Know how to organize your life so you can minimize stress and anxiety. Not knowing what your work schedule might look like or when events are can be detrimental to your performance as well as your mental health. 

If you are wondering why you are stressed or struggling to be consistent you are probably unorganized. Specifically, moms and dads this is more true for us as we also have to include the schedules of our littles!

A lot of times we organize one area of our lives, leaving the other areas in complete disarray.

In America, we tend to be better at organizing our work life rather than our personal day to day life.

Organize all aspects of your life, not just work!

Get organized using the steps below.

Choose a calendar! The first thing you need to do is pull out your calendar. Also, If you are constantly on your phone google calendar is great as it sends reminders. It still boggles my mind that there are people who do not use google calendar, but it’s okay. There are other calendars out there that you can use. For all my paper people you can get a variety of different calendars to write on. At the end of the day just get a calendar you are going to use consistently. In addition to this, bullet journals can also act as calendars.

What to Add To Your Calendar to Be Organized

Begin Adding dates and times. Open up your calendar and add all the meetings, events and times necessary for your job to the calendar.

1. WORK/SCHOOL – First add all the work dates and times for your job. Include time needed for projects or assignments you need to get done. If you have multiple jobs go ahead and add the dates one job at a time. I would plan a minimum of one to three months out. Feel free to do the entire year as well.
2. MEALS – set a time period for when you want to eat certain meals. If you want to cook then you should plan out how long prep time will take as well. You will realize as you add things to your calendar it will force you to prepare more. For example, if we want to make spaghetti on Tuesday we have to see if we have time to make spaghetti, if we have all of the ingredients to make it and of course plan  to go to the grocery store ahead of  time to acquire ingredients needed. You are more likely to cook a meal if the ingredients are already in the house the day you want to start cooking it.
3. FITNESS – Depending on your work and school schedule this will let you know when you can workout. Here is what I would encourage you to do when you are very busy. Choose one time you know will never conflict with everything else and stick to that time.
4. FAMILY TIME – if you have a family it is absolutely important to make sure you have time in your schedule to be with you family. Scheduling dates with your spouse or park visits with your kids is a part of what keeps those relationships thriving. No amount of money can replace quality time with the ones we love.
5. PERSONAL TIME – Self care is our responsibility. If we need time for our hobbies, passions, or time to just relax, pray, and be alone we must carve that time out!!!! If you find your schedule does not allow time for yourself or your family, change your schedule!

What to Do After you Have Organized your Calendar

Set Reminders for each event. We are all human and sometimes we forget things, especially if you are a super busy person. Nevertheless, set a reminder that will alert you anywhere from a couple days to hours before a date.

Check your calendar daily and keep it updated! A calendar is useless if you never check it or update it. Engage with your calendar on a daily basis. As dates and times change, update it and change as necessary.

Your calendar is to prevent stress, overbooking, and procrastination. It provides clarity, you become more prepared and will start taking care of yourself naturally. Have fun with it, color code it, and share it with others!