5 Proven Steps to Stay Organized in a World of Chaos

Many young professionals I mentor ask me “How do you stay organized?”


So many things to do.

So many people to satisfy.

So many demands on your time.

So many distractions.

In this milieu you can stay organized only if you START organized.

These are 5 critical steps to get you going on the right track.

1. Understand the objectives you’ve been asked to achieve . If they are vague ask for clarification. Chasing unclear objectives is a waste of your precious time and energy and will prevent you from being a high performance individual. All it does is increase your anxiety level.

2. Determine 3 priorities that will get you 80% there. Forget the to-do list; you can’t juggle 10 projects in the air and hope to accomplish anything brilliant in any one of them. Organization is all about being FOCUSED on a few things that really matter.

3. Eliminate the activities that don’t relate to your priorities . This is your to-don’t list . If it’s not related to your main agenda, kill it. Or it will kill you.

4. Don’t get sucked in with “yummy incoming” . Once you have set your priorities there will be new temptations that try and pull you off your course. Don’t go there. Yummy will force you back into the “run around” mode.

5. Stay in touch with your the results and adjust as you go. Plans rarely turn out the way you intend. Be prepared to modify what you are doing or completely change direction and go Plan “B”.

Related: How to Kill Creativity in 6 Easy Steps

If you can be calm and still in the moment when the world swirls around you; if you can maintain your focus when there are so many other possibilities to chase, you will not only be organized you will stand apart from everyone else .

You will be noticed.

You will be successful.