Hello!

I know I’ve talked a lot recently about being organised and having a routine in my life – doing this month of blogging has seen me pull my whole life together so I’m a little bit more controlled and feel like I’m in charge!

Reading that back, it sounds silly to say I’m ‘in charge’ of myself, but thinking about it it’s definitely difficult to actually be in control of yourself sometimes! Don’t know if I’m making sense, but that’s kind of how I’ve felt recently – like things are happening in my life and I’m watching it but I wasn’t making any decisions at all.

Another barrier is that, whilst liking being organised, I’m also notoriously lazy. Like, overwhelmingly lazy it’s astonishing. And part of (what I’m calling) my summer organisation is to try and break out of this laziness – to not lie in bed and laze around watching YouTube videos all day (though they’re often still on in the background). I make a new to do list every day and being able to go to bed knowing I’ve done everything makes me really happy so I thought I’d write some tips on how to become more organised!

Based exclusively on how I made myself more organised. It does take determination and it’s not fun at the beginning but you get used to it.

Number one! Bribe yourself! Whether it be coloured pens, nice stationary, stickers, eating a packet of crisps after you’ve done everything on your list, treating yourself to going to the pub with your friends, even having a nap! Whilst ‘bribery’ sounds like an awful word, you’re actually giving yourself an incentive and that often can motivate you a lot!

Number two! Give yourself a reason to get out of bed – this might be making a to do list the night before so you know what you’re doing, I quite often go to the gym as soon as I wake up as a way to get me out of bed and moving before I come back and spend a lot of time at my desk (most of my to do list is computer based tasks, unfortunately!) or even if it’s just knowing what task you’re doing first in the morning but find a reason to get out of bed. If I’m not going to the gym, I’ll put tasks like filming a video or taking blog photos first so I’m not getting out of bed just to go sit at my desk. It’s finding out little details like that which work for you and can help motivate you as much as possible.

Number three! I feel like this one’s up for debate – every revision or organisation website I’ve ever looked at has said ‘make plans’ or calendars or lists and at first I didn’t see the point but now I have lists left, right and centre! I’m quite a visual  person – I like being able to see everything I have to do written out in front of me but also I can be quite easily overwhelmed – which is why I only make a day by day to do list rather than a weekly or long term list. But again, it’s finding what works for you. Plus, ticking things off a list is so satisfactory, whether you tick it or cross through it or scribble it out so you can’t even read it any more – it’s so satisfactory. To me at least. I think my really nerdy side is coming out.

Number four! This is one I’m not very good at following myself but I am going to try and integrate it into my daily life! Try to get out of your room or your house or wherever you’re living at least once a day – it can make you feel way more productive to know you got dressed and ready to go out, it might just be a walk in the park or popping to the shops to get bread or maybe you actually have things to do on your to do list outside, or maybe there are things on your to do list that can be done outside (especially with the warmer whether picking up!

There a lot of ‘if’s and ‘maybe’s in this list, but I’m trying to keep it as open as possible – if I made a list of tips that were directed solely at me it wouldn’t help anyone! Sorry if it sounds like I’m rambling.

Number five! Another one I’m not very good at, but set a time to go to bed and wake up. I’m getting there with this – I try to be out of bed by 11 each morning and I know that’s not very early and could probably be seen as unproductive in itself but it’s what works for me and that’s the best way to maximise your productivity – by making it work for you! I try to be in bed by midnight every night but quite often, my boyfriend and I will get distracted by watching more Doctor Who on Netflix or playing Lego Harry Potter! But even if we’re not necessarily ready to sleep, I think it’s good to try and be in bed by midnight. But again – that’s what works for me!

Bonus tip! Another very personal one, but I find that school/uni is a really good way to have a solid routine – it means you’re up at a similar time most mornings and getting outside! Over the summer, I’m going to be using my job in this way, so when I get to start working more overtime and will be (hopefully!) working more than one shift a week and it’ll get me out of bed earlier.

We’ll just see what happens!

I hope this post was useful, any feedback left in the comments would be lovely!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

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