I think it’s interesting how your organizational habits increase with age. When I was younger, I was your classic “messy room” teenager. You could not see the floor of my room but heaven help the person who moved something in there. My mom would ask me to clean my room but I would claim “I know exactly where everything is”. It was a lose-lose battle.
Now, I’m borderline anal-retentive. My room has to be organized before I go to bed and if something isn’t in the “usual” place, it’s lost.
I believe this has to do with my age and lifestyle. Now that I’m living in a world run by Outlook calendars, shared drives, OPAs, and multi-tasking projects at work, my house has to be the same level of organization.
Here’s three tips that I’ve found keep yourself organized when you’re making the transition from “Chaotic Nomad” to “Organized Zen”
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Keep all of your information in the same place. Whether it’s a notebook, an online calendar/folder, a planner, or your cell phone! Make it a point to log it all on the same place so you can start referring to one thing as your source of tasks and information.
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Make a to-do list of the next day the night before. Take 2 minutes to jot down what you hope to accomplish the next day. That way, you start each day stress-free with a clean agenda. (make sure that some of them are easy to accomplish that day so that you can cross things off your list and not become overwhelmed! J )
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Remember that it takes you 1 minute to get organized but at least double the time if you wait until you need to find something. If you take that extra step to save something in the right location or put your household items in the right location (a drawer) then you don’t have to spend the extra time digging for it when you are desperately trying to retrieve it.
This entry is a tribute to my brother, the forever “chaotic nomad.” J
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