Time to roll up your sleeves and get the hands dirty! All those resolutions and promises that were made over the weekend need to be redeemed. And believe me, the first week of the year is the most promising as it infuses fresh enthusiasm and energy into our weary bones, making everything look doable. The best way to get the year started is by organising our work, organising ourselves.
Why do we fear ‘organising’?
No, I didn’t leave the sentence incomplete, nor was the sentence structure wrong. I meant it when I said that the best way to get the year started is by organising ourselves. Things will fall into place only if we are clear about what we want to do. The how and when come in the next stage. Doesn’t matter whether you’ve got a 9 to 5 work or you’re a stay-at-home mother or are a student, each one of us has our work cut out for us. And to deal with each, we need to plan.
I was so excited to start writing in my new planner (I’m quite old-school and still prefer the leather-bound organiser to the digital calendar) that I decided to plan my week earlier than usual. When I opened the calendar on the computer, I was in for a minor shock! There were so many things scheduled to be done. I know, I said I was old-school, but I use both for optimum advantage. Here’s what I do – I make the entries in my digital calendar (macro-planning) and use that to plan my daily or weekly work (micro-planning). I need things written down in detail for my daily schedule. It helps to keep things clear and sorted.
Job made easy with organising your work
Organising the work is half the job done. It might look like a cumbersome exercise, a waste of time but believe me, it’s quite the contrary. Look at your day itself. There’s so much to do, so many targets to meet, some jobs are time bound while some are date or day bound, some events need to be planned in advance. And if you’re a mother with young kids, then there’s more to your schedule than just your work and home. Their after-school activities, birthday parties, projects and whatnot. To make sense of the craziness it’s important to keep things organised.
For students, the key to success lies in organising. No, don’t stop reading just because I mentioned ‘students’ and ‘organising’ in the same sentence. Most the young adults (I’m trying to be politically correct and sensitive) equate organising to regimentation, to some form of parental control. It’s anything but that. Organising yourself, organising your work, is the most rudimentary form of self-care.
What causes the most stress? When did you last freak out? Why were you late with your submissions? The answers to each of these questions lie in your organisation skills. If the work was organised and planned, most of these stressful moments would’ve been easily avoidable. One doesn’t need a high-end organiser or the latest organiser-app to be able to get into the game. All you need is a simple calendar or planner or whatever works for you. You’ve to try out a few methods before you know what suits you best.
Simple, easy ways to organise your day
How does using the planner help with organising your work? Simple. Mark the dates for submissions, tests, exams, etc in the calendar month-wise. You’ll get the big picture of all that is due in the future. Then plan backwards – how many days do you need for the preparations and mark those dates/days. This will help you in avoiding clustering too many things together. My kids prefer planners. I made a monthly planner and a weekly planner for them, and they use them to plan their work. There are more planners available in the store in case you’re interested.
For the lady-in-the-house, another cause of stress is planning the meals. You don’t need organisers for this but a simple Menu planner or Meal planner. I used to laugh at this when someone mentioned it long ago. I called it a new-fangled complication. But I swear by it now, honestly. Planning your meals for the day, including the lunch and snack boxes, is a job of gargantuan proportions.
The demands of all the stakeholders (I mean the family members) have to be taken into account. The menu has to suit everyone’s palates, should have sufficient variety and yet meet the nutritional requirements. Ha, and someone said it’s child’s play! I use a simple meal planner, pretty straightforward and no frills. I just created a digital one in case you prefer that to the physical one.
What I mean is..
I believe in planning and organising my day, not in an obsessive or rigid way. And if it leads to all the rest of the day falling into doable tasks or achievable targets, making life a little less stressful, then why not? Like I said earlier, it’s a form of self-care. So go ahead, start working on the new year resolutions and watch the positive changes taking place in your new organised life. We’ll do it together so that in case at any point one of us feels distracted or demotivated or just disinterested, the other will be there to cheer and goad. Here goes!!!
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I like this article, as this is my way of doings my tasks….methodical, simple and systemically in a PLANNED manner.