All performers, regardless of performance medium, have much to do. Maintaining an organized life helps in many ways:
Try some of these strategies for increasing your skills at organization. Becoming more organized in one positive step toward peak performance!
Make Your Bed. It starts the day off right and, according to Naval Admiral William McRaven, "If you make you bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task will have turned into many tasks completed.Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter" (2014 Commencement Speech, University of Texas at Austin).
Delcutter Your space. An organized space alleviates anxiety, stress, and depression by releasing cortisol into the body, according to a University of California Study.
Organize Your Stuff. A performer of any kind has 'tools of the trade.' Put them in a designated space every day so that, when you are ready to work, everything is already waiting for you.
Organize Your Desk. Decluttering yourr inbox, mail, and other paperwork ensures that you don't miss important emails, deadlines, or due dates.
Write It Down. Don't keep anything in your head. Writing things down helps you to remember what is necessary. Further, journaling helps you to organize your thoughts.
Keep a Schedule. Organizing your life with a schedule helps you to arrive on time to meetings and events, accomplish your tasks, and perhaps most importantly, looks favorable to those who employ you. The business side of any career is just as important as the creative side.
Remember to keep some space open to allow for catching up on tasks - this will help you from being overwhelmed. Further, if you are caught up, you can enjoy some down time!
Pick a color. Assign a color or theme to similar tasks so that you have a visual cue to what needs to be accomplished.
Be accountable. Grab a friend and serve each other as accountability partners. Commit to a phone call or meeting each week where you share your weekly goals and celebrate one another's progress.
Organizing your space, your time, and other parts of your life helps you to develop healthy habits. Habits are far easier to accomplish than tasks. The Washington Center for Cognitive Therapy defines a habit as "a behavioral routine, related to a meaningful goal or value, that occurs in a particular context and has become automatic: (The Power of Habit). The 'automatic' part of that definition is most important, because it takes the guess work out of accomplishing something. Gretchen Rubin, in Better Than Before writes, "The freedom from decision making is crucial, because when I have to decide -- which often involves resisting temptation or postponing gratification -- I tax my self control."
When training, for example, becomes a habit, you remove the choice between practice and something else (a nap, video games, time with friends, etc.) Instead, it just becomes part of what you do. Amelia once famously said, "Distance is nothing, it's only the first step that is difficult."
So take that first step and watch how it binds itself to the next one. Tomorrow always seems like a better place to start, but NOW is where life is lived, choices are made, and power is asserted. I can't wait to see what you might accomplish by starting now!