Hello everyone!
Today I will show you ten ways which will help you get organized this year and allow
you to stay on track with all of your assignments and tasks for the day.
These are not hacks or individual things you can do to stay organized, but rather ten different
ways you can use to improve your lifestyle and be more productive.
As some of you know, I always had a big interest in language learning and have been struggling
to self-learn German during my college years.
That is why I decided to tie language-learning and organization for today's vide, in partnership
with Lingoda.
Lingoda is an online language school which offers English, German, Spanish and French
courses with native speaking teachers.
You can opt both for group and private lessons.
Both are available 24 hours a day and accessible from anywhere in the world, via virtual classrooms
or Skype, in case you are taking private lessons.
If you complete the required number of courses, you can receive a certificate attesting to
your level of comprehension and these certificates are very often required in college applications.
In case you're interested, you can use my code, linked in the video description, where
you can have a 50 dollars discount on your first month of classes.
1.
Organize on the go and make lists No planning system is perfect, but one main
characteristic that all organization systems must have is the ability to be used on the
go, be it at home, during work or school, or even in other situations.
If your planner is sitting at home while you are writing your to-dos in a piece of paper
at school, then perhaps it's time to rethink your system.
Use to-do lists as a daily habit to get organized and on track.
It's a great way to jump into the planner or bullet journal wagon, and ticking tasks
off your to-do list gives you a sense of accomplishment that will motivate you to get on track.
2.
Broaden your planning scope into goal oriented quarters
This is something that I've started adopting last year and it can be completely life changing.
Some people have so many interests that it's almost impossible to conciliate everything
on a day to day basis.
There are habits that we must keep on a daily routine, but others take too much of our time
to do every single day.
That is why I prefer to create specific months of quarters of the year to dedicate most of
my free time to a thing or another.
This can be anything and is adaptable to every single person.
For me, I like to dedicate specific months to language learning, reading and fitness
and health.
Also, once or twice a year I like to dedicate a few weeks to reorganize and create strategies
for my YouTube channel, or deep cleaning and reorganizing my house and surroundings.
Try to break the next few months into focused periods of self-development and organization
will become easier.
3.
Minimise clutter What I mean by this is that, as you've probably
heard multiple times before, your surroundings dictate your mind-set.
If you are doing your work in a chaotic room, it will be harder for you to get concentrated
and productive since your study environment reflects how you are feeling.
Organization is more a habit than a characteristic, and allowing yourself to organize your surroundings
also gives room to other organized behaviours, namely during studying.
4.
Regain Focus and Prioritize Weekly or Monthly I've talked about this previously in a video
solely dedicated to resetting your tasks, habits and behaviours once a month.
Resetting allows you to regain focus and gain an overall notion of your organization habits
in all aspects of your life.
This means that you should rediscover the habit of scheduling periodic times to pick
up a planner or calendar and decide how you will live your life in the days or weeks to
come.
5.
Build up on habits slowly and give yourself time to get accustomed
Most of our new year's resolutions probably take the form of habits.
Working out twice per week, drinking 8 glasses of water every day and practicing German are
habits that I incorporated into my habit tracker for January.
However, I wasn't able to start them all at the same time.
In the first week of January I started working out, in the second one I started practicing
German, and only in the third week did I start carrying with me a water bottle to class,
while still keeping the habits from the previous weeks.
Habit tracking needs build up and is not achievable in one night.
Start slowly and incorporate as you go.
6.
Use the 5 minutes rule on a daily basis Many of the tasks I write in my bullet journal
are achievable in less than 5 minutes.
If that is the case, when I start working, those will be my priority tasks.
I tend to leave the longer work for the end of my productive time.
7.
Give yourself the pleasure of waking up to a tidy place
This tip is something of a mixture between decluttering and building up on habits.
Being able to organize and tidy the environment around you on a constant basis also allows
you to be more productive and organized.
I make sure I never go to bed without making a quick general clean up around my house,
so I can wake up early the following day
8.
Create a semester guide or spreadsheet This is a simple tip that I've used ever since
my first year of college and it helped me so much during stressful times.
Basically, at the beginning of the semester I create a spreadsheet with all the readings
I need to do until the end of the course.
This allows me to break down big textbooks into smaller chapters and divide them across
the remaining weeks until the exam.
9.
Maximize app efficiency Your phone can be a powerful tool for organization
and productivity if you set it up to maximize efficiency.
Besides getting your hands on the dozens of organization and productivity apps, set up
your phone to minimize distractions by removing apps like Facebook and Instagram from your
home screen, setting up your profile to only notify you of messages from important contacts
and use the timer on your phone to schedule study sessions and breaks throughout the day.
10.
Plan out the minute details and incorporate daily
Another thing that really improved my organization skills throughout the day was starting planning
and writing down even the small details of each day.
This includes things like making the bed, remembering to paint my nails or taking out
the trash.
Most of the times we tend to forget the small details between other bigger tasks and the
sum of the small tasks makes a big difference in your lifestyle and it overall increases
your chances of staying on track and being organized.
This is all for today's video!
I hope you've enjoyed it and I will see you next week.
Bye!