5 Ways To Get Organized And Feel Accomplished

A few weeks ago, I wrote about 6 Tips To Boost Your Productivity! This week, I’m discussing 5 Ways To Get More Organized And Feel Accomplished. It’s no surprise that the more organized I am, the more productive I am. Organization certainly takes a ton of effort and pre-planning. Some weeks I feel like I’m on a major roll and other weeks I could sit on my couch watching Pretty Little Liars without a care in the world…

 

I’ve decided to speak about some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years that have taught me how to stay focused in order to get more done!

5 Ways To Get More Organized And Feel Accomplished 

Pre-Planning:

Pre-planning as much as possible is a great thing in theory, but it’s sometimes a hard task to master. If you’re anything like me, I am sometimes a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal. I don’t always know what I’m going to wear the next day or even what my day looks like. However, I’ve had to try really hard to work on that. Starting small is a great trick. Focus on something easy like what you might wear the following day. Better yet, write out 2-3 things you want to get accomplished the following day and what time you’re going to start the task. Then force yourself to stick to it. The more often you’re able to pre-carve out that time for those small tasks, the more of a habit you’ll form!

Macro to Micro:

Look at where you want to be in 1 year (Macro perspective) then how you’re going to get there (Micro perspective). For me, we have learned to start with where we want Not Necessarily Blonde to be in one year. We want to attend several of the major fashion shows at next year’s NYFW, collaborate with big name brands (which I will leave unnamed) and host major fashion events.

Then break it down into a monthly view. What needs to be accomplished each month in order to move yourself towards your Macro goal. For us, we need to network with the right power players, we need to develop relationships with the correct brands to get on their radars. We need to introduce ourselves to correct P.R. folks in order to ultimately get that invite to next year’s designers shows.

Finally, your Micro view: What’s required of you on a weekly basis? For Not Necessarily Blonde, we have to shoot X times per week and complete X projects etc. We also are maintaining our blog’s back office, looking at new collaboration and continuously learning/ improving our craft.

Ask For Help:

I’ve learned quickly that I’m not a jack of all trades. There are certain things I can do really well and a TON I honestly suck at! Therefore, I have learned to ask for help. You cannot do it all and we are not designed to do it all. Write out the top 5-7 things you do really well. You might not love them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t do them well. Once you’ve decided what those are – figure out who you know that you can either ask for help or hire. Delegate as much as you can so that you can focus on what’s going to propel you forward.

For me, I really love process improvement and scheduling. Therefore, that’s what I really focus on with Not Necessarily Blonde. I typically focus on our Editorial Calendar and (with Jocelyn’s help) plug in the topics for the week/month that we are going to write about! Knowing what we’re talking about weeks/months in advance makes it a lot easier to create the content around that topic. I’m also a huge sucker for process improvement. How can we take something we’re doing (like our newsletters) and streamline it. When we started our newsletters, it took me over 3 hours to curate… now it takes less than 30 minutes. However, I had to figure out what I could do in bulk, how could I automatically pull an image from our site, etc. How can we cut time and improve our processes for more effective/efficient efforts. There is a TON that I am horrible at. For instance, I hate finding the clothes we wear. Like really am not good at it. There is a lot of times that Joc will find a look she thinks I’ll like and shoot me an email or FaceTime me. There are rare occasions that I love browsing the net endlessly, but mostly… no.

THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE

Have you guys heard of this? I tend to get off task, so learning about this system has been life-changing. This technique suggests focusing (as in phone turned over and on silent and only necessary windows open on your computer) for 25 minutes straight, then following that up with a 5 minute (tech-free) break. It sounds simple enough, but having designated focused time with a promised break gets me to do SO much more work. I use this technique pretty frequently and it helps!

Take Some R&R

Lastly, give yourself R&R! If you know me, you know I am a bit of a work horse. (Thanks to my rents for that one). However, I love working especially when I am working towards something I love! However, no one can work and be motivated 24/7. It’s 100% necessary to take time off and clear your head. If you’re organized and use the tips from above, you’ll be able to carve out time for yourself. I used to feel super bad about myself when I didn’t get a TON accomplished in a work week. Then I realized sometimes that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. If I’m feeling overwhelmed or unfocused, instead of banging my head against the wall trying to read a contract or plan our editorial calendar, I just walk away. I’ll leave my house or take the dog for a walk… snag a coffee. It doesn’t matter! I just need to step away! Half the battle is a clear mind.

What are your favorite tips and tricks for staying organized and feeling accomplished? Any other ideas I should know about?

Exactly What I’m Wearing (Zara bag, Zara Shorts, H&M Sweater, Old boots)

XX,

Chelsey

 

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