10 Simple Habits that Will Help You Stay Organized (+free weekly planner!)

As a medical student and creative, one thing I’ve learnt is that staying organized will save you a lot of time and help you avoid stress. Nobody is born with everything completely put together. It takes effort and consistency to build simple habits to help you stay organized!

Today I’ll be sharing 10 simple habits you can practice (some of which I am still trying to get into) to help you build a more productive and organized life.

Write everything down

If there’s one thing that has ALWAYS helped me with staying organized, it’s writing. I write everything down. From to-do lists to content ideas, birthdays, shopping lists, journal entries and even free writing. It helps me collect my thoughts and organize them on paper so I can easily remember the important stuff and so information doesn’t get mumbled up in my head.

I’ll probably do a full blog posts on journals, planners and how I use them with pictures and everything because my journal collection alone is content 😂

I’m a proud pen and paper girl but I’m almost always with my phone so I also use Google calendar and my notes app for scheduling events and activities. With this, I can easily set reminders on my device for extra measure so I never miss important events and dates.

Notion and Trello are also pretty great software apps for planning and project management. They can be used for pretty much everything I mentioned already but I like to use Notion for my personal projects.

Try not to procrastinate

The more you procrastinate, the more things you have to do and consequently the more you have to think about! This can easily disorganize your entire day. You’d probably have to start rescheduling important activities and its never a good look especially if you work under someone. If you are able to do something immediately and conveniently, then be Nike, just do it.

I wrote an article on productivity and ways to overcome procrastination a while back and I think I made pretty valid points (check it out here!).

Prepare and plan adequately for every activity

In simpler terms, if you have an outing, you should get your outfit planned before the date. This should apply to meetings, meals, exams/tests and everything else. Get everything ready before the set date.

When you prepare ahead of time, you’d be more relaxed and appear more put together.

Get good sleep at night

I know it’s soooo tempting to stay awake to binge the entire season of your favourite series. But you really need to sleep, especially if you work a 9-5. Of course there are times you’d have very important things to do, but if it’s not a do or die affair, go to bed. Good sleep will give you a brighter mood and a sharper brain the following morning to better navigate your day. Nuff said.

Discard Items that are no longer useful and declutter regularly

Atleast once a week, take out time to organize your things and get rid of the ones that are no longer useful. When you do this, you’ll be able to better appreciate the items you need instead of letting things get covered in dust. If you realize that the number of things you have are too much for your space, then you need to reorganize. These items can be donated or sold as thrift pieces.

Delegate Responsibilities

Having too many things to do at the same time is not cute. Stress is not something to be proud of especially if it can be avoided. If you are involved in different activities or you own multiple businesses, you may want everything to look and feel a certain way. This may translate into you wanting to do everything by yourself. The downside to that is that you’d have to struggle with the pressure of multiple deadlines and responsibilities. Delegate as much as necessary to stay organized and prevent burn outs.

Make your bed when you wake up

Its easy to get up in the morning and get right into the day’s activities without making your bed. This may not apply to everyone but making your bed before anything else or atleast before you step out sets the pace for a great day.

If your bed isn’t made, the rest of your bedroom is likely to be disorganized, and you won’t be able to stay as orderly as you’d like.

Put stuff away the moment you finish with them

Putting things anywhere and everywhere in your space creates clutter. If you want a more organized space, then you keep things in the right places after use. Shelves, cupboards, drawers and containers make this easier so you can have different positions for different items. Frequently used stuff can be in the outer positions while the less used items can take inner compartments.

Say no more often

Another important way to stay organized is to say NO more often. When something is beyond your capacity, wayyyy above your budget or practically useless to you, say NO. This isn’t me advising anyone to turn down opportunities, neither am I saying you shouldn’t enjoy luxury sometimes. But for most of the time, if you know deep down that you can’t cope with something or you simply don’t want to do it, then you should turn it down politely.

Try not to commit to things you can’t handle because you need an ego boost or because of the fear of missing out.

Planning your finances

Every month or every week (depending on how you earn), you should list all your expenses which may include food, light and water bills, birthdays, rent and any other thing you spend money on. You can also add extra money for miscellaneous expenses. This prevents unnecessary spending and helps you save more!

Bonus tip 😉

Tell your family and friends, be accountable to someone

When you know someone will call or text to ask you about something, you’ll find the motivation to do it. Let in your friends and family on your quest to becoming more organized to help you stay consistent and motivated.

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