5 tips to help you get (and stay!) organised

We are ten days into a brand new year and decade, and resolutions are being made and broken left, right and centre. I’ve heard many friends and colleagues over the years resolve to be more organised in the new year, having come out of the Christmas madness more than a little dishevelled. But if you’re not a naturally organised person this is one resolution it can be difficult to stick to. Did you to know that it takes around two months to break old habits and form new ones? No wonder it’s tricky!
To give you a hand I’m sharing my 5 top tips for getting yourself organised.
​

1. Make a plan – and write it down
   Organised people write everything down. You may have a great plan of how you are going to be more organised, with an end goal and lots of achievable steps to get there but if it’s in your head it’s difficult to keep track of what you need to do and things tend to get missed. Write it down, put it somewhere you can see it and you’re much more likely to achieve your goal.
   
   
2. Break the plan down – make lists
   You’ve written your plan down – now you need to get it done. Break the plan down into a list of all the tasks you need to do or things you need to get to achieve your end result, whether that’s a work project, planning this year’s holiday or just doing the weekly shop.
   
   
3. Take your list with you
   Whether you use good old-fashioned pen and paper, the memo app on your phone or online software such as Trello or Todoist, make sure you take your list with you. Whenever you think of something that needs to be done, put it on your list.
   
   
4. Prioritise – important stuff first
   Organised people are good at prioritising. This is because we usually have clear plans, broken down into lists, and can therefore see exactly what we need to do when. If you’ve made a plan and broken it down into a to-do list you will be able to identify the important stuff - highlight the important bits and do those first. Tick them off as you do them – it feels great!
   
   
5. Remind yourself
   Use the calendar on your phone or download a reminders app – set times during the week to review your to-do lists and add in important tasks or appointments. Ta-dah! You’re organised!
   
   ​These are the 5 main things I do to keep on track - as a VA I’m naturally organised but even I have my moments. One area where I have been uncharacteristically haphazard is on social media so my commitment for 2020 is to be much more present and active on my social media platforms, posting helpful tips and advice, sharing useful information and getting to know my connections. So I’m going to implement the above tips to help me do this – will it work? Stick with me on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook to find out!