How I’m Trying To Organize My Life
This may help you organize yours too.
My life is a mess.
OK, not so bad, but I think that it will be, if I don’t act to change some things.
I feel that I’m not in full control, so I’m trying here some ideas to correct it.
Organizing myself is one of my 2018 goals, just like my writing activity. Let’s mix them and share this experience with you.
I’m start by asking myself the three following questions:
- Why shall I be organized?
- What shall I organize?
- How can I do it?
The why is very important, because it will remind me every day why I’m doing more effort than usual, and push me to achieve my goals.
EDIT 02/05/2017: You really need a solid argument to stay motivated.
The reason of my organization is: My family.
I’ll explain that in few seconds.
The what is also important, I need to start with the most important areas that impact my daily life and my family, and rank my priorities to be efficient.
Here is my list, I’ll put for each one the link to my family:
- Time: Because I want to spend more time with my family.
- Space: Because I had a kid, and kids need more space as they grow up.
- Money: Expenses grow up too, and they need to be controlled.
- Stuff: More people, more stuff, more expenses, less space, and so on.
The list covers the big part of my disorganized life.
It is also the entry point to others (health, nutrition, …)
Let’s move to the how. The less funny part, because it involves more work.
I’ll copy the strategy described here, initially done for time management, but can be applied to any other wasted resource.
The strategy is done in three steps:
- Record.
- Diagnose.
- Consolidate.
The first step is to track all information I can get for each topic I’m organizing, to have a clear idea of what I’m dealing with, for example for the money, I’ll record all my incomes and expenses for a period of time.
The second step is to analyze the information from the step one, for example for my expenses, I’ll classify by category (rent, food, ), by %, …etc.
The third step will be my action plan to correct the problems found after the diagnosis of step two, for example, if I have unused membership, I’ll end it.
You may ask what are the tools that I’ll use, honestly, I don’t know, I’m trying to keep it as simple as I can, I’ll start with pen and paper, and more if needed.
My plan is to write a story per category, so the first one will be for the time.
Feel free to tell me what do you think about all that, I’m looking for feedback and advice to make it better, all your comments are more than welcome!
Next story: Organizing My Life: First Notes
