Organisation & Writing…

6 Steps to Keep Up with The Competition…

Published in

SYNERGY

5 min readAug 23, 2023

While you can get ‘organised’ by tidying up your physical space, getting yourself organised is about what you do with your life.

It’s about managing your time, priorities, tasks, and goals.

When trying to write consistently for a platform like the medium to grow your audience, if you’re not organised in what you do, you’ll find yourself forever rushing from one article to the next just to keep up with the competition.

I know. This is exactly what I was doing…

While I was producing several articles a week, and to an extent I was keeping up with the competition, I just didn’t feel right.

I felt like my mind was a mess and my life was quickly following.

Is this what the top professional writers feel like?

After several burnouts and mental blocks later, I realized that I couldn’t keep this up.

Something needed to change…

So, How Can Getting Organised Help with Your Writing?

Being organized will bring many benefits to your writing and personal life.

Some of these benefits are more obvious such as:

Improve Mental Health (Reduced stress and anxiety).
Increased productivity (Save time and achieve Goals).

But there are more underlying factors in the points above such as enhanced performance & creativity, higher satisfaction & happiness.

In the paragraphs that follow we will delve into the 2 organization points that have kept me up to date with writing and that’ll keep you up with writing competition.

Organisation Improving Mental Health.

Being organized can have a positive impact on your mental health in several ways.

1. Accessibility.

In the same way, when your surroundings are free from clutter you feel less stressed (lower cortisol levels — the stress hormone); you get the same feeling as when your writing is organized.

Organizing my writing into folders and decluttering old documents helped me feel less stressed.

Everything is easily accessible.

I know which articles have been completed and what I’m going to work on next.

I have one folder for published articles and another for stuff I’m working on.

2. Adaptability.

You can’t put a price on peace of mind, and it is severely underestimated.

In the modern world, we’ve built up a toxic work culture that deprives you of sleep, socialization, and rest.

By merely making small alterations to how you organize your work you can completely change your state of mind for the better having more time to yourself.

A relaxed mind means more creative work is produced and you’re more satisfied when you’re doing the work.

3. Flow.

We’ve all experienced ‘the flow state’.

The state of mind where we are in our prime and produce the best work with the least effort.

Have you ever been able to achieve this when rushing about?

Stressing over whether you’ll get the work done?

Running from one activity to the next?

This can’t be achieved if you’re not looking after your mental health.

In the film Limitless, what’s the first thing that Bradley Cooper does after taking NZT?

He cleans his house…

HE ORGANISES!

Organisation Increasing Productivity.

The second thing I would recommend is to have a clear action plan of what you’re going to work on.

4. Prepare.

I have a Word document where I have written a list of all the article ideas I have.

It’s about 200 points long and I slowly start working through it.

When I’ve finished an article, I cross it off and when I think of a new idea, I add it to the list.

I know exactly what I must do.

There’re no more getting mental blocks about what I should work on next significantly reducing the excessive burden on my brain and making me free to work on the task at hand.

5. Brainstorm.

I brainstormed a while ago and shelved the ideas until I need a new one and this is the single most important thing is helping me meet deadlines.

I wrote an article a while ago on setting goals and breaking them down if you’d like to read more into it but this is the first step, knowing what you must do.

You have a sense of control over your life, something we all crave.

When you meet the deadlines you set for yourself and accomplish the tasks, you boost your confidence because you’re making yourself a promise and sticking to it.

You’re increasing your focus while simultaneously minimising distractions helping to prevent procrastination.

6. Plan.

Go deeper with this by planning your day ahead of time. Establish what article you want to focus on and how much you want to complete.

Create either a morning or evening routine that suits your lifestyle to fit in regular writing that can help you produce the kind of portfolio you want.

Create a system that works for YOU.

You no longer need to rely on the fleeting mindset that is motivation, the activity is almost automated.

Yes, you may still make mistakes and overcome challenges, but these will no longer be the kind of major setbacks that’d stop you from completing tasks as you will constantly be ahead of time.

And if you want to check this just try following these steps for a week then look at how many stories you’ve created. Look at the views and followers you’ve accumulated.

You know exactly what to do now, all you have to do is show up…

Conclusion

Getting organised is not only beneficial for your personal and professional life but also for your mental and physical health.

Being organized can help you achieve more in less time, reduce stress and anxiety, enhance creativity and happiness, save money and time, and improve your performance and communication.

By following some simple tips and using some helpful tools, you can start getting organized today and enjoy the rewards tomorrow.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. If you found it helpful and think someone else could too, please share it📣📣.

A writer mainly on self-development. I occasionally write on personal experiences, interests and other topics too. If you are interested in self-development, then please read some of my other articles (linked below). Enjoy.