What does it mean to be organised?

"find the right balance of planning and freedom"

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.

We all have things to do, but usually they are meant to achieve goals, short-term and long-term ones alike. This means, in order to get yourself organised, you’ll have to be clear about those goals. Short-term goals often are repetitive and can easily be described as “tasks” rather than goals. Think ‘doing the laundry’, ‘watering the garden’ or ‘pick up the kids from school’. Those tend to be easy to remember.

Long term goals are more tricky: they often have multiple moving parts to them that need to be addressed in a particular order, often with a tight timeline. Think ‘planning Christmas dinner’ or ‘renovating the bathroom’. Those goals also are more easily postponed as “there is still time” items and then create hectic “last-minute-dash” scenarios. This is where more strategic planning is needed, and clear steps to keep track of progress.

All those tasks need time to be tackled and that is yet another stumbling block for many. We live in busy times, and our lives feel full to the brim with stuff to do already. Worry not: proper time management can actually help with both getting stuff done AND feeling less stressed about the whole thing.

I know, using a calendar to schedule your life feels like overkill, but there is a reason why companies use time planning to get things done, and obviously it works. Overwhelm often comes from doing things in the wrong order, at the wrong time or at cross-purposes. I’m not saying to plan every minute of your day, but setting blocks of time to deal with chores/tasks/goals is a good idea as it helps focus your mind on whatever tasks are ahead of you.

And that brings us to the third item: personal wellbeing. If you start setting aside (regular!) time slots for your tasks, you’ll be able to forget about the things you have to do outside of the time slots and relax without remorse. Because you have a plan for when certain things need to be done.

The main reason we need to be organised is to allow for unstructured time within that system, time when you can do whatever feels right: read a book, go on a walk, meet a friend… Since you have already decided when things will happen, you can now rely on your system to remind you when they need doing – and you don’t need to keep them at the top of your mind.