Organized chaos: what keeps you on track?

I think it is hard to learn how you best operate when we are all trained through education. Don’t get me wrong, I love education and I think public education does a lot of good but it oftentimes operates for the majority which leaves a lot to be desired for the individuals.

Let me explain, schools run based on decades of research. If you look into it, everything from a start time, the length of lunch, and the subject matter is based on some research into childhood development. All of the research is done to find the majority solution, meaning the best solution for everyone which often ends up being just an okay solution for everyone because it is not individualized.

This is not the fault of teachers; they are spread so thin already. But it causes a lot of issues for students and those of us entering the workforce or even university find ourselves struggling to regulate and organize without the forced structures provided in school.

We all have to then learn how to not only keep ourselves alive, but how to keep our lives on some kind of schedule that benefits us. And there is no one way to do it.

Some people find calendars and planners help. I personally love a undated weekly planner so I can chart out all the important things I need to get done each week all in one place. And my digital calendar is for keeping track of appointments, deadlines, and work times. If you struggle keeping track of times, start using a calendar now. Set reminders that pop up on your phone.

If writing things down helps you remember, try to do lists. They don’t have to be plain lists but sectioned into different categories. The best to do lists I have seen have 3 sections; for me, for work, and urgent.

I am a big fan of chore charts for myself, because something about physically giving myself a star for cleaning the bathroom or checking a box for sweeping is so relaxing.

One way of organizing I haven’t tried yet is chunking your day. So, listing what you will do for each block of time like this. I think I would lose my mind but if it works for you, I am so happy.

No matter what organizational systems you find, the most important thing is that you feel less stressed and more in control. Obviously don’t do something that puts more stress on someone else in your life, but these systems are there for you.

Once you leave primary education (k-12) it feels hard to be the only one maintaining a system, we get so used to everyone having the same schedule and chart that sometimes we get frustrated or even angry when people have different operating systems. This is normal, it is an adjustment to focus on your own productivity without comparing it to everyone around you. Just take your time and try things out.

Here are some quick list templates I use. First is the 3 column lists.

Then I use undated weekly planners like this to set goals for my days. These 5 tasks are not all I do in a day; they are just my main focus.

Let me know if you have your own organizational systems that make you feel a bit more grounded. If you don’t, my best advice is to try things out. Find what works, alter what does not.