3 Top Tips to Help You Organize Your Day

Did you know that disorganization can negatively impact your mental and physical health?

When your day is disorganized, it can lead to stress, depression, and anxiety, which tend to manifest themselves in the body, too. The more chaotic your schedule or your office, the less relaxed or content you feel, leading to crappy days, poor performance, or lack of motivation. 

Being organized has several compelling benefits, from improving your sleep and stress levels to bettering your relationships, productivity, and even food choices. When you organize your day, you'll inevitably be organizing your weeks, months, and years—contributing to a healthier and happier life.

Get started with these tips!

1. Begin Planning the Night Before

At the end of every day, set aside at least fifteen minutes to review your goals for the next day, making a to-do list.

When you plan your day the night before, you're setting yourself up for a more productive 24 hours. With a list already made, you'll spend less time making decisions in the morning, contemplating what tasks to complete; instead, you'll move right into being actionable. 

Begin with something meaningful, like exercise, meditation, journaling, or a healthy breakfast. That way, you'll start your day from a more restored, less distracted mental space.

2. Set a Realistic Schedule, Allowing for Flexibility

If you've never heard of the SMART acronym—a basic guideline for accomplishing goals—here's the idea. It's a method of accomplishing goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based.

In general, these goals revolve around a certain concept of flexibility. For a goal to be achievable, it's got to be realistic. Attainable. The more farfetched or far-off your objective, the easier it'll be to fail, making you less likely to try again later.

So, allow for the unexpected, such as traffic, a meeting that ran long, or a rescheduled appointment. That way, you won't lose steam when something inevitably goes wrong.

3. Use Organization Tools

There's no sense in ignoring the obvious—technology has made it possible for us to stay more organized than ever. 

Use these tools, many of which are free, to your advantage. From planning software and project management tools to meeting schedulers and to-do list makers, there's no lack of means to getting and staying organized.

If you're a fan of person-to-person help, that exists, too. Consider setting up a meeting with a life coach to see where they identify areas of your that could use some tidying.

Organize Your Day for a Better Life

When you look back on your life, both personal and professional, it's likely you'll envision the larger scope: years or months, not days or minutes. Still, a year is the sum of its parts—the 365 days where you hustled, each and every day, knowing that the final result would be amazing.

Because it is.

So, organize your day, starting today, and enjoy reaping the rewards of that organization ten years from now.

Take it from me, Jim Riley—a business coach and consultant that practices what they preach. If you need more insight or advice on your organizational journey, whether it's at home or at work, I can help.

Click here for a one-on-one consultation with me.