Organization is definitely not my strong suit, but I’ve had to learn because it’s obvious that without at least a minimum ability for staying organized, your business plan and to-do lists aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

Even outside of business, your personal life thrives more on organization. Getting and staying organized makes it so much easier to focus on what’s important and gives you flexibility when you need it in order to stress less and be in control of both your life and your business.

Being organized makes it easier to handle many tasks throughout your day to be more productive and waste less time jumping around between functions or other objects in your way. By finding the right organizational habits that work best for you, you will find it easier to stay focused and achieve the goals you’ve set.

Here are four tips to help in getting and staying organized…

Tip #1 – Rock those habits and routines

I’m so much more a “go with the flow” person than I am a “rock the routines” person, but I’m learning. It seems that a huge part of being organized is figuring out what routines and habits work best to keep your momentum going. And it doesn’t have to be this huge, complicated process that some self-help experts like to tell you it is.

Learning to be organized and develop routines works much better if you keep it simple and don’t overthink everything. Stick to your schedule and commitments, don’t hit snooze, and find systems that make sense for the activities you are doing that are easy to accomplish.

Tip #2 – Prioritize Like a Boss

Organization takes effort and consistent action to be successful. It definitely pays to keep your priorities in mind when you’re getting organized and planning out your days.

The important thing to remember here is that when it comes to setting goals and priorities, and organizing your habits and routines around them, you have to do what works best for you, and not try to copy what everyone else is doing. Trying to figure out how to do it the way everyone else is doesn’t work, and likely has you prioritizing the wrong things.

Tip #3 – Set Boundaries

As a solopreneur, there’s definitely crossover between my business and personal life. But setting boundaries, expectations, and limits for work and personal stuff helps to make sure I’m not in work mode 24/7.

Easy boundaries to set could be not working on weekends or after a certain time at night. I’m lucky in that I don’t have kids to worry about, but even now that I’m an empty nester, I still try to prioritize spending time outside, and doing things with my son and his girlfriend.

Tip #4 – Declutter and Categorize

There is a definitely correlation between the state of your physical space and the state of your mind. I’m speaking from experience here in saying I think my environment would best be described as “organized chaos” right now. And it’s definitely not conducive to a distraction-free, organized workday.

Getting organized means finding ways to keep your physical environment organized so that it doesn’t cause mental distractions. Develop dedicated areas for physical and digital things and always put them back before leaving for the day.

Final Thoughts

All it takes is one repeatable movement with consistent action and the commitment to stay on track each day to be organized. The hardest part of getting organized is getting started, but if you take baby steps and build on each one over time, you’ll find yourself become an expert at staying organized!