Best Ways to Organize Your Life

10 Ways to Organize Your Life When You Hate Planning

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – Pablo Picasso.  For me, I love planning, so I love this quote.  For moms who don’t take fondly to planning, this may not be the case.  In today’s post, I’m stepping outside of my comfort zone, of planning, to share 10 creative organization and time management hacks for moms who don’t prefer planning.

I get it; you prefer to spontaneously jet-set around the globe.  Or you’re about that island hopping on a whim when a travel deal drops.  You prefer to live a more free-spirited lifestyle enjoying and embracing the MOMent.  Listen, I get it!

My husband is more of a go-with-the-flow.  He will change up a day as the spirit moves him.  I’ve learned over the past 12 years to embrace this aspect of his personality.  I realize now, it’s not that he disliked planning ahead; it was more so about seizing the opportunity and being flexible.

If you can relate, here are 10 ways to organize your busy life without being confined to a planner, Google calendar, and strict task list.

1. Get in the follow of routines that work for you.
2. Find a planning technique that is not as strict such as brain dumping.
3. Put up a whiteboard to jot important things down on the fly.
4. Opt for a journal as opposed to a planner. Shop the Career Mom Community Journals.
5. Leverage smart devices reminders such as the Amazon Alexa.
6. Hire a personal assistant.
7. Clean and tidy up as you go.
8. Plan in shorter time frames to reduce feeling restricted.  Try the 12- Week Year approach.
9. Create a vision board as opposed to a goal board.
10. Set boundaries and guardrails to stay on track.

Give it Another Go

I encourage you to not give up completely on planning. I know if can be overwhelming and it may truly not be your cup of tea.

Check out my Simple 3- Step Planning Process – Career Mom Community

How to Implement Organization and Time Management Tips

There are a number of benefits to planning ahead, staying connected to a schedule, and developing routines.  I also understand that motherhood is not always that simple. I saw a post on social media where a mom posted that those routines don’t work for moms because having small children is so unpredictable that the schedule causes more frustration.  For the most part, I can see this perspective. I remember when my girls were smaller and how the days would constantly ebb and flow no matter how many systems I had in place. 

Here’s the thing, although those days were long and hard, I can recall moments of peace.  It was in those moments that I leaned on repeatable processes.  More of a cadence than a strict plan.  I had an idea of the order of events that could steer my day in the right direction. 

Think about it this way, I developed a routine that I could fall back on.  During my moments of clarity, I followed the routine.  During my moments of chaos, I implemented other techniques to stay organized or manage my time such as jotting things down on the fly to help me remember.  I also established internal and external boundaries to protect my timebox for activities.

To Wrap It Up

Planning may not be your thing but I encourage you to find systems that work for you so that you can accomplish your goals while living an organized and stress-free life!  Let me know in the comments what you have tried and how it worked or didn’t.

by: Debranetta, Founder of Career Mom Community, LLC

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