Do you find yourself not knowing where things are? You’re looking for something and you are sure you left it in such and such a spot only to find you can’t find it! Is this you? I know it happened to me until I became more organized. Some people avoid the mess in their houses but it’s best to be organized to make your life easier!

If any of the above sounds familiar perhaps you need to think of a strategy for organization. By being more organized you will find your life is easier and you don’t stress out as much as you used to! Below I have listed a few organizational strategies that I use.

1. Every Day Tidy Up A Little

Don’t panic you don’t have to get the mops out and the dusters, what I am talking about here is doing a small tidy every day. By doing a little everyday you will soon see the results. For example maybe tomorrow you will tidy your desk, then the next day your bedroom (or part of your bedroom)

• Aim to clean say 1 area in your house/apartment per week, perhaps 2. This is not overwhelming but you will see the difference. You need to get into a habit of cleaning and soon it will become second nature.

2. Find A Place for everything

The problem for most people is they don’t have a place for everything. Their desk may hold so many things but there is no order. So when they go to look for something they can’t find it! When everything has a place it is so much easier to find things.

3. Use It Or Dump It

Don’t hang onto things. If you don’t use it dump it. It’s so easy to horde things away and keep them just in case you might need them.  If you haven’t used it in the last few months get rid of it.  This can be items such as cds, pens, papers, receipts, or any item that you don’t really need. Be honest do you really need it?

5. Get Into A Routine

Get into a routine for organizing your life, your items that you own and for tidying up. It’s like anything – it’s a habit. The more you do it the easier it will become

Becoming super organized won’t happen overnight but by doing a bit every day and changing your habits you’ll see a huge difference.

So many of us do it! We leave things till the last moment. We put things off until we just can’t put them off any longer. Sometimes friends even get annoyed with us because we take on so many things and then don’t finish them – is this you?  If it is don’t worry, you aren’t the only one.  Lots of us procrastinate. It is hard to stop procrastinating but here’s a technique that can really help.

Stopping Procrastinating by Using Positive Self Talk

What is positive self talk? Well you know that voice you sometimes hear inside your head telling you to put something off? That’s negative self talk, so we’re going to just flip it on its head and make it more positive. You are going to talk yourself out of procrastinating!  You see procrastination is “a way of doing things”. It’s a pattern that we have got used to. It’s just the way we are, as many would say.  It’s got to the point where it is a habit, it’s easier to do it this way. In face most often we don’t even thing about procrastination we just do it!

By using positive self talk,  you respond to what’s going on in your head.  Let’s say you need to write a report that is due in two days time. You should start it today, but your mind says, heck I can start tomorrow. Now is the time to interrupt that thought and say hold on if I start it today I can give it more time and do it better. Weigh up the choices… start today and be more relaxed about it, or wait till tomorrow and all the others things you have to do and you’ll be more stressed. Yes it’s that simple just talk yourself out of the stress that will come tomorrow!

By thinking about the above when you start to procrastinate, you can draw up a list of reasons why you would star the project tomorrow and the consequences. Remember every action has a consequence.

Then begin to think about the advantages of starting the project now. In fact write down some positive statements you can say to yourself when you begin to procrastinate.  These are often know as affirmations. Positive sentences that will help you push through the barrier of procrastination.

Self talk will allow you to do two things:

• interrupt your negative thoughts
• affirm the reason why it is best not to put things off.

If you stop procrastinating you will find that your life becomes less complicated and you are able to catch up with your projects and in most cases be one step ahead. Listen it’s worth a try if it works great, if not at least you’ve begun to talk about things and realise there is another way.