When you have what seems like a never-ending list of things that need doing, it is easy and indeed natural to feel overwhelmed. Each of us has, after all, a finite amount of mental energy and focus, and when a million different tasks pull at us in all directions, it's the unusual person indeed who doesn't feel a bit unraveled. Using these 10 tips, your stress level will diminish, you’ll increase your overall happiness and improve your quality of day-to-day life.
Getting organized may not drastically reduce the number of demands on your attention, but by grouping them sensibly, you can greatly reduce the mental and emotional drain.
1. Don't leave clothing lying about. It may seem a hassle to put clothes away, whether in the closet or the hamper, every single time, and it may not seem like a big deal to leave something out to put away later. But every time you see it, it takes up a tiny slice of your mental energy. You might feel that tiny twinge of guilt for not putting things away. The cumulative effect is much worse than just developing the habit of putting your clothes away in the first place. Same goes for dishes, soda cans, or whatever you like to leave out instead of putting away right away.
2. Floss and Exercise. Take just two minutes a day to floss your teeth, and cut out the much worse experience of wishing you did, and wondering how much your dentist judges you for not doing it. Take care of yourself, and you feel better about yourself. The same goes for that walk you know you should take. Take some time for your health, and you'll be better able to tackle other problems.
3. Group your stuff. Put all your commonly used items (e.g., stapler, scissors etc.) in one or two places. The more orderly you can make your surroundings, the more orderly you will feel, and the better you feel about organization, the easier it becomes. Seeing small piles of clutter everywhere you look can drain you. Reclaim your space!
4. Ditch the to-be-filed tray for paperwork. Instead, get a never-going-to-be-filed box. The difference? Instead of a to-be-filed box that you never actually get around to going through, you either put your paperwork away where it really goes, or you put it into a box that you know you don't have to file. Your phone bill? If you don't want to just throw it away after paying it, put it in your un-filed box. If you need it, you can search for it. When the box gets full, and you know you haven't needed anything in it for months or years, dump the oldest stuff directly in the trash and start refilling it. You end up saving time dealing with unimportant things, and you don't feel bad about it every time you see a stack of papers.
5. Sort your mail daily. You don't have to sit down to pay bills every day, but why not write due-date on the envelope? That way you know at a glance when you actually need to have a bill-pay session, instead of putting it off and having to wonder if you waited too long.
6. Create a task list. Seems obvious, but here's the secret though: include the stuff you already do anyway. Go ahead, write down "Make Dinner" or "Pick Up Kids at School." It's a task, isn't it? You'd do it if you didn't write it down, but write it down anyway. Not only do you get a great sense of joy to cross it off the list (even if it shows up on tomorrow's list), but the other tasks will be in their proper place.
7. Respect that you have "overhead". You have a certain amount of things you do on such a regular basis that they might not seem like a big deal, take a shower, drive to work, run by the grocery store. But each of those takes time and energy. Figure out how much time you really have left over for the "special" tasks like writing those thank-you notes or putting together the new barbecue grill. If your overhead task list is already pretty full, then don't even attempt to get more than one or two other things done in a day. Just rank the items by priority and give yourself permission to put the rest off another day.
8. Don't put off stuff too long. For some tasks, you may need to do them within a certain time, and so naturally those get a higher priority. But others are less time-sensitive, so they get pushed back. If you've pushed back a project again and again, just bite the bullet and complete it, even if it isn't the most important task "on paper", because the emotional drain of procrastinating is real.
9. If you can’t do it, say "No". If you followed the above advice to create a clear task list with all the things you need to do outlined, you'll have a better ability to say "no" to someone wanting to pile more on your plate.
10. Take pictures of sentimental possessions... and then get rid of them. There's nothing wrong with holding on to things, even if they have no practical use. But if you have a box full of ticket stubs and theater programs, a closet full of clothing you never wear but can't bear to part with, and a box full of cute knickknacks that you have no place to actually display, consider taking digital photos of these items and then selling or donating them or throwing them away. You can easily view your photos more often than you go through your "too precious to part with" boxes, and you save the space and hassle of having more things to organize with no place to put them.
All too often it is our own feelings of guilt over disorganization that leads us into a downwards spiral of ever greater procrastination and clutter. By making a few changes to put us in a better place emotionally, we can regain the strength to do the amazing work we’ve set out to accomplish.
As you are getting happily organized, you can also clean up your Outlook, Mac, Gmail or Google Apps address book by removing duplicate contacts using the Scrubly duplicate contact remover tool. You can scan your contacts for free by visiting http://www.scrubly.com
