Have you been overwhelmed by the number of items on your to-do list? Or have you ever found yourself flagging and wondering what to do next? If anything, this should have made it obvious that there is an advantage to being organised. And yes, I know that there are those who feel restrained by too much pre-planning while others need the structure to be able to function.

How can you organise yourself and the regular or one-off tasks? You’ll be familiar with many of the tools: calendars, lists, bullet journals, electronic calendars, task managers and that collection of scribbled sticky notes on the fridge. Then why is it that you still feel disorganised?

There is much talk about being organised, in your personal life as well as in the work arena, but what does it actually mean? Are you supposed to schedule your every move? How much of your plans do you set ahead of time and how much freedom do you need to stay flexible?

In the end, being organised simply means to be prepared in general, keep an eye on deadlines and appointments, and get any chores/tasks/jobs done when they need to be finished. So what we are really looking for is a balanced approach to task management, time management and personal wellbeing. Let’s look at those separately.