#17 Tip for today

Are you disorganised? Always running late? Double booking yourself? The number 17 tip in the 23 tips to start 23 better series is to integrate planning into your life.

Sounds like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many people do little or no planning and lurch from event to event - even missing important things because they don't plan.

I wasn't always organized. I am artistic and naturally chaotic, so I am not naturally inclined to plan. I taught myself coping strategies in order to succeed in my life. And one of them was planning.

So here are a handful of tips that I, and the clients who need them, use:

1. Plan your week on a Sunday or a Monday. Drag yourself off the couch and review the week ahead. Look at your week as a whole, so you can see where your available blocks of time are. If you are someone who stresses about going back to work on Monday, this really helps! Being organized and having a plan just helps you feel more prepared.

2. Block out your time, but not just for the doing of the task. You may need to include travel time, thinking time, or preparation time. Once you've blocked in your big milestones for the week, you can see if you have any spare time left.

3. Add your personal events and activities to your work diary. You need to see your week in its entirety, and you don't want to miss the school play or a doctor's appointment if you're super busy.

4. Add in at least one thing a week, ideally a day, that helps you feel calmer and allows you to just be, for a few moments. This is where apps like Calm, Insight Timer or the Waking Up app may be useful. Five or ten minutes a day can really make a difference to your resilience and ability to manage your workload.

5. Add reminders to your work diary in time for you to get where you need to be. If you really want to be onto it, sync your work diary with the calendar on your phone. I'm sure there's an app for that too!

If you'd love some help to get organised, and plan your life better, book yourself in for a free 30 minute consult here

If you've found these tips useful, check out the preceding tips on my blog page. Thank you for supporting the 23 tips to start 23 better series.