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	Ways To Organize Each Day

	by Maria Gracia

Start off each day in an ORGANIZED way, and you'll get more done than you can imagine. Here are some simple steps.

MAKE A TO DO LIST

Make a list of the things you have to do tomorrow, the evening before. PRIORITIZE and organize each item in the sequence that it should be accomplished. Consolidate similar tasks together. When you wake up in the morning, you'll have a clear-cut GUIDE detailing everything that must be done.

BE CAREFUL OF GETTING DIVERTED

Very often, a schedule gets thrown off track due to DISTRACTION. If you find that you constantly get off track, get a watch with a timer and set it so it goes off every 30 minutes. Every time it sounds, be sure you're working on what you originally said you would. If you're not, stop what you're doing and get back on schedule. Most distractions are not EMERGENCY situations.

CALL BEFORE YOU LEAVE

If you have an appointment during the day, always call to CONFIRM before you leave your home or office. This will ensure that the person you're meeting did not forget about the appointment. Also, if there is going to be a long WAITING time, perhaps you can do something else first, before you leave.

BE CAUTIOUS ABOUT WHAT YOU TAKE ON

Rather than volunteering at every school, church, organization or work activity, pick one or two things and focus your efforts on those. If someone else requests your time, let them know you're COMMITTED to these one or two activities, and simply cannot take on another. While you may consider helping someone out with something during your day, that certainly doesn't mean you have to do it ALL. For example, rather than serving on a committee, you may volunteer to make reminder phone calls, or to type up the newsletter.

DO IT BECAUSE YOU WANT TO

If you have no intention of saying "yes", don't avoid the issue by saying, "maybe", or "if I have the time". While this may TEMPORARILY alleviate your guilt, it's unfair to the other person, and you'll be wasting time fretting over what excuse you're going to give to this person. Just say "no". And don't feel guilty about it, because you want to spend some quality time with your family, or you need some personal time alone. While there are some situations that are to be considered emergencies, there are many other requests for your time that you simply don't have to do. The best rule of thumb is to choose those activities that you truly WANT to do -- those things that will make you happy. If someone asks you for your time, and you find yourself thinking, 'Oh, no', then don't do it.

TAME YOUR TO DO LIST

Your To Do List should not be ten pages long. Good time management is picking and choosing those items that are truly IMPORTANT and saying no to those that are not important at all. Force yourself to limit the amount of items on your To Do List.

CHECK OFF ITEMS AS YOU COMPLETE THEM

Every time you finish something, cross it off your To Do List. This will give you a sense of ACCOMPLISHMENT throughout the day.

DO A FINAL CHECK

At the end of the day, take a look at your list. How many items were you able to accomplish? Are there only 1-2 things left undone, or many? If there were just a few undone, simply move them to tomorrow's To Do List. If there were MANY undone, and you worked diligently on everything all day, then you probably had too many things on your list to begin with. RE-THINK how much you can possibly do in a given day. Remember, you only have 24 hours, and you should be using a third of those hours to sleep!

Maria Gracia is the author of "Finally Organized, Finally Free" and a variety of other organizing guides -- all available directly at www.OnlineOrganizing.com. She specializes in helping people get better organized to live the kind of stress-free life they've always dreamed of. You may visit her website at www.getorganizednow.com.

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