It’s Fall Bloggiesta! An event that is full of awesome content from some awesome bloggers, and that is all about helping each other out and sharing knowledge and awesomeness together! You can visit the official page for more info on everyone participating and how you can be part of it too!

 

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If you had asked me to give tips about getting organized two years ago, that would’ve been a very, very bad idea. I’m still not the most organized person ever, but I think I’m in a place where I feel content with how I’m managing my time. There’s lots of room for improvement, though. Lots.

Two years ago, I was a college freshman, just finishing my second semester, and I was a mess. I kept forgetting assignments in college. I had so many due in one week, I was dead serious about NaNoWriMo, my ‘Computers are evil’ mom was visiting, and there was also the blog.

🙂

I had an emotional breakdown that november, and then a month later, I had a lot of health issues due to the stress.

So, yes, I had to learn this the hard way.

 

The thing is, there is no secret formula that will now magically make you an organization master. We’re all different and God knows I’ve tried so may things in order to be more productive and you know, get my shit together. So, I’m going to tell you what right now is working for me!

 

Step 1: Make a list

The hardest part for me, is that overwhelming feeling that comes from knowing there are so many things to do. And you Just. Don’t. Have. Any. Time. 

You struggle to keep up with everything, but there’s always something that doesn’t turn out okay. There’s always something you forget.

Lists are your new best friend

Why? Because lists simplify things. What you thought was an insane amount of things get boiled down to an specific number, which adds do-ability to all these tasks.

 

• To-do list: A simple daily to-do list is something most of us do already. If you already do this, then kudos to you. I’m actually the worst at this. I will make a list, and then forget to check it out later to keep track of things. Now, if you’re sure you will live by your to-do lists, then this is a mighty amazing method to put your day to day in order.

If you’ve got an iPhone, I recommend the Habitica app. An epic app, for epic people that want to get organized.

• Ideas list: If you’re a creative, of any kind, that will result in many ideas, all the time. No matter if you’re a writer, web designer, artist, musician… Sometimes we get overwhelmed by our own brains, by everything we want to do. And that’s the thing. These aren’t things we HAVE TO do most of the time. These are things we want to do, that we want to accomplish. And you should get those in order too.
• Life list: This is the one I do the most. Sometimes it isn’t the day, or just the blog, or just college. Sometimes it’s just everything. So I do a list that looks more or less like this:
  • Blog
  • College
  • Book
  • Family
  • NaNoWriMo ML
  • Social Life

At first glance not that helpful. It doesn’t really have any ‘operative’ function. But it does help me with my own emotional state. Like I said, making a list makes everything more manageable. Sometimes, I can’t deal with all the elements in life, and I make a list like this. Just six items. It doesn’t look like much this way!

 

Want to go above and beyond simple lists? Try bullet journaling

As part of Bloggiesta, Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase is sharing tips on bullet journaling specifically for book bloggers! Worth checking out!

 

Step 2: Visualize deadlines

Most bloggers are familiar with an editorial calendar. If you’re on self-hosted WordPress, there’s even a plugin for a pretty handy one! And for school/college, you probably keep a planner where you organize exams, assignments, and all sorts of things, which is great!

But if you haven’t done so already, I would also suggest, mixing your editorial calendar, with your ‘school calendar’.

Why?

Because it keeps everything more streamlined. You don’t need to keep a calendar for each aspect of your life!

Since I couldn’t get a planner this year, I keep a folder with all sorts of lists, and it includes my calendar for blog + college. There I keep track of all my deadlines, and in that way, I can plan what to work on each day so that I don’t get mixed up.

 

How?

Well, there are many great ways to do this!

• Usually, planners have calendars in them, so that’s a good idea if you already have one.
• You can hang a big ass calendar somewhere visible in your room
• Use Google Calendar
• You could print your own!

I use both Google’s and a printed one. Both are pretty handy, but I do think Google deserves some praise because it was the one that got me through the last two weeks. I love how dynamic it is!

 

Step 3: You’re only allowed to waste time by not wasting time

This is  the easiest way to work even when you’re not working, to procrastinate and still be productive. Okay, sorry for the antithesis!

So now, once you know what you have to do, you have to get around to doing it. The principle is, if you’re tired of doing something, like, say, homework, then procrastinate by working on a blog post. When you get tired of that, network on social media, and when that no longer holds your attention, go back to that homework.

Either way, you’ll still be doing something!

 

Step 4: Prioritize and have #noregrets

The last thing I would like you guys to always have in mind is that it won’t always be possible to stay on top of everything. We’re human, and we’re allowed to make mistakes. We’re allowed to not to be perfect. It’s your blog, it’s you studying.

You’ll have to decide. Sometimes you’ll have to forfeit working on blog post time in order to study for a test.

Sometimes it will be the opposite. And it’s entirely up to you. I myself have done it. Prioritized the blog. And well, I shouldn’t have, lol. There were consequences, of course.

So, if you know that you will have to put school first, then don’t feel bad about it. Don’t feel bad about not being able to post often, or as often as you originally scheduled, don’t be afraid of not doing enough. Enough is what you say it is, and not anyone else.

 

I challenge you to really think about these steps, and how they might or not help you. To tweak them in a way that does turn out useful to you and make a real change in how you organize your time between your blog and school/college/work.

 

Still not quite sure where to start? You can download some free docs I put together to help you out!

What you’ll find in the zip. file:

• An october calendar
• An ‘idea planner’
• A ‘bookworm planner’
• A weekly planner

 

All these files are Microsoft Word files I originally made for myself. I decided to keep them in that format so you can edit them to fit your own style and needs. Have fun!

 

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And for more posts on all things blogging, stop by the Bloggiesta site!

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