Organizing your life can seem like an impossible task. By the time the calendar ticks 40 and beyond, there are so many things to do and remember. It seems like there is never enough time to get everything done.
The following tips and tricks will help you learn ways to organize your life. These tips will allow you to maximize your time, increase your productivity, and stay organized, which becomes so important as you age and your responsibilities increase.
It’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t live in a world of compulsive organization, but it’s true. The need to control our lives and organize everything is innate in humans. And, when we’re asked to organize our days, we don’t just want to do the bare minimum—we want to do it effectively.
Chuck in a lot of self-help articles and online articles, and it’s easy to see that the concept of being organized in life isn’t new. However, a lot of the advice out there isn’t the most effective. That’s why we decided to write this article.
Here are 25 ways to organize your life, based on various studies and our own experience, especially for those in their 40s and beyond!!
Table of Contents
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How To Organize Your Life on Paper
Discover Your Why
- Determine your life’s purpose,
- your mission statement,
- and the overriding desire that drives you to do what you do.
Consider what the most important areas of your life are. What is the driving force that pushes you forward and keeps you moving daily?
For instance, Google’s mission statement is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Find out yours.
Whatever it is, once you’ve decided on your mission and vision statements for the most important things in your life, write everything down and post it somewhere you can see it daily, such as on a bulletin board.
Understand What’s Causing You To Be Disorganized
Sometimes, life can get in the way of staying organized. Whether it’s work issues, personal problems, or just needing to catch your breath, it’s easy to let things slip when you’re overwhelmed.
However, understanding what is causing you to be disorganized is the first step towards getting rid of the problem.
Take A Look At What Needs To Be Handled
If you need to organize your life, choose one thing to focus on. Then go on to something else. Any effort to be organized in life begins with your thoughts, attitude, and determination.
Try new things and ideas. Be willing to make a change and become an organized person. Give yourself some time to introspect.
In time, you will be able to find a system, create a method, and develop ways to organize your life.
Organization In Life: The 3 Areas of Your Life You Should Organize
Are you struggling with how to organize your life? Feeling like you’re constantly playing catch-up?
If so, you’re not alone. According to a study by the University of Minnesota, the average person has a total of 131 tasks to do per day. That’s a lot! And it’s no wonder so many of us feel overwhelmed.
But what if I told you that there were three areas of your life where organizational skills could make a big difference?
Career and Finances
Your career and your finances are two areas of your life you should concentrate on and manage. Regardless of whether you own a business or work for someone else, you must have a concrete plan for your career and organize your finances.
You must make it your goal to plan effectively in this regard.
Relationships and Family
If you can manage your work, your relationships, and your family life, half of your battle to maintain a work-life balance will be achievable.
Health and Fitness
Finally, there’s health and fitness. Far too many people put their health on the back burner until it’s too late. This is something you don’t want to happen.
You don’t want to wait until you’ve been diagnosed with a chronic disease to begin caring for your health and fitness which is all the more important as you go past your 40th birthday!!
What Are The Best Ways To Organize Your Life?
If you want to live an organized life, the first step is to define or connect with yourself to understand what an organized life means to you.
In other words, you should know what your ideal lifestyle includes and what it takes to get organized. Develop systems to organize your life.
When you are trying to figure out life organization, ask yourself :
- How many hours per day do you want to work?
- Do you work every day?
- What do you plan to do once you’re free?
- How are you planning to spend your weekend with your loved ones and family?
- What is your pastime? What would you like to do with your free time?
- What do your ideal workday and weekend look like?
So, if you want to live an organized life, you must first set out a goal or mission and then organize your life around that goal.
You can get this intentional week success guide which is an actionable guide that will help you create a weekly plan and enhance your productivity.
Organizing Your Life
Want to simplify and organize your life? What you need to do is set out two primary objectives while planning your goal setting:
- One professional goal related to your job, business, or career,
- And one personal goal to help you improve the quality of your life.
This will help you in your journey towards personal development. It will also help you to understand the best ways to organize your life as per your needs and requirements.
Every person has unique life situations, so your ways to organize your life have to be as per your suitability.
Ways To Organize Your Life
There are many different ways to organize your life. You can choose the way that works best for you.
10 Hacks and Tips On How To Organize Your Life, Also Followed By Most Organized People
Develop Good Habits And Build A Routine
To manage your life, you don’t need the perfect planner or a professional organizer. You need to develop better habits.
Habits are important, but they are difficult to form. Organize your life and choose habits that correspond to your natural tendencies. Be honest with yourself and accept what you can commit to in the long run. Declutter your life.
By choosing the path of least resistance, you can save yourself from continuing to do what you do not like and instead focus on what you enjoy.
We have already covered a detailed post on all those healthy habits you can start today. Read it to understand what habits you need to inculcate in your daily life to increase your productivity.
Try To Get Up Early For A Better And Organized Life
It is important to wake up early for an organized life. If you are used to getting up late in the morning, then your day may seem cluttered and chaotic. You will lose focus on everything you do, which will make it hard for you to finish tasks on time.
Did you know that people who are successful and extraordinary wake up early? Your tone for the day is set in the morning. If you are not a morning person, the initial days may be a bit tough.
Yet, one day, it will become a part of your life that you will thoroughly enjoy and be thankful for.
Stop Pressing The Snooze Button
The key to a correct start to your day is what you do with your morning and undisturbed hours. You can get up at 4 a.m., but if you’re not doing anything productive, it’s better to sleep in than get up early.
So, it is important how you spend your time in the morning and during your unstructured hours. You need to set up and develop a morning routine and include all those things that help you be more focused and productive throughout the day.
For instance, you can set a priority for the day or write or take notes in your journal. You may also do some physical exercise to kick-start your day.
If you are new to the world of journaling, read our blog post on Simple Journaling Ideas for Beginners.
Plan Ahead
Organizing your life from the beginning and planning it is the key to a successful and happy life. How do you go about this?
- Start by writing a list of all the things that need to be done, then prioritize them accordingly. Next, break each task into manageable parts with a deadline for completion.
- Finally, assign someone responsible for each task. Mark important dates. This way, you know that everything will get done as planned and on time.
- Also, plan and schedule the minor tasks—they add up! (For example, laundry, cleaning, etc.)
- Plan your week for an hour once a week (e.g., Friday afternoon, or Monday morning, as per your convenience). Use apps like Evernote or Notion to plan your life.
- Overestimate the time it will take you to complete a task.
- Try scheduling your day.- Use apps like Google Calendar. For instance, I prefer to use the time-blocking technique to schedule my day. Even if you note down the five most important tasks you need to do in a day, it will help you better manage your time.
- Use apps like Evernote or Notion to streamline your tasks. I found this notion course extremely helpful to get started with using Notion.
Keep A Journal
If you are struggling with organizing your life, a journal can be a helpful tool to use.
- A journal can help you organize your thoughts and feelings.
- You can store information about everyday life tasks or items that you need to do in a journal.
- You can also plan out future activities.
- Also, use it to note down any memorable events that happened during the day.
Keeping a journal will enable you to feel more productive and happier with where you are in life. If you want to organize your life, you’ll need to organize your mind first. Journaling helps you with that.
Journaling has been shown
- to decrease stress
- and increase focus
It is a valuable self-help tool for achieving personal goals. The nice thing about journaling is that there are no rules, so find the style of journaling that works best for you!
If you want to remember things, put them in writing or in a digital notebook like Notion.
Create A To-Do List
Life can get overwhelming, but it’s all in how you look at it. Create a to-do list to organize your life by starting with the most important stuff.
You can then work your way down to the least pressing ones. The key is to prioritize appropriately. Break down the tasks on your list into smaller, more specific, and more achievable tasks.
For instance, if you want to just declutter daily, set a target of cleaning the kitchen counter after every meal. This is a small and specific task that you can accomplish with ease and be proud of!!
Make time blocks on Google Calendar every night before going to bed after making a list of everything you need to get done. Try it. It will help you organize your life like no other tool.
Make realistic plans that fit into your schedules. Avoid unrealistic plans that will set you up for failure.
Try not to overwhelm yourself by trying to accomplish everything at once. Instead of looking at each task as daunting, take pride in accomplishing one item on the list before moving on to the next.
Organize Your Time
Time is the most precious commodity in the world, which is why it is important to organize your time.
If you are not sure how to use your time, you should start by asking yourself these questions:
- What are my goals?
- How much time do I have?
- Do I need to multitask or focus on one thing at a time?
- What are my obligations in life?
The answers to these questions will help determine how you should organize your time so that you can achieve your goals.
To track your time, you can also use apps like Toggl. Toggl is a time management app that tracks your daily activities. It also provides detailed insights into how you spend your time.
This allows you to identify areas of your life where you can improve.
Strive For Balance In Life
Having and leading a balanced life is extremely important if you want to live a happy and peaceful life
Here are a few ideas to consider:
- Avoid overworking yourself and devoting too much time to work.
- Make physical activity a priority.
- Try meditation, journaling, or cultivating a practice of gratitude.
- Spend time with family and friends.
- Relax by yourself with a good movie or book.
- Make sure to get enough sleep.
- Make self-care a priority.
- Organize your life into categories and try to balance them while prioritizing each adequately.
Simplify And Organize Your Life By Decluttering
Always try to create space physically, digitally, and mentally. If you are interested in finding out ways to start decluttering, read our post on How to Start Decluttering.
Some of the chaos we experience in our lives is due to
- having too much physical clutter,
- too much to do,
- and too much to think about.
When it comes to organizing your life, remember that less is more.
Avoid Mental And Emotional Clutter
Many people face the challenge of keeping their minds clutter-free. The average adult person has about 30,000 thoughts a day.
Many of these thoughts are negative, repetitive, and produce unnecessary strain. This can lead to anxiety, depression, and mental health issues over time.
To reduce mental clutter, you must develop an awareness of your thought process and how it affects you daily. Mental clutter prevents you from focusing on important tasks.
Many times in life, thoughts and feelings are not all that clear. Our minds are constantly bombarded with thoughts and emotions that can lead to emotional clutter.
Living with this kind of clutter is not only unattractive; it also creates anxiety and drains our energy. What is the solution?
It turns out that you can be happier and less stressed by
- slowing down,
- simplifying,
- and de-cluttering your life
The best way to avoid mental clutter is to clear your thought process and self-reflect. This has many benefits, but the biggest one might be the ability to make decisions or take action at a moment’s notice.
Clutter in any form is a distraction. It is a hindrance to your progress on your path of personal growth and development.
Keeping track of your progress is a great way to organize your life. Whether you want to organize your life for work or just personal time, it is important to keep records of all the things you’ve done.
You may choose to do so through the use of an app or by writing it down in a notebook. Keeping track of these accomplishments will give you the motivation you need to continue moving forward in life.
Learn To Automate Or Outsource
For most people, efficiency and organization make their day and life go smoother. Many try to do everything on their own but often compromise their health and well-being.
To maintain a sense of control, it is important to consider the benefits of outsourcing. For instance, outsource tasks such as car maintenance and laundry so that you can focus more on living your life with minimal stress.
You can automate or outsource things, like
- bill payments
- sending emails
- grocery shopping
- laundry, etc.
Keep Experimenting And Stop Procrastinating
Stop procrastinating and start organizing! Everyone has different ways of organizing their lives. Try exploring various methods of organizing your life until you find one that works for you.
The key is to experiment with the organizational system you want and only adopt those ways to organize your life that help you grow.
How To Organize Your Office
The desk is piled high with papers, the chair is cluttered with clothes, and there is no room to walk around. Your office is a mess, and it’s time to organize it!
You need to learn how to declutter your office and create an organized space that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing.
Organize Your Life At Work
In our fast-paced, constantly connected world, it’s more important than ever to be organized at work. Organization can help you stay on top of your to-do list, keep your inbox under control, and make the most of your time at the office.
You need to organize your life at work. But what about when you have a desk with a lot of crazy clutter?
Below are a few tips to help you get your office in order and stay that way.
Organizing Your Workspace
Think about the items you need on your desk. What needs to be within arm’s reach of the chair? For instance, keep a stock of pens, accessories, a notebook/journal, and other items that you need while working
Organize Your Digital Or Online Space
When you hear the word “organize,” you often think of your physical space. However, in today’s digital world, you also need to organize all the digital information that you access.
- Keeping your inbox organized and clean is a type of decluttering that will make you feel a lot better. Include categories in your emails.
- Have folders for each category of files on your computer or smartphone. For instance, you can have one folder for E-books and one folder for certain types of articles you may have downloaded. This helps you access them with ease when you need them. It is also important to clear those folders from time to time to prevent junk from filling up and slowing down your computer/smartphone
- Learn to use any form of cloud storage to store your important files or photos on cloud storage platforms like Google Drive, One Drive, or Dropbox. By using them, you ensure that your files are safe and that you can access them even when you cannot physically access your device. You can also use a physical storage device to store your important files.
- Organize your day by focusing on the most high-value thing you should be doing at work to gain more customers, close a big sale, and so on. After that, you are free to do whatever else needs to be done, such as emails, meetings, and so on.
Look For Possibilities For Automation And Outsourcing At Work
Hire a virtual administrative assistant to manage your appointments and travel if you own a business and can afford it.
Delegate tasks and projects to team members who may have more specialized skills as a manager.
Use apps like LastPass or set up your Google account to automatically store your passwords for you. Use apps like Asana, Trello, or Notion to organize your projects.
They may seem daunting to use in the beginning, but you get used to them after using them. Ensure that you make your electronics and paperwork for you, not the other way around.
Organize Your Life At Home
How To Organize Your Daily Routine At Home
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by everything on your to-do list, but you can keep it under control in some ways. One way is to build habits and create a plan that will help you stay organized.
Here are some quick tips on how to organize yourself at home
- Develop simple habits like making the bed the first thing after you wake up. For me making the bed has a therapeutic effect as it makes me feel in control and charged up to complete the rest of the tasks on my list for the day.
- Fold the laundry as soon as possible.
- Clear the dishes before going to bed, or wash them as soon as you use them. It helps in checking clutter.
- Refrigerate food in glass or transparent containers.
- Put Labels on your containers and boxes, this will help you to be more organized and make you feel good.
- Keep your keys, phone, and spectacles in the same place so that you do not waste time looking for them every time you need them.
- Make an emergency kit with items such as bandages, extra pantyhose, hairpins, and so on.
- Declutter your purse. To save yourself time, keep your purse clean, tidy, and organized.
- Keep a clock in your bathroom to avoid being late for work.
- Keep your car clean and organized as well.
- Simplify Your mealtime. Try meal prep for the week ahead.
- What I prefer to do is list out 3 to 4 items for breakfast, lunch, or dinner for each day. I then choose what to cook as per the mood and time at hand to cook the meal.
Develop The Do It Now Attitude In Your Life
If you can do some tasks immediately, do not procrastinate on them. For instance, sending emails or putting your laundry away. In the long run, they pile up and consume a lot of your time.
Prepare Inventory
Save time by making a list of all
- your grocery,
- vegetable,
- and fruit shopping
so that you can go out once to get them all. Also, make an inventory and avoid overstocking supplies. You can also delegate this task to someone if you can.
Categorize Tasks
Categorize the tasks that you need to do to keep your home organized. Do some tasks like vacuuming the house and checking the mail every week. Whereas doing some work like deep cleaning the garage or carpet every month. This will help you to be organized.
Keep Your To-Do List Handy
Make lists for things like
- shopping,
- grocery items,
- birthday gifts, etc.
For this purpose, you can also use apps like
- Todoist
- Wunderlist
- Evernote
- or also make use of a diary, which you can keep in your purse or car.
Make use of the Pomodoro technique
To complete specific household chores, use the Pomodoro technique (focusing on a single task for 25 minutes straight).
You can use this technique for
- Organizing the mess,
- doing the dishes,
- or doing a quick cleaning of your bathroom
Of course, this technique helps get organized with other tasks as well, such as studying, writing, or completing a project.
If you want to be committed to making your life organized, plan the next day before going to sleep.
I hope this post has given you an insight into ways to organize your life, which includes your workplace and your home. Many of us are constantly juggling work, family, school, and more. It is not easy to keep things in life under your control.
It is no surprise that this stress can lead to unnecessary anxiety. With some new strategies, it is possible to reduce or even cut the amount of stress in your life.
Organize Your Life: Key Takeaways
Setting a priority list for tasks will help you organize your time and make sure you do everything you need to do each day.
Every person has different requirements. Work your schedule according to your needs, and always understand that life will throw surprises at you. Be prepared to handle them with your attitude.
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