31
Jul

Top 20 Organizing Tips – Week #2

Welcome to Week #2 of our Summer Top 20 Organizing Tips.I hope that you have implemented some of last week’s tips and are on the road to getting your home, office and life organized.

Academic Planner

These next 5 tips will help you continue your steps toward getting organized because “until something happens, nothing happens”. Talk is cheap and usually doesn’t accomplish a whole lot of anything. To reach your goal of getting organized, requires that you maintain self management about what you do and when you do it! Take control of your day and identify priorities that will help you toward your ultimate goal.

So, let’s get started!

Tip #6 – For better self management, be smart about how you schedule your appointments. Scheduling them too close together will only set yourself up for failure. When scheduling appointments remember to allow travel time to and from appointments (including traffic and possible weather delays). It is easier and much more professional to arrive to an appointment early rather than dashing in late and frazzled.

Tip #7 – Work from a calendar. Use one calendar for all of your appointments, including business and family.  The one thing that doesn’t matter is whether you use a paper of electronic calendar. Remember, however, if you use an electronic calendar (like on your cell phone), that you will need to ensure that your phone is always charged. This is why I still choose to use a paper calendar. By the way, I write my appointments in pencil! That way I can make lots of notes and change appointments, if necessary, without making a mess of the calendar. Check out my new calendar that will be available on the website very soon.

Tip #8 – Speaking of calendars, schedule time to organize. Making sure that you actually work on getting yourself organized is important. (Don’ put it off until later). So schedule a specific amount of time each week to work on a designated area in your home or office. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time, just an hour or two every week is more than you are doing now, right?

Tip #9 – Hold a family meeting each week. This is a key tip for Self Management. Sitting down with your spouse and/or family members and discussing the upcoming weekly activities can save so much stress. Clearly identify who is responsible for drop-off, pick-ups, running errands, etc. Work smarter –  not harder, share and distribute the work load and work together!

Tip #10 – Combine trips, errands and activities whenever possible. Where we live it is a 20 minute drive (minimum) to get anywhere. So, when I go into town, I make sure that I arrange my schedule to do as much as possible while I am in town. Not only does this save time, it also saves gas (and money). When I am scheduling appointments, I’m not too shy to say, “I can make that, however, do you have another appointment available on Tuesday afternoons? That will work better for my schedule”. (You never know unless you ask!)

I hope that these self-management and calendar tips help you get organized. Check back for Tips 11-15 in our next newsletter!