6 Steps to an Organized Life

Hello! Long time no post... Sorry :( The first week of uni has been rather overwhelming, haha.

With school back in (most of) our lives, I thought it would be a good idea to share my experience with you on the subject of organization.

Use a Journal/Planner

Some of the text is blurred for my privacy :')

Whether it be a journal the school gives you, or one you buy yourself, it's a good idea to write what you need to do and when it needs to be done down. I personally don't like the planners schools give, I just feel like it doesn't give me enough freedom to write what I want down, and therefore isn't as useful as it could be. If that's the case for you too, then you can try some other journal systems such as: the bullet journal (I use this), filofax, midori (sells good travelling journals).

Actually Use Said Planner!

It's fine and dandy to have a pretty notebook/planner and all, but for it to actually work, you gotta actually use it! This means spend some time to plan your day out, and at the end of the day, spend some time going over the list, to see if there's anything you've missed. And, throughout the day, use your planner as reference. 

In the picture above, is an example of me using my Bullet Journal, specifically, to plan this post! 

Start the Day Right

Many of us (me included, much of the time) press the snooze button as many times as we can, and groan about having to get out of bed. But, in my experience, starting the day off in a positive way can really help make the rest of it a good one.

For example, many people start the day off by making their bed. Even something as simple as that could set you off on the right foot, and make your day instantly brighter. There are actually studies out there that prove this. Others take it a step further and have a mini meditation session. A great app for that if you want to get into it is "Calm" (available to both Android and iOS). I've tried it out, and it really does help take some of the stress away! :)

Get Help from the Apps

In this age and day, most people have smartphones, and what better to do than let them help you lead a more organized life? Here are a few apps that I use that make my life easier.

1. Evernote

Evernote is a note-taking app that can sync on all your devices. It's great for those of us that go to school. You can make notebooks, jot down notes, draw, take pictures, record, make to-do lists, and many more! If you haven't tried it out, I highly recommend you do.

2. Swipes

This is an app where you can create to-do lists. This app also collaborates with Evernote, so you can get the most out of both apps. What's special about this app is that it organizes your list for you, showing the most important and most upcoming at the top, and ones that are due later, later. Visit here for more information! (this app is available for most mobile devices, it even has an app on the Mac App Store!)

3. Google Now/Siri
Okay, well, neither of these are really apps, but both of them can certainly help you make your life easier!

On Google Now, you can tell google what you would like to see, and it'll pick cards that it thinks are important to you (eg. travel times, interesting articles, weather). You can also tell google now to create a reminder. There are so many things that Google Now can do, so if you have an Android phone, I suggest you read this, this, and this, to help better familiarize yourself.

Siri, in many ways is just like Google Now. However, it lacks the cards, and (no offence to Apple fanboys/girls) also lacks the ability to understand what you're saying. I don't think Google Now has ever misheard me... but it's not the same story with Siri. (those using iOS 9 should experience this less, though, with the new and updated Siri)

Anyways, enough bashing... Siri can take reminders, will listen to your commands to text your best friend, tweet things for you, perform web searches and many more. For all the iOS readers that would like a better insight to how Siri works, go here, here, and here.

Pick One and Stick to It!

Pick one way to do things and keep at it! Whether this be apps or journal systems, or even schedules. Once you find what works for you, stick to it. The key to an organized life is structure. But how can structure be found if you keep on changing things up?

JUST DO IT

This step is the most important of them all! You can make many to-do lists, have many things written down on an agenda, and have tens of reminders, but none of them will actually give you a more organized life unless you DO IT! 

Little things like getting up and making the bed, even if you're thinking, "What's the point? No one's going to see it anyways." Just do it! Even if you don't feel like opening up your math textbook to do practice questions, just do it! There is no way you can make your life more organized and put together unless you take action!

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I really hope this was helpful-ish to you guys, and not just me rambling on and on. Again, apologies for long time no write... Hopefully I can figure out a good balance between uni life and blog.

Until next time,

Jakie