An Organized Life Is A Balanced Life

I speak frequently on my efforts at leading a fulfilled and balanced life. Truth be told, it’s a constant work in progress. One of the ways I am able to achieve a semblance of this is through Organization. I consider myself pretty organized, but that hasn’t always been the case. I think the more responsibilities you gain, the more you grow as a person and the more hectic your life gets, organization becomes quite possibly the only way to consistently perform well in all areas of your life. Really organized people are not always born that way, they have to cultivate healthy habits, which then help them to stay organized.

Here are some habits I have cultivated to become organized. Take what you need:

1. Write Things Down

We all know someone that remembers every birthday and sends cards for every holiday. It’s not magic and they don’t use memorization. Trying to remember things will not help you to stay organized. Try writing things down. Did you know that when you write things down you’re 42% more likely to do/achieve them?!

You will only further complicate your life by trying to contain important dates and reminders in your head. I write down everything: shopping lists for groceries, important dates like meetings and birthdays - everything!

2. Make Schedules and Deadlines

Keeping things organized goes hand-in-hand with staying productive. Well-organized people make and keep schedules for the day, week and even months. They make deadlines and set goals. And most importantly, they stick to them! 

3. Don’t Procrastinate

The longer you wait to do something, the more difficult it will be to get it done. If you want your life to be less stressful and less demanding, then organize as soon as you can. Putting in the effort to get things done as soon as possible will lift the weight off of you from doing it later.

4. Give Everything a Home

Keeping your life organized means keeping your things in their proper places. Organized people keep order by storing things properly and by labeling storage spaces. You can make easy-to-access storage spaces for things you use all the time, and de- clutter often.

5. Declutter Regularly

Find time each week to organize. Highly organized people make sure they find time every week or more to organize their things. Stuff does not stay organized on its own; it needs to be reorganized continuously and consistently.

6. Keep Only What You Need

More stuff means more clutter. People who live organized lives only keep what they need and what they really really want. Having fewer things also means that you enjoy those things more and feel better about using everything you own, rather than letting half of what you own collect dust.

Have you ever felt like you don’t have the space to keep all the stuff you own? Instead of renting a storage unit or buying a larger home, get rid of some things.

7. Delegate Responsibilities

A really organized life is not overfilled with responsibilities, meetings and deadlines. In fact, it has less because things that create stress have been slowly organized out. One great way I stay organized is by delegating things to others that I don’t have to do myself.

Start becoming more organized today by creating a plan. Begin the planning process with a planner. Grab the 2022 Goal Planner below and get to it! Begin the new year with a clear, organized action plan:

How I Stay Organized and How You Can Too

I consider myself a pretty organized person that typically have things in order. It goes without saying that with being a dental professional there’s a certain level of organizational skill that comes with the territory in order to keep things streamlined and on schedule while at work. But, there are other areas that take a considerable amount of organizing as well.

Here’s a tiny glimpse into my world:

• I have 3 Instagram business accounts which I manage solo - my practice, my candle company and my personal brand. I create content for each page which includes photo shoots, product photography, creating graphics in Canva, creating videos and reels, sometimes planning IG live events and scheduling said content.

• The candle company itself which I also manage solo - some tasks include product photography, maintaining and updating website, research, inventory, tracking and ordering supplies, creating new scent formulas monthly for candle club members, actually making the candles, packaging and shipping, marketing products online including email marketing.

• I write weekly blog posts here and market them on a few social platforms namely Instagram, Pinterest and sometimes Facebook and linkedIn. I vet and write sponsored posts for brands which often times include not only a blog post but also inclusion in my monthly newsletter, instagram posts and stories.

  With opening a dental practice and having a baby things got a lot busier and it has become quite a task to keep all things organized. I wear many, many hats and if I am not careful things can get messy.

Here are ways I stay organized, perhaps this will help you too:

At Work

1. Morning Huddle - I arrive to the office at least 15 minutes before I start seeing patients. My team and I do a short 5-10 minute huddle. In my opinion, this is probably the single most effective meeting that you can have with your team. It’s a time of collaboration where the whole team can come together to review the day's schedule and discuss vital patient information. I find that this increases productivity and overall efficiency in my practice.

2. Time Blocking - I often times get emails and phone call from patients, colleagues and referring doctors with questions and concerns. If I were to stop every few minutes to respond to all these I wouldn’t be ale to effectively treat my patients that have appointments during those times. instead, I schedule 30-45 minute time block where I respond to all those calls and emails.

3. Admin Time/Day - There are many tasks and administrative duties to be done when you are a practice owner. So much so that it is nearly impossible to get it all done during the day when you’re seeing patients. therefore, I have designated one day out of the week to get all my administrative duties done.

At Home

1. Make Your Bed - Believe it or not, making the bed each day not only makes your room look clean and tidy but has other has positive impacts. In Charles Duhigg's book “The Power of Habit,” he noted that making your bed establishes a direct link to better productivity and overall health. When your make your bed, it helps you be more productive throughout the day and invest your time in other healthier habits.

2. Declutter - Your home is your scared space. Not only must you declutter to prevent prevent pests and reduce dust, mold, and mildew but studies have shown where clutter has adverse effects on your mental health. Decluttering decreases stress and anxiety levels which essentially leads to you being more relaxed. My favorite place to declutter is my closet. I organize all my clothing and shoes by color - it instantly makes me happier!

3. Lists and Calendars - Don’t you just hate it when you’re ready to have a bowl of cereal and you reach for the cereal box or the milk and there’s none? or when you get home from work hungry and realize you don’t have anything to make for dinner? Me too. I started making a running list of items I run out out of as soon as it happens that way I always know when I need a certain thing, this is posted on my refrigerator so it’s easily seen. Another thing that’s visible is our calendar - nothing like scheduling brunch with your friends on Saturday morning only to realize that your baby has a Pediatrician’s appointment.

Life/General

1. Planner, Calender and Scheduling Apps - I cannot live without these! I always have a physical planner where I write things down (meetings, important dates, etc) because as much as we are in the digital age there is still something about writing things down that helps me to actually get it done.

• I use this planner - I designed and created it myself and keep one in my desk drawer at work and one in my home office. I update this planner every year and make it available for my readers as well. Go here to grab yours. I also use the passion planner which I carry around in my purse.

• iCal app - This is an app on my iPhone. Everything in my physical planner is duplicated on the app as a back up.

• Planoly app - I use this app pretty much to plan all my social media content. I upload the photos, put in the captions and hashtags and schedule a day and time for each to go out. This is called '“batching” and it makes a world of difference in helping to stay consistent wit posting on social media.

2. Make use of the word “no” - It’s important that you are careful to not take on too much. Time is a limited resource, saying yes to everything threatens this very limited resource and can often also lead to burn out. Protect your limited resources by first pausing to assess whether or not the ask is something that you really need or want to take on right now, if at all. If you are like I once was and struggle to say no, try saying things like, “Thanks for asking, let me check my schedule/calendar and get back to you.”

3. Don’t Procrastinate - The longer you wait to do something, the more difficult it will be to get it done. If you want your life to be less stressful and less demanding, then organize as soon as you can. Putting in the effort to get things done as soon as possible will lift the weight off of you from doing it later. I do this all he time with check-lists. I write it down, get it done and check it off my list. The feeling accomplishment after you’ve checked everything off your to-do list is unmatched.

BONUS: Delegate responsibilities! A really organized life is not overfilled with responsibilities, meetings and deadlines. In fact, it has less because things that create stress have been slowly organized out. Slowly but surely I am getting to a place where I delegate more. At work, my office manager helps with a lot of the administrative duties so instead of these taking an entire day, I have been able to cut down my admin time to half day. perhaps in the (near) future I will hire a VA (virtual assistant) to help with for all things social media and marketing. When it comes to the candle company, as it gets busier I will hire help or possibly outsource all-together. We shall see. How do you stay organized? Tell me in the comments. Someone, somewhere may benefit from it.