Setting Goals to Become Organized
A lot of people have trouble staying organized. This means that they also have trouble getting things done on time. One way to combat this disorganization is to practice goal setting. You may have believed that setting goals was all about the future way down the road. Actually, goal setting can involve reaching only what you need to accomplish in a 24 hour period. Setting goals can mean that you simply meet important deadlines. Either way, this is one way that someone with a disorganization problem can get, at least, a small handle on it.
The simplest way to do this is by taking some time the night before your work day and making a list of all the things you need, or want, to complete from the time you begin working until you close your office door for the day. You can write this list down using pen and paper so that you’ll be able to mark off each item as it is completed during the day. This is a psychological trick that’s been used for ages to keep a person motivated. When you can see that you’ve completed a task, it tends to propel you forward to the next one, if for no other reason than you get to mark off something else from your list. It makes you feel good that you’ve accomplished something and have one less thing to do.
These goals should be prioritized according to importance or time frame when you write them down. In that way, you’re becoming organized without even realizing it because you’ll be completing those things the next day in the order they need to be. By doing it this way, you don’t actually think about being organized. You’re simply thinking about what you need to get done next. That can make a huge impact on your work day when you have everything done on your list by the end of the day.
This is also a major stress reducer. Now, you don’t have to worry about carrying something over into the next work day. It takes away the need for having to explain to a client or customer why something is going to be late. Instead, because you had it on your list of goals for the day, it was completed right on time. You can’t help but feel so much better knowing that you were able to complete everything you needed to do in that one day.
It may be a bit difficult in the beginning to make yourself do this every night. However, it’s important that you DO stay on task with it. While it may start out as taking a half hour to complete your list, eventually, you’ll be able to do it in ten minutes. If you know shorthand, you can probably do it in five minutes. At any rate, the point is that once you get into the routine of doing this regularly, you’re going to become organized in spite of yourself. Stay at it and it will change your working life forever.
photo credit: Wonderlane via photopin cc