Productivity and being organised can have many meanings. It can mean accomplishing daily goals or setting aside time for the activities you love or using your time more wisely. For me, it also means having a clear sense of direction and helps me stay focused every day.

Being organised and creating my own planning system is like my past self’s way of looking out for my future self. Past me has taken the liberty to figure out everything I need to do in the future, and so when I wake up the next morning and feel a little aimless, all I have to do is consult my planner to know my intention for that day.

Today, I’m sharing some tips, ideas, and inspiration to be more organised and productive. Consider this a mini-guide based on my own experiences, the methods that worked the best. Finding your own way to create a system and manage your time more wisely is necessary for one’s happiness. It helps us feel like our lives are more put-together.

Write. Prioritise. Plan.

The first thing you should do when being more organised is to write down, prioritise, and plan your tasks and activities. You can do this practice daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly. It depends on how far ahead you like to plan. The best way to do this is to spend some time alone. Think about all the activities you want to complete, short term and long term projects, personal and professional.

Review, evaluate, and write them down. Create a habit of writing every little thing down in an easily accessible place. Like a notes app on your phone, a notepad on your desk, or a pocket notebook in your bag. A Microsoft or Google document will work just as well, too.

Some goals you have will have strict deadlines; to be completed in a shorter amount of time. And other tasks may require a little bit of work every day over an extended time. Organising all the things you want to accomplish into different categories will help you figure out what to prioritise. Then, you can number them by most important to least important.

Other methods of being organised that I’ve heard of are the ‘Eisenhower Box’. It is a method for prioritising everyday activities, though I do not use it myself. I’ve also heard that task-batching is a great way to delegate tasks for yourself. It means completing similar activities within the same timeframe, like cleaning and chores, instead of doing them sporadically and breaking concentration and being interrupted.

Organise your life with a system.

The next thing you should do if you want to be more organised is to find a planning tool. It needs to be cost-friendly and easily accessible at any given point in the day; for example, the notes app on your phone or a pocket notebook. Every task, goal, or priority will also be added to this planning tool.

For digital tools, which I prefer, you might consider Trello, Google Calendar, Notion, and other mobile diary apps. For printed tools, which aren’t as easily accessible, you could invest in a wall calendar, a bullet journal, a daily planner, and even a whiteboard or chalkboard.

Choose one and then create and customize that system in a way that works best for you. If you need to see everything at a glance, a calendar format is best. If you like to organize your life with lists, Trello might be a good option. If you like a little bit of everything – calendars, lists, journals, then Notion, a bullet journal, or daily planner are better options.

The most important aspects of a planning system for being organised are that it must be functional as it is aesthetic, and it must be a system you enjoy opening up at least once a day. The last thing you want is for it to become a chore instead of something you look forward to.

When you write in your tasks, goals, priorities, or activities into your planning system, make sure to set realistic, timely, specific goals. They must be bite-sized and achievable so that you don't get discouraged. Setting daily, weekly, or monthly tasks in this way will give you a clear guideline and path every day.

How I am more organised.

I used to rely on my bullet journal ALOT for being more organised. I tracked monthly goals, daily logs, and habits. Then, I switched to Trello and organised everything I wanted to do into detailed to-do lists. It worked…for a little while. Then, I discovered Notion.

I still use a bullet journal (albeit a digital one) to track habits and daily/weekly logs, but the bulk of my daily organisation is in my Notion planner. I use the app to organise my creative time, my workflow, and my everyday tasks and activities. It’s functional AND aesthetic because I found a colour palette I like and I created my own banners to make the pages more eye-catching.

My Notion planner includes: a monthly calendar, a daily task list, a general task list, a writing progress tracker, a tv/film/book tracker, and freelance project pages. I’ve bookmarked on the internet and I’ve downloaded the app to my tablet pc as well so it is easily accessible throughout the day.

Once a week, usually a Saturday or Sunday, I will select the next week’s activities from the ‘general task list’ and add them into my daily task list so I have a guide for every day. I often set about 3 important tasks each day, and the tasks I don’t finish become priorities for the following week. I also use the monthly calendar page to plan out the blog and social media content.

I like my new method of being organised because it has more variety, and lets me build out the pages in any style I want. I no longer feel overwhelmed by long to-do lists, or disappointed by monthly goals in my bullet journal. I also still like using my digital bullet journal because it makes it easier to transcribe any other details from my Notion planner into the journal for daily logs.

Being organised is not about “being busy” and filling up your time unnecessarily. It is about making the most out of the time you have; for work; for creativity; for relaxation. More than that, it is about setting intentions and becoming more focused and driven. There are a ton of ways, of course, to be more organised. The tips and ideas I’ve shared in this post are what has worked out well for me. I hope you found this post useful, and that you’re encouraged to organise your own time and goals better. Happy planning!