Suddenly it's all falling apart. You're ransacking the place in search of your lost keys; hurtling towards the airport within a whisker of missing your plane while worrying about the exact whereabouts of your passport; or about to go into a major meeting knowing that you've left your notes at home, and a panicked voice inside you cries, "I can't believe I did this!"
That nasty, out-of-control feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when disorganization hits is awful -- believe me, I've been there. But there are ways to avoid it. I have lived and learned through many years of total ditziness, and in the process I have evolved some simple principles that are easy to use but help to make life a lot simpler. Starting with:
What do you want? Think about your goals and decide what you want. Make a list of your aims in life, both long term and short term, big and small - no matter how mad they seem. Whether your long term goal is to become richer than Bill Gates, invade Bolivia, get a new job, or go to India in a camper van, the essential thing is that you acknowledge to yourself that that is what you want to do. Making up your mind is half the battle. Say for example you decide that you want to go to India in a camper van. You would have that as your main goal, your mission statement. Then you'd also have subsidiary goals, other things that you want or need to do in your life. Some, such as: arrange sabbatical from work, get immunisation shots, apply for a visa, save up money, buy guidebook, learn Urdu, renew passport, and so on; will be directly related to your main goal, and some, such as: buy Prada shoes, take a course in astro-physics; won't be. So then it's a question of priorities. If you can't manage both the astro-physics course and the Urdu language course, weigh up which one fits more immediately with getting to India, your main goal.
How are you going to get what you want? Next, break the mission statement into achievable chunks, then look at how you will complete each one, and to what deadline. Ask yourself what you need to achieve your mission statement. If your mission statement is that you want to travel to India, for example, you will probably need to save up. So your list could include things like selling your unwanted possessions, preparing your CV/resume, looking for a second job, opening a bank account, saving a certain amount of money a week, and so on. The smaller the chunks are, the more likely you are to achieve them. Put one of these small chunks of the task at the top of your to-do list each day, remind yourself that every march of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and make sure that the task gets completed. Give yourself a schedule: decide when you want to achieve your goal, and draw up a plan covering each week or month until then.
Don't panic! On days when you're so frantically busy and have so much to do that you don't even know where to start, don't panic. Sit down, breathe deeply, have a cup of tea, and write a to-do list. Just scribble down all the tasks you have to do in the order that they come to you. Then have another cup of tea and put the items in order of importance, with the most important one at the top. Now your mind will be cool and clear, even though you haven't done anything off the list yet. When you finish your tea, start at the top of the list and work down, ploughing through it. Aim to do one thing at a time, and do it well. (The to-do list also comes in handy if you can't sleep because you're stressed out. Get up, have a cup of warm milk, write your list and go back to bed. Magically, you will find it easier to sleep since your subsconscious mind won't be busy trying not to forget anything.)
Eat a live frog. The Spanish have a saying. "Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and chances are nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day." If you have a really nasty task to do, do it first thing and then it won't prejudice the rest of your day.
The pen is mightier. Don't rely on memory. Never promise to do something unless you have written it down. Keep your to-do list, and any essential information such as your address book and your notes, somewhere safe and easy to access such as in your diary, personal organizer or palm pilot. Always keep your diary, personal organizer or palm pilot in the same place, such as in your handbag. Don't make notes on scraps of paper or Post-Its as they can easily get lost. Only use one notebook at a time. Keep a photocopy or hard copy of all your information in your files at home, in case you lose the originals.
Just say no. You cannot do everything and must be prepared to say no. Always ask yourself: Is it necessary that I do this? Will it be of any advantage to me or someone I care about? If not, turn down the person who wants you to do something unnecessary politely but firmly. Otherwise, you will not only be disorganized and stressed out from having too much to do, you'll feel exploited and resentful.
Procrastination is the thief of time. Delay will only increase the difficulty of tackling something unpleasant. Procrastination is guaranteed to increase tension and anxiety. I find the the main reason for procrastination is fear. Subconsciously I figure, well, if I leave it to the last minute, then the fact that the task gets done at all is enough, it doesn't matter that it's not perfect. Cope with a tendency to procrastinate by:
Allow for Murphy's law. There are only two laws that affect everyone. One is the law of gravity. The other is Murphy's -- "Everything that can go wrong will go wrong." (Personally, I think Murphy was an optimist!) Here's some examples of ways to cope with Murphy's law:
Don't put it down, put it away. "A place for everything and everything in its place" runs the proverb, and it's true that if you hang up your keys in the same place every day when you get home, that is where you will find them the next morning. The same goes for bills, cheque books, driving license, passport; keep them all together in one drawer or file, and put them back as soon as you are finished with them.
Clutter drains your resources. Click here for my decluttering tips.
You have to efficient if you're going to be lazy. System support work is the routine tasks like cleaning, laundry and food shopping, that are tedious but necessary. Thinking through the processes involved, and making improvements where you can, will save you a lot of time and smooth out the daily running of your life. Some suggestions on how to systematize the daily round:
Keeping it simple. If a problem occurs, take some time to figure out what happened, and try to see the whole experience as a learning one.
This is your life. In order to get the most out of your life, it is important to get it running like clockwork, but you also have to schedule in time for fun, friends, relaxation and exercise. Also, remember to plan some undisturbed time for yourself, even if it's only one hour a week -- this is every bit as important as meeting a deadline. Make sure that absolutely nobody and nothing intrudes on your free time. Use it to meditate, do yoga, get out in the fresh air, do something indulgent like a massage, or creative like painting -- or just sit still and count your blessings.
Life consists of a simple process -- not a series of mysterious events. You'll always need something in the fridge to eat, transport from A to B, something to wear; the next party and date will come along as surely as the last one did. Learn to become an expert Contingency Planner: for example, get your car serviced before it breaks down. Make the best possible use of your time, because in the end, the use you make of your time is the use you make of your life.