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How to Organize Your Life in Five Simple Steps

Home » Getting Organized » How to Organize Your Life

By Juliet du Preez

As I see it, having a disorganized life means that you don’t know where to turn next.

It feels as if everything needs to be done right now, yet there simply isn’t time.

You never seem to get ahead; there is always too much on the go.

What you need to do is to stop and take a look at how you can restore order.

So, find a place where you won’t be distracted. Take a pen and some paper. Sit there and learn how to organize your life by working through these five steps:

1. Determine What’s Working And What’s Not Working In Your Life

Make a list of all areas of life:

Self:
Spiritual growth, studies, personal development

Relationships:
Family, home, work, friends

Career:
Satisfaction, progression

Financial:
Income, debt, savings, accounts

Physical:
Health, exercise, eating and sleeping patterns

Recreation:
Hobbies, fun activities

Make three columns next to the list: one for what you have in that area (e.g. what activities, types of relationships, career path etc.).

The second for what you feel is manageable or under control in that area.

The third for where you are feeling overwhelmed.

Complete this table.

Now you can see what there is in your life, what is OK and what is out of shape.

Life Area	What’s working	What’s not working
Career- organisation	Always have work projects well-planned
Home- admin		Always behind on account payments
Exercise		Not taking part in any
Studies	Enjoy it and on track

2. Why Is It Not Working?

Figure out why you’re having problems.

Looking at our example, here are some potential reasons behind the issues:

• You don’t have an organized process for your home accounts
• You don’t have time to exercise

3. Decide What You Want

Now that you have identified where the problem areas lie, decide on what you would rather see there.

Continuing with the example above, perhaps:

• Paying accounts on time and not having the worry of a backlog
• Joining a tennis club

4. How Can You Get What You Want?

Now determine what you need to change or do in order to get your life organized.

Let's say you need a system for home accounts and time for tennis.

Freak out!?

No, now it’s time to look at your life as a whole. So, go back to your original table. Look at where things are working and see what assistance you can find there.

From our example:
• Work is well-planned, but home is not. Can you bring some of those organisation skills and tools into your home admin process?
• How do you find the time to study? Can this help with scheduling tennis? Or, perhaps organising your home accounts will actually free up some time for exercise.

5. Getting What You Want

Setting goals and drawing up plans are the answer. First calm down and then start with this:

• Set aside some time and get rid of the backlog of “stuff”
• Tidy up – all of your living areas, your working area…even your car.
• Draw up a list of exactly what you want in each day and how much time you want to spend on it. For example, thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, one hour of family time during the week etc.
• Set up goals and plans to achieve these

What is important to remember, is that you can’t do everything. That is impossible.

You need to choose what is most important to you and follow your heart on these.

By keeping your heart in your life, you’ll be surprised to find that you seem to have enough time.

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