How To: Organise Your Life

Hello, Reader!

I’m really excited because organization is one of my favourite topics - especially when it involves journals or planners. Last week I touched upon why organization is an important part of getting motivated for the start of the new school year but (in my humble opinion) it’s so much more than that. Using a planner to ‘organise my life’ helped a lot with my mental health and made me more productive which, as a result, improved my daily life and my outlook on the value of each day. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “I wish I could be this organised” or “You’re one of those people who actually have their life together” and to those people I say: you can too, you just need to try. I’m all against that this culture which glorifies being “a mess” and “haha I never do my work on time” and “sksk improving myself and changing my destructing behaviour? I could never”. Loving yourself is being kind to yourself and being organised, if not productive, is exactly that. 

An empty notebook or planner can be a little intimidating, but the beginning of a school year is a great time to begin one because it’s a time when you have things to organise even beside personal projects. If you’re leaning towards something more customisable where you can have a bit of everything, (e.g. to-do lists, drawings, memories, goals,) then a journal or plain notebook may be more suitable for you. The way you set it up initially is very individual so do a bit of research on Instagram (#bulletjournalsetup or #bujosetup) and get inspired! If you’re just looking for a straightforward way to organise without all the extras, try a simple planner you can find in any stationary shop.

Your planner is where you write down everything. Homework, deadlines, social events, appointments… everything that you need to remember. I find that writing a weekly master to-do list and then splitting it between the days of the week works really well for me, but you might want to figure out a to-do list system which works for you specifically. The one, universal tip I have for that is to plan your work around your events instead of the other way around. Of course, if you’re hanging out with your friends every day, this might not be the best advice but don’t miss out on social events - plan around them! 

Once you’ve started organising, remember to follow through. There’s no point of writing things down if you don’t actually do them and then this whole planner this is useless. It’s okay to migrate tasks to subsequent days you didn’t get a chance to finish but try to keep on top of your to-do lists through prioritising so it doesn’t happen all the time. That being said, make your to-do lists realistic. If you know you’ll only have a 2-hour study slot in the day, don’t plan 3 past papers and an essay because, most likely, it’s not going to happen. It’s better to make it achievable, and if you’re ahead of schedule - you can always start on tomorrow’s to-do list!

No matter what, life can be unpredictable and tasks can get migrated for a variety of reasons. That's why you should consider a weekly “catch up” day. Every week, try to leave a day with no tasks - this is your rest day as a reward for finishing all of the tasks you’ve finished, or it can be a saviour when you’re drowning in migrated tasks. Otherwise, the undone tasks will keep piling up as the next to-do list brings even more tasks waiting to be finished. Not only that, but rest days are absolutely essential for productivity and your health - you’re not a robot!

Remember to be kind to yourself.

Love,

Agnes xo