There’s no denying it, being more organised saves us time, worry and makes us better at completing tasks(more productive you might say)! Everybody talks about being organised, it can start with something as simple as making sure your bags are packed and you’ve got your clothes ready the night before. As your responsibilities grow your organising skills have to grow too to make sure you stay on track!
Our to-do lists are always clocking up activities, the things we love (seeing our friends, watching that new film whilst it is out at the cinema) and the things we *have* to do (complete our work, clean our room and renew our train tickets). It can feel as though things are constantly being added and it doesn’t take long before you forget to do something, you are worn out or things aren’t completed to a top notch standard!
Organised people arrive on time, ready with all the things they need and having completed all the work they said would do!
Write it down!
We’re not talking about having little scraps of paper everywhere, half finished notes in your phone and some smudged writing on your hands. Take a step back and write a real list, it can be on your phone, in a notepad or on your computer, all that matters is that it is in a place where you can see it and keep track of it. It is going to be important to keep adding to this list as more things are added.
It might work for you to have more than one list, work, school/college, friends & family having shorter lists for each group of activities will help them seem more achievable and help you to prioritise them.
Know exactly what you need to do!
Be realistic with what exactly goes in to a task, all the different activities and how long you need to complete them. It is all well and good to say that you have a project to complete on your to-do list but let’s break that down. How much research time do you need? Is there someone you need to talk to before you start? How long will it take you to write it up, proof read it and have it ready? Work back from the end of a project and don’t take for granted all of the steps involved.
So that list we first started with now has an extra handful of tasks that need to be completed before you can tick it off. You’ll need to prioritise. Prioritising means putting things in an order of how important they are. It comes down to working out when your deadlines are and what is important.
And what you don’t
When you see all of your to do lists written out you can see everything you’ve signed yourself up to. Break it down in to what you need to do now, what can wait until later (next week) and what you need to cancel.
Give it time:
Set aside the time to do them, be strict with yourself, the only way you get to have fun and keep on top of work is by scheduling things in! Trust us you will enjoy your scheduled fun all the more knowing you have got the time to get all of your work done too! Scheduled fun is the new thing!
Try and do one thing from your “now” list at the start of each day, ticking that urgent thing off will ease some pressure and keep you on top of things.
Think before you say yes
This seems like a simple one but we can quickly say yes when asked to do things. But you must work out the cost, sometimes not seeing your friends or missing a film to catch up on work will mean that you can have more time later in the month but you need to watch this, if taking on more and more activities means that nothing else gets done you will soon have a problem on your hands. Never be afraid to say you don’t know if you can commit straight away and take the time to look at all the things you have to do before saying yes.
Stay on track!
Book some time in to be organised! Make sure you put in ten minutes at the beginning of your day (or last thing the evening before) to set yourself up ready to know what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it. Don’t forget that in order to stay on track you will have to keep on top of things and continuously review it!
Extra tasks!
So you had it all worked out! You’ve planned all your planning and and organised your time to complete it but then all of a sudden a new task lands on your to do list and it comes with a big, bold urgent sticker! This is where being organised really sets you ahead, you’ve got all of the other things you need to do in front of you, can you make this work? Who are you going to have to let down.
Help?
Delegate tasks and ask for help if you need it! Don’t be a hero, being part of a team doesn’t mean doing all the work, talk to your team members about their to do lists and priorities and see if any one can help you. Speak to the person who set the task and see if there is any movement on the timescales.
What do you do if you are going to miss a deadline?
Communication is key, you have to be honest about the milestones you are hitting as a project or activity is happening, things happen and people do miss deadlines but people get frustrated when they have asked if you are ok or need any help and you have been smiling along saying that all is in hand. The sooner you can tell someone a deadline is going to be missed the better, also have a really well thought out plan for how and when you can complete the deadline for and what you will need to do it.
Your challenge:
This week we are going to ask you to think about what you’ve read and reflect on how you organise yourself, what could you improve?
A good way to think about this is to practise these interview questions, really think about how you would answer them now. Employers want to know that you can juggle all of the tasks they set, that you know what is important and that you can keep a handle of projects so they do not run over on time.
Using an example for school/college, work, home or your hobbies answer the following:
- Give me an example of a time when you had to plan a project or a large piece of work.
- Tell me about when you had to plan ahead in order to achieve timely results.
- In your current role, how do you prioritise your time and your activities?
