yourself feeling more prepared when life is a little more hectic than usual.
If you need an accountability partner or help prioritizing a myriad of tasks, we can help. You can partner with a BetterUp Coach to manage your time (and your energy) better.
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