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8 weeks to being Deliciously Organized: Week 1




Today is the first day of our series, "How to be Deliciously Organized in 8 weeks".  This in a way is a very personal series, because we are forced to show our hidden messes, bad time management skills, and even share a bit of our personal health mission.  Dare we say that it might end up being fun?  Perhaps... 


And to be clear, in this series we aren't saying that your home should always have perfectly stacked boxes and everything must be organized, but it does make life much easier when you can save time for the good stuff, by having things in order.  




We mentioned this before, but we hope to hear from all of you on this mission! For some, this series may be irrelevant, so please feel free to hit "mark as read" in your google reader!  We hope to inspire!



Week 1: Planning Your Time





1. Set aside time each day to review and prioritize demands 



Setting a routine to do this is always best!  Grab your planner, scratch piece of paper or whatever it is you use and start assessing the day ahead of you.  Put the most difficult task at the top of your list.  Also, if you still need a planner for this year {never too late!}, I have listed my favorites here, here and here.  

2. Once you identify your most difficult task, deal with it right away!


If feeding a group of goats was your most difficult task {we said we would try to make this fun}, then you would want to tackle that item first! I don't think this is anyone's most difficult task {is it anyone's?}. The point is, the longer you put off a challenging task, the harder it is to accomplish...which leads to procrastination.  I think this one is much easier said than done.  I tend to put the hardest item last and start the easy stuff first.

You can find a template here to help you mark your tasks either very important, or unimportant:




3. Start a Daily Time Log

Writing down what you do with your time in a daily log will significantly help you manage your time.  It's not important to keep one forever, but at the beginning of this series try keeping one to see how you're using your time.  If you planned from 9:00-9:30 that you would browse your favorite blogs, and you notice it's 10:30 and you're still browsing, mark that down!  You will begin to notice where your time is slipping away in your day!  I've already got started on this one, it truly is helpful. 


More to come soon!


Unrelated...but a few asked about the fabric on the pillow in the last post:




It is from Pottery Barn from last year. They are sold out now, but I see that you can get a few items from the same fabric, here, here, here. And you can get the actual fabric here and here, although sold out now, perhaps they will restock?  Hope that helps a bit! 



Photographs: Real Simple, Style Carrot and the rest ours, unless marked with a link
Sources: Mind Tools and Manage Your Time

15 comments:

  1. I am all about this and I totally agree with your tips. I was listening to a great leadership cd this weekend that ended up having a lot to do with organization, and i must say that i put the tools into action and had a successful weekend. Hopefully it will last . . .

    Excited about your series!

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  2. I need to get organized sooo bad, so I will be following along!

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  3. Great tips!

    Let me know if you go to The Warehouse Sale- we can meet and say hi! :)

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  4. Love week 1 so far! I need to get better with my time for sure- its something I always wish I had more of.

    Cant wait to see week 2 of this series!

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  5. This is great advice. And I LOVE that pillow. I have it too. It's my favorite.

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  6. Yep time management is always a problem in the evenings - I get going on the computer and don't want to get anything else done. I need to change may ways.

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  7. i would be DEAD withouy my kate spade planner. i actually thought i lost it once, and cried. in my office. my coworkers have never looked at me the same

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  8. These are terrific tips. I think my biggest problem is I spend so much time reading blogs. LOL! I need to scale down my every day reading list, especially now that its getting warmer and I need to spend some time outside with the crazy one.

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  9. If we all keep this up for 8 weeks, we will be transformed!! Well, I will anyway, so I'll be following along. By the way, you do inspire so thank you!

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  10. Great series! You will help so many get motivated and organized!!!

    xo,
    cristin

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  11. Oh, this is definitely a weakness of mine. Thanks for all the tips. I will be doing my best to keep up.

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  12. Week 1 is so helpful...although with two big tests looming above my head coming up tomorrow and wednesday, I really do not want to follow your advice and put them at the top of my list...I think Alice in Wonderland would be a great procrastination activity before I start tackling the items that should be at the top of my list! I promise to start on Thursday however...

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  13. This is such a great kick-off to your series... I'm loving the way you guys are laying out the information and can't wait to read the next entry in the series. We all try to do these things (or most of us) but I don't know anyone who couldn't get better! Thanks and keep up the great work!!

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  14. I needed that time log tip. Lovely blogs have a way of highjacking time dont they?

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  15. I do love the pillow! I am an organizing freak so everything is good on that front but the series will be fun to read.

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