10 Organization Tips

 

Don't forget about Cal Newports Weekly Planning.  But these are all from an Threads account called oddly_organized.  

1. I batch every decision I can - meals picked on Sunday, outfits, same rotation, email - checked at 9am, 1 pm, 5 pm, never in between; grocery run 8 am, same store, same list order.Boring decisions free up space for the ones that actually matter.  Laundry happens Wednesday evening.  When everything has a slot, nothing bleeds into everything else.
2. 6-minute Friday Review: Three questions: what actually got done? what kept getting pushed? What drained the most energy?  (just record these things.. Fixes happen on Sunday during planning day)
3. Every Sunday at 7pm I sit down for 11 minutes and plan my week. Not 30 minutes. I pick 3 things that would make the week count if nothing else got done. I drop tasks into each day. And I write one sentence about what 'done' looks like for each priority.  Vague becomes specific.
4. Sunday reset that takes 11 minutes. 3 minutes dumping everything in my head onto one page. 4 mins sorting it into "this week," "later," and "delete". 4 mins assigning days to the "this week" pile.  My entire week is planned before Monday starts.
5. "Exit Criteria" - every project I start gets an exit criteria docuemnt before I begin. One paragraph that answers: what does done look like? How will I know this is finished? Define the finish line in advance.
6. I don't have a morning routine - I have a 'first 20 minutes' routine. I check nothing; I open my weekly plan or notebook, look at the top task, andstart before my brain has time to suggest scrolling.  Keep a "never again" list - never schedule meetings before 10am, never respond to vague email without asking one clarify question first. never start a task without writing what 'done' looks like... the list has 19 rules - it runs entire workday
7. Series of Rules.
1. 2-day rule. Even if it's 10 minutes instead of an hour, it counts.  Don't miss twice.
2. one-touch rule: if I open it, I deal with it. email, message, document. I don't read something and come back to it it later. Later is where tasks go to pile up.
3. don't send work emails over the weekend
4. Hell Yeah or No (to stay not overcommitted)
8. I have a shutdown phrase. When my workday is done, I say "schedule is closed" out loud and then I close my laptop. Sound ridiculous. But it works because my ADHD brain needs a clear signal... otherwise, I'd still be half-thinking about work at 10pm.
9. "Write everything down" is fine advice until you realize you've written 400 things down and how the list is the problem. Capture without review is just hoarding.
10.