Get organised

Being organised and working in a balanced and focussed way can help keep you on track.

If you want to ensure that you are completing all that you should be personally or professionally on a daily, weekly or monthly basis there is no getting away from it. You need to be organised and on top of what you need to do.

Here are a few of my top tips:

Get Organised. Get Clarity.

Organising your life outside of work as well as inside, is crucial to staying aligned with your overall strategic vision. Desktop app MindNode works by freeing up your mind by allowing you to capture your ideas, structure them, and visually style its appearance so it’s easily digestible. 

There are also wonderful tools like Miro which can help you initially capture ideas on a board with note cards which is great for yourself or when working out ideas with others.

Stay on track.

Now you can have the best ideas of what you want to do in the world however if the work that you are doing doesn’t nail the targets. goals or workload you have then it will all just fall flat and you will end up working on a series of tasks that don’t add value. You need to be organised with what you are ultimately looking to achieve and how you stay on top of what you are doing to get there.

Using tools like Asana, Trello or Monday are great ways to centralise what you are working on and work with others on adding in those all important tasks and timelines. You can also link these through to a daily task list or your diary, the key is to ensure that each day you can go to X point and know what you should be working on. Read more about how to set your work strategically here.

Have a Routine.

To work well and efficiently you need to have a routine. As way of working that supports you daily to be as productive as possible. Essentially you are organising how you work! Whether that be setting am and pm times aside for emails and sticking to it, to having chunks of time to get work done and clear routines around where that is, to files / filing and how you track what you are doing. Defining your routine is a real game changer.

Time Management Apps.

There are some excellent apps out there that make time management easier. Boomerang, which can schedule emails to be sent at a later date; Magnet, which can split your desktop screen among multiple windows in an instant; Alfred, which enables several hotkeys and allows you to search your entire mac and web in its search bar; and Forest, a gorgeous visual aid that helps optimise deep focus, and minimise faffing. 

The most effective ways for avoiding burnout boil down to re-balancing, getting organised, blocking out time to switch off, and utilising your resources. A fantastic read on time efficiency is the book Deep Work by Cal Newport. An audio equivalent of forward-thinking food for thought, is The Tim Ferris Show, ranked often as the #1 business podcast on Apple, and great at distilling tactics and routines behind some of the world’s most successful people. 

Use your diary.

If you want to take your organisation to another level and maximise what you are able to do, there is no getting away from the need to use a digital diary, a google calendar or similar. This brings your weekly routine and what you need to do to you in to real time giving you that all important visual on what you have on, what you need to do, when and how long it will take you.

This also gives you the freedom to think much further ahead which in turn will give you more time to prep and be on top of what you need to do. Now there is a lot more that I can go in to hear, however there is a future post that will cover this off!

Review.

Being organised with what you need to do, ultimately means that you can clearly what you need to do at any point on any day. Now that is the delivery, the actions needed.

However, it is equally as important to review how this is all working out for you. As with any system or process we need to review periodically to see how it is working. Not only from a practical point of view with getting what we need to done, but also with how we are actually working and is it working for us. Set yourself bi-monthly check ins and ask yourself,

Have I managed to get all that I needed to done during this period?

If yes, then what worked? If no what didn’t? What do you need to do differently?

How did this way of working suit you, was it too much or too easy?

Making sure that you are able to achieve and work well and most importantly enjoy what you are doing at the same time as nailing what you need to.

Weekly planning.

As well as bi monthly reviews, setting yourself up for the week ahead can be super helpful so that you are ready to hit the ground running on the Monday morning. Find time on a Sunday evening to look at your week ahead in your diary and project management tools / what you need to do.

How does the week ahead look? Will you not only get everything you need to done but is it feasible?

Are you set up to not only work but take the breaks that you need to keep going?

Are your visits to the gym in there or social time?

You will find that striking a balance makes maintaining momentum on what you need yo do easier and int he longer term more sustainable. Be kind to yourself - it is better to schedule 5 tasks and get all of them done rather than 10 and feel bad for only hitting 5 as the negative impact is counter productive and just demotivate. Review your week so you can nail it.

Summary

Find a routine and way of organising that works for you and note that we are all different..

When done well, this will take your output to another level - but be prepared to review and adjust to what you move on to next and also as you develop and change how you do things.

How can I help?

I have carefully curated a time management coaching package that supports you to get to the top of your game when it comes to your time management with astounding results and up to 20-30% more productivity and time

Check out the Time Management Coaching Package HERE

Learn more by downloading my free ebook Smart time management for peak performance HERE

Got a question about this area and how my coaching can help? Book a discovery call HERE

About Sian Winfield

Sian has spent the last two and a half decades working with those that have made the choice to take action. From the fitness industry as a fitness professional to NLP coach and trainer working with Traders to attain peak performance in London City. Moving on to start her own company 7 years ago within which she has had the fortune of being involved with the successful growth and scaling of over 200 start-ups.

Empowering hundreds of entrepreneurs internationally coaching individually and through group programmes most recently including programmes such as Foundervine & Barclays Black Founder Accelerator Programme and mentoring for The Peter Jones Foundation.

Her experience has provided her with a huge wealth of experience in how others have attained their success and she is hungry to share her learning with as many people as possible.

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If you are interested in finding more about Sian and her coaching visit her website HERE

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