Figuring Out How to Get It Together

When you’re short on time with a long to-do list, life quickly gets away from you, and sometimes it feels impossible to keep it all together.

As someone who has gotten all the way to the office without my laptop, shown up to work with TWO DIFFERENT SHOES, and even forgotten to pick up a kid or two (that happened), I know all about struggling to keep your poop in a group…yep, I said it.

Organization is something I have worked really hard to develop over the years. During times of transition, like starting a new job or moving to a new place, it takes time to adjust and get back into a routine that works. But there are some things you can do no matter what situation you find yourself in that will help keep your mind organized, because let’s face it, if you aren’t internally organized, everything else falls apart.

There are many steps you can take to get yourself internally organized. There are whole websites dedicated to this one topic and people who made lucrative careers out of helping people learn this skill as they strive to live increasingly complex lives in each 24-hour period. There are complex organizational systems and planners for sale, and systems that profess to change your whole life and approach to getting, and staying, organized.

But this isn’t one of those.

I want to give you 5 simple tools you can start using today that will start you on a path to greater peace in your life, less stress, and can create internal organization.

1. A bed time routine.

Yes, you read that right. A bedtime routine. You know how your three-year-old has a specific set of actions that must take place every single night before they can go to sleep? You need that too!

The things you need to do might not be the same, I’m assuming you don’t need someone to sing the same three songs, read the same fifteen books, and check under your bed, in your closet, and behind your door for the boogie monster before you can sleep, but you still need a routine that let’s your brain know it is time to wind down and get ready to sleep.

But your bedtime routine is even better, because it not only tells you it’s time to start shutting down for the day, it helps prepare you to have a great start to your day in the morning.

This routine can include setting out your clothes for the next day, checking your calendar to see what you have scheduled, making lunch in preparation for the morning, and even getting your bag ready in advance to save yourself a few minutes when you are trying to get out the door.

To utilize this amazing tool, get a paper and write down five things you can do at night that will make your morning easier.

Then, every night before you go to bed, go down the list and complete all five things.

2. A morning routine.

Just like your bedtime routine gets you ready for morning, your morning routine gets you ready for the day.

I am not a morning person, and thinking is not something I am great at first thing in the day. Creating a morning routine makes it so I don’t have to think, the list is right there in front of me. After doing my morning routine for so long, I don’t have to think about it anymore, it is automatic…which is the whole point. When I want to change things up, or if I find something isn’t working well, I write it all down again to give myself a checklist until it becomes natural.

This list should contain things you need to do to get started for the day. Whether that start is getting out the door for work, getting to your home office to work, or getting the kids up and starting your busy day as a stay-at-home mom, there are things you need to do to be ready.

This can include things like journaling activities, meditation/prayer, getting dressed, doing your hair and makeup, listening to a book or music to put yourself in the headspace you want to be in, feeding the furry critters, unloading the dishwasher, or putting in a load of laundry. This will be unique to you depending on what it is that you need to do to get yourself on track to have the kind of day you want to have.

Just like the bedtime routine, you are going to write down five things you need to do each morning to get started, and then each morning you are going to go down the list and do each one.

3. Calendar.

This one seems like a no-brainer in today’s world, but I am still surprised by how many people do not write things on their calendar.

If you own a smartphone, you are carrying a calendar with you all day long…use it. Put everything in there. If you have a side hustle you are working on, schedule time to work on it. Then, when you are scheduling doctor’s appointment, dentist appointments, or any of the other one million things that come up, you know that you are already busy during that time and don’t schedule anything else. Take the time you need to work on the things that are important to you, and schedule around it!

If you are waiting for time to become available to work on the things that are important to YOU, it will legitimately never happen. No one is going to give you that time. You need to make it a priority to take the time you need and let the rest fall in place around it.

I used to forget appointments and things I had planned all. the. time. It was awful. I used a paper calendar for years…but it was never in my hand when I was trying to schedule things, which would lead to me forgetting to write in on my calendar when I got home, or when I got back to my car. When I got my first smart phone, I was thrilled to discover how much simpler calendaring had become!

I have had several systems over the years, but Google calendar is my favorite. I am able to assign a color to each family member, so when I look at my calendar I can see what each person has scheduled and I can see what I am scheduled for very easily.

It also allows me to send calendar invites. So as my kids have gotten older, if I schedule something for them, I send them a calendar invite and they add it to their calendar. This lets me know that they are aware of it, and they have it on their calendar…start them early!

This system allows me to ensure I have a written record of, not only the things I am responsible for doing, but the things that are important to me. I have my school schedule on my calendar, I have time scheduled to do homework, time to work on writing and creating content, time to record and publish my podcast, and time set aside for things I want to do with my kids.

Part of my bedtime routine is to look at my calendar for the next day. Before I go to bed at night, I already know what my day looks like, which allows me to plan ahead and be ready.

Calendaring is essential for time management. Create this habit in your life and start discovering how much more time you have for the things that are important to you!

4. Create a budget.

There is very little in this world that causes people more internal stress than money problems. That internal stress lashes out in all of your relationships like dragon fire. Your relationship with your partner, your relationship with your kids, and your relationship with your friends and family.

Creating a budget isn’t going to fix all your money troubles, but it is where the solution begins.

You can’t know how your money is being spent, or how much money you have unless you are tracking it as it walks out the door.

Creating a budget, and living by it, or rather, spending by it, creates peace of mind. Swiping your card and throwing up some Hail Mary’s that it goes through as the machine processes the payment isn’t a plan…it’s irresponsible. And frankly, you’re better than that, friend!

Living on a budget allows you to know that you have the money you NEED when you NEED it. No, you are probably not going to have money for everything you want…almost none of us do, and THAT IS OK! Learning how to say no to yourself, or to your partner, or to your kids buys you peace, and that is worth more than the fleeting fun of that new coach bag that you can’t afford…today. But you will have money for your bills, for that unexpected car repair, or the new shoes your ever-growing children are sure to need. There is comfort in knowing you will be able to afford the things you need! But that doesn’t happen without planning and setting limits on how much you spend on impulse buys and the things you want.

Organizing your finances takes time. You didn’t spend yourself into a pit of debt overnight, and you aren’t going to dig your way out that pit overnight. You CAN start the process by going through the process of figuring out how much money you have, and how much it costs to maintain your needs and pay your expenses.

I LOVE the envelope budget! It is the only budget that has ever successfully kept money in my account at the end of the month. I highly recommend it to anyone who will listen. If your money is misbehaving, it is time to exercise some tough love and ground your money to an envelope and reign it in until it learns how to behave.

Let’s face it, we live in the digital age and cash in an envelope isn’t going to pay our bills…which are all paid online. But there are so many options out there!

I purchased an app for $6.99 on the Apple App Store called “Envelopes”. There are way fancier apps out there if you are looking for something that links to your bank account and has much fancier features. But I am not looking for fancy, I am looking for practical. So I use the Envelopes app.

You easily set up your envelopes and decide how much money you want in each one, either by month or by pay period. Then you click one button to add money to your envelopes. The app tells you how much total money you have to spend, and each envelope is labeled with the name of the envelope, like “Groceries” or “Gas”, and the amount of money in the envelope. Then, every time you make a purchase or pay a bill, you click on the envelope and subtract out the amount of money that just came out of your account. When the envelope is empty, you are done spending.

This method teaches you discipline and makes you very aware about how much money you are spending…which hurts a little until you master it. It’s great!

Two things about this app…

One, it does not share the information between devices. So if you have a partner who spends out of the same account, my recommendation is that you set up envelopes on their phone with only the amount of money that has been allocated for them to spend. If they have bills they are responsible for, those envelopes should go on their phone. If you pay all the bills, they don’t need envelopes for the bills, they should only have an envelope for money that has been allocated to them.

Two, you need to be on top of entering the information into the app. If you have a physical envelope with cash, you are automatically going to run out of money if you spend all the cash. If you use a digital envelope, you have to go into the app and subtract the money when you spend it. It takes literal seconds…but you still have to do it. Once it becomes a habit, it’s not a problem, it just takes repetition until it becomes automatic.

5. Set Goals

You are never going to get where you’re going until you know where you’re heading!

Part of internal organization is having direction. If every single day of your life is just trying to survive, that’s exhausting. I know, I have spent more than my fair share of time in survival mode…and I was TIRED…more than tired, I was exhausted. Mentally, spiritually, and physically exhausted.

If you are in the midst of a crisis, this isn’t for you. You just get back to the work of surviving! I have been there. It’s real, it’s life-altering, and it is all-encompassing. But when the crisis is over, come on back, and let’s talk about where you’re heading!

For the rest of you, who are living in survival mode on a daily basis because you haven’t zeroed in on a destination, we need to chat.

I spent many years as a stay at home mommy…and I have spent many years as a career woman. I’m here to tell you, you are NOT too busy. You’re not. Yes, you are busy, but you are not too busy to set some goals and have some direction for yourself.

It doesn’t matter what your goals are or what your dreams for your life are. What matters is that you are working towards something.

There is more to life than doing laundry, cleaning the house, chasing kids, being a soccer mom, working at a job, and cooking meals. So. Much. More.

You have dreams for your life…I know you do. I see you. I see your struggles. I see your stress. I see how overwhelmed you feel by all that is demanded of you on a daily basis. I get it. But I also see that your stress would be lessened, your struggles would feel smaller, and that people would demand less if you were working towards something you feel passionately about. I see that because I have lived it. I lived it all wrong for a very long time. But I took the steps necessary to correct course, and it was 100% worth the effort!

Find something you are passionate about…take out that post-it pad hiding in the drawer, write down that dream of thing you are passionate about on the sticky note, and stick it on your wall. Then write down five things you need to accomplish to make it happen on five more sticky notes. If you can’t think of five, write down three. Put them up on the wall next to the thing you want to do. Now use your calendar that we talked about earlier and schedule out a little piece of time every day to work on the first thing you need to do to make your dream happen. This gives you a direction…a target to aim for.

My white board in my office is my road map of sticky notes that lead to my big dream…and when I get one done, I take down the sticky note, and I am a little closer to making my dream a reality.

Putting your goals on paper and putting it up where you can see it is an external method of creating internal organization. You can physically see where you are heading and how you are going to get there. It gives you purpose, motivation, and organization. You no longer have to constantly remind yourself or try to remember because it is all right there in front of your face. Now you can relax and get to work by taking the first step.

Using these five tools, setting up morning and night routines, using a calendar, setting a budget, and aiming for a goal, will create the internal organization you need to manage all you need to manage on a daily basis. Life can get overwhelming when you are constantly scrambling and trying to keep up. Internally organizing your mind puts you ahead of the challenges and allows you to be the master of your life!

Drop me some comments below and let me know what you do to keep yourself organized and how you manage the chaos in your own life!

For more, you can follow me on Pinterest @highlyunlikelylife, on IG @ahighlyunlikelylife, or on Facebook @ahighlyunlikelylife. You can also subscribe to The Highly Unlikely Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!