Time Scheduling
Every time we embark on another lap around the sun, thousands of people around the world make a new year’s resolution: to be more organised. But it’s hard to stay on top of everything. To juggle every part of your life effectively always is practically impossible. We can’t expect to be always perfect, and we need to allow ourselves to drop a ball occasionally.
Here are a few tips and tricks to help keep you on top of everything as well as you can.
Schedule
Keeping a schedule of everything you do will help you visualise how your time is being split up.
Scheduling time for a task will help keep you on track. It also prevents the listless wandering that occurs when you don’t have a task planned. Instead of talking yourself out of an organisational chore, use a schedule to stay on track.
Excel is an excellent tool to create a schedule in because of it’s customisability. On top of keeping track of your time, you can also track your spending, exercise, bills, and chores. Excel is an excellent tool for scheduling.
A table like the one below could also be included as it will enable you to remember your regular chores and forgo the Oh no! moment when you realise you’ve forgotten something.
Keep pen and paper close when sitting down
A universal experience: that job that you had meant to do but had forgotten about coming to you just as you fall asleep or at work where you can do nothing about it. Keeping a piece of paper and a pen handy when sitting will help you remember these niggly little tasks. Just write them down and let your mind concentrate on something else, knowing that the piece of paper has your memory’s back.
2-minute rule
The 2-minute rule is simple: every time you see or think of a job you need to do that will take less than 2 minutes, do it. While it may sound simple enough, the difference it will make is astounding. It will also help you realise how quickly jobs can be completed. So instead of wallowing over how the recycling is full: take it out. Do that dish. Pay that bill.
Schedule time for annoying tasks
For anything that ends up on your to-do list that doesn’t fall under the 2-minute rule, schedule task time! This is dedicated time for you to sit down (or stand up) and complete those annoying, niggly admin and life tasks that you dread. This time could be as long or as short as you need.
Let yourself get things ‘wrong’
When there is so much content being thrown at us about other people being seemingly perfect all the time it is so hard to let yourself get things ‘wrong’. Maybe you ditched your plan to go to the gym and instead sat on the couch: don’t beat yourself up. We are all human and allowing little so-called ‘mistakes’ like this are essential. If you expect yourself to be perfect all the time, you will burn out.
There are lots of articles out there that will teach you how to be organised, but the tips above are tried, true, and tested. Following them may not magically grant you a perfect life but they will help you feel a little bit more in control.
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