How to Be More Organized: 8 Tips

Keep your things in their proper places. If you feel like there's chaos in your mind, there's probably chaos around you, too. Organized people keep everything in its place. Keep in mind that organized doesn't equal tidy. If your room is tidy but you still can't find a damn thing when you need it, you should figure out a system. To make the system work, you must always put things back as soon as you've finished using them.

Write things down. Don't rely on your memory, write things down in order to remember them. You can use a planner, a computer, a smartphone – whatever works best for you. You should also use your planners for making to-do lists and schedules.

Follow through with your plans. There is no point in making a schedule if you don't keep it or making a to-do list if you are unable to complete the tasks. Assign a time frame to each activity and set a deadline for each task. If you're unable to cope with your to-do list, your schedule might be too packed. Don't stretch yourself too thin.

Prioritize. Some of your tasks will inevitably be more important than others, so you will have to set priorities. There are different ways to prioritize, we like Eisenhower's urgent/important principle. Each task falls into one of four categories: important and urgent, important but not urgent, not important but urgent, and not important and not urgent. Put all your tasks into one of the categories and schedule them based on their urgency and importance.

Stop procrastinating. Sometimes a little productive procrastination is okay, but organized people don't procrastinate, they do everything on time. You can't follow through with your plans if you procrastinate, so stop putting things off and start doing them.

Delegate your responsibilities. If you feel like you have too much on your plate, go through your to-do list and find one or two tasks you can delegate to someone else. Of course, you shouldn't make other people do all the work for you, but you shouldn't insist on doing everything yourself either.

Be careful with multitasking. Some people can focus on more than one thing at a time, and some can't. Multitasking can be efficient, but if you notice that it makes you work slower, stick to working through your tasks one by one.

Put effort. Who said being organized is easy? If it were easy, everyone would be organized and you wouldn't be reading this article. You need to work hard to stay organized. If you feel like giving up, work harder. Celebrate your achievements and then put even more effort to achieve even more. Keep moving forward and never stop.