How Stay Organised When You’re Super Busy

In this post, I’m sharing 10 ways to stay organised when you’re super busy. When your to-do list is never-ending when deadlines are approaching and clutter is piling up all around you, staying organised in this chaos can feel impossible!

When work and life feel like one big, messy, to-do list it’s easy to feel anxious and stressed and the more stressed you become the less organised you feel! But don’t worry, because these simple and easy tips will help you escape the chaos and stay on top of everything.

This post contains affiliate links.

Organise your time

When you plan your time correctly, you will spend your time doing exactly what you’ve planned to do. When you don’t plan your time you end up trying to do everything at once. Let’s say you sit down at your computer to work on a task, and then at the corner of your eye you see the washing basket overflowing so you put a load of washing on. Then before you sit back down you decide to empty the dishwasher, and just like that, you’re busy rushing around the house, trying to be productive but not completing the task you planned to do.

Create a to-do list

To plan your time and stay organised, you first need to create a to-do list. You may have already done this and life still feels chaotic, but if you haven’t made a to-do list then I suggest writing one now. Writing a to-do list will help enormously in helping you stay organised and to reduce stress.

Creating lists can help you focus on what’s important and prioritise what you need to get done. When your mind if full of to-do’s, it can be difficult to know what you need to do first and what requires your urgent attention. When you create a list and have it all laid out in front of you, it makes it a lot easier to prioritise things.

Put your to-do list in your calendar

Once you have written your to-do list, I highly recommend putting a to-do list in your calendar. Start with your non-negotiable items, this includes tasks such as work or school. Then schedule time for self-care, exercise and time to see friends and family. After all of these appointments and tasks are on your calendar, add the remaining tasks from your to-do list.

By doing this you will clearly see what your days look like and you will see if you’re packing too much into one day or if you’re wasting time on things which aren’t important.

Prioritise and don’t multi-task

While multitasking might seem productive, when you’re working on a task or project, multitasking decreases your productivity. By focusing on one task at a time you’re going to work more efficiently. Your mind will be clearer and the task at hand will become simpler because it’s the only thing you’re focused on.

Create routines

Create daily routines to stay organised and on top of things. Starting with your morning routine, how can you use your morning routine to stay more organised? Maybe you could wake up earlier? Maybe you could use your mornings to meal prep?

How about your evening routine? Is there anything you can do in the evening to prepare for the next day? Such as packing your bag, preparing your lunch and choosing your outfit. When creating a morning and an evening routine, decide what time you will start, how long it will take and what you will do during your routine.

Set Goals

At the start of the month, I will open up my Positivity Planner and write down my goals, habits and bucket list for the month ahead. By having monthly goals I’m more likely to achieve everything on my list. In the past when I’ve set myself a New Year’s Resolution, my motivation tends to wear thin and I usefully forget about my goal by the end of the year. Another reason why I prefer monthly goals is that it allows smaller goals to be added to your list.

Get your copy of the Positivity Planner

Keep your space clutter-free

Improve your week by cleaning and decluttering your space. When your environment is clean and clutter-free your life and your mind will feel a lot less messy as well. I recommend reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying* by Marie Kondo, her book will help you to transform your home into a clutter-free space using the KonMari method.

Slow down

This may sound counterproductive, but slowing down can help you identify more efficient ways of working. Instead of rushing onto the next item on your to-do list, spend just 5 minutes thinking about the task ahead and how you’re going to approach it. Is there another task which you could do first which would help?

Tune out new ideas

Do you ever start a new project and then find yourself getting distracted by new ideas? It doesn’t even need to be a better idea, but one which distracts you enough to stop you in your tracks.

For example, if you’re starting a blog, you will feel excited but also a little overwhelmed at the beginning with all your new ideas, when this happens, just make a note of your idea and then continue with what you’re currently working on. Ideas are perfect during the brainstorming phase but once you’ve already committed to something, they can slow down your productivity.

Remove distractions

To stay organised you may need to set yourself some boundaries, especially if you need to work on a tedious task where you’re likely to get distracted. I recently purchased an app for my phone called “forest”, on the app you can set a timer of how long you want to be distraction-free for. During this time a seed is planted which eventually grows into a tree, if you look at your phone during the set time, then the tree dies! It’s a good way to stay focused and keep you away from your phone.

Wake up earlier

Waking up earlier gives you an instant sense of accomplishment. If you wake up before the rest of the household wakes up and before you need to go to work or school, you will have time to work distraction-free! Whether you want to wake up early to do a load of washing, to meal prep, to squeeze in a workout or just to have a slow morning so you don’t start every day feeling stressed, waking up earlier will help you feel super organised. Even just waking up 15-30 minutes earlier every morning can have a positive impact on your life.

What are your favourite ways to stay organised when you’re super busy?