Who Else Wants to Improve Their Organizational Skills?

Published October 15th, 2008

The last 12 weeks of my life have tested many things, inlcuding my faith in people, my patience, and my organizational skills. As many of you know, I started into the next phase of my career a couple of months ago. It involves a completely different work environment than what I’ve grown accustomed to in the clinic, and unfortunately a very long commute. It is just a one-year contract to cover a maternity leave, but a good opportunity for me to check out the company. Taking this position involved a few sacrifices, a huge shift in our responsibilities at home, and how we organize ourselves.

When I was a student things were different, I relied on a large dry erase calendar, and had more shared duties and home, but less overall responsibility to the outside world. Now in my 30s, like many others my age, I am trying to balance my career, home life, and finding time to take care of myself as well. For a while, I was finding the last part was getting left out…and it was starting to wear on me.

The following are three simple things that have really worked for me to improve my organizational skills at this phase in my life:

1) Making a daily to do list

My to do list is a bit different that everyone else’s. It always includes 3 things I need to do for myself every day: Walk dogs, stretch, and eat breakfast. These may seems like obvious things, but in the past I would give up these things when I got busy, and suffered in other ways like craving higher calorie food later in the day, or having a much higher stress level because I wasn’t burning off any steam. It took a while before I got into the habit of making sure I do these things every day. I struggled at first, but I just kept putting them back on the list every day until they became routine. What I’ve come to realize over the last couple of years is that if you keep always putting everyone else first, your well runs dry–and then you are no good to anybody–including yourself.

Beyond the 3 things for myself, I have on my list between 5 and 10 other big and small tasks to accomplish every day–including weekends. Making lists helps me to plan, prioritize, and keep a sense of accomplishment. It is much easier to do a few things every day than to let the stress and time pressure build up to such mammoth proportions that it interferes with the happy parts of your life.

2) Getting more and regular sleep

I know, you’re probably thinking “sure, state the obvious” or “easier said than done”. This is something that will take a conscious effort, and commitment to get into the habit of, for many of us. When I was younger, it was much easier to run on fumes if I had a few busy days and sleepless nights in a row. Things are different now as I get older and have more responsibilities. I usually have a 12-hour work day with my commute, and going to bed late not only makes me increasingly exhausted as the week wears on, but is also a safety issue. Anyone who operates a vehicle at 100km/hr for 3 hours a day should not be sleep deprived. It’s a danger to yourself and everybody else on the road.

I try to keep a regular bed time, and not deviate much from it if possible–even on weekends. It often means that I have to hustle in the evening when I come home to get things done and make it to bed on time, but it’s totally worth it. The older we get, the more our body needs that time to recover and recharge for the next busy day. I honestly do find that when I’m better rested, it’s much easier to multi-task and get things accomplished–there’s not as many opportunities for “I’m too tired, I’ll just do it tomorrow”. Exhaustion can make even simple tasks seem complex.

3) Talking to my peers and those older than I am

As much as we often feel like we’re the only ones going through something, by talking to others we’ll often realize that we’re not alone, or that someone else has been through a similar experience and come out of it just fine. By talking and listening to what others have to say, we really can pick up a lot of pearls of wisdom that may be of use in our own lives. I was feeling really overwhelmed my first few weeks at my new job, and getting very frustrated because I’m good at multi-tasking, but it wasn’t working in my new work environment where I’m on call on the phone all day on top of my other duties. I reached out for help, and two of my colleagues shared their techniques with me. They both have two very different styles, and truth be told, my way of handling things is smack in the middle–but I’ve found something that works for me!

Bottom line here is that for many of us, improving our organizational skills will be a lifelong process, mostly because our lives and needs will keep changing over the years. The most important things I ‘ve found helpful are to accept change, and to keep at it. If you feel like you never have time to do something, just keep reminding yourself every single day, and keep putting it on your list–don’t give up and you will get there