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How Can I Stay Organized When I Have Too Much on My Plate? Here’s How:

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Being overwhelmed when faced with a seemingly endless to-do list is all too familiar to most of us. The fast pace of life and the overall lack of time takes a toll on our wellbeing, making us stressed and anxious too often. However, there are ways to cope with this situation. And one of the most important ways is organization. Admittedly, it may sound like a cliche, but it really is true. Therefore, if you are interested to learn how to stay organized when you have too much on your plate, you are in the right place.

Here are 5 simple steps to staying organized no matter what:

1. Make a to-do list

I know we have mentioned endless to-do lists, but the most significant issue many people have is that they don’t write down everything they need to do in a day, week, or even month. By putting all the tasks on a piece of paper, it will make it seem more manageable. When you keep repeating all your obligations in your head, you quickly get inundated. But once you see them neatly written down, the feeling will go away. 

Not to mention the satisfaction that you will instantly feel after you cross some points off the list. It will also boost your motivation to keep going. And another thing, write everything down, even eating. Also, if possible, try to predict how much time each task requires. In the end, you will reduce the amount of empty, wasted time to a minimum.

“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.” – Benjamin Franklin

2. Smaller chunks are less intimidating

If you have a massive project ahead of you or something big you need to accomplish, rather than putting that one point on the list, break it into smaller bits. List all the steps you will have to take to finish that project. It will make the whole thing less daunting and more manageable. It will also serve as a sort of a plan on how to go about that huge thing you need to do. So, in the end, it will also help you keep track of what you have done and what the next step is. You will easily monitor your progress, which will make the end result seem more tangible. 

3. Set deadlines

If there is no external authority that sets deadlines for you to meet, it’s advisable to set them yourself. It’s easy to get into the trap of postponing your obligations and then finding yourself in an even greater mess. Procrastination is one of the most vicious enemies of organizing. To beat it, you will have to arm yourself with quite a lot of discipline. But if you persevere, it will get easier and become a good habit. Also, it may be a good idea to set reminders in your calendar. Several alerts that will go off periodically as you approach each deadline will ensure you don’t forget anything.

4. Prioritizing is the key

Prioritizing is probably the hardest thing for everyone to learn how to do. However, it is necessary to determine what is a must and what can wait. The smart idea is to create a table and organize all your obligations into four categories:

  1. Important and urgent
  2. Important but not urgent
  3. Not important and not urgent
  4. Not important but urgent.

So, naturally, the first tasks you should do will be the urgent and important ones, the short-term tasks. Long-term tasks, i.e., the not urgent ones, you can leave for later. Finally, if you have that option, delegate the urgent but not important tasks.

5. Take care of yourself

You might think this has nothing to do with staying organized when you have too much on your plate, but you would be mistaken. It’s vital to take some rest and allow your brain to reset and function properly. If you are exhausted, haven’t had enough sleep, eaten well, aren’t hydrated, or haven’t done any physical activity for an extended period of time, you will have difficulty remembering things and focusing.

Therefore, if you start feeling overwhelmed, take a break. Do something you enjoy. Even simple activities like going for a walk or listening to some music can do the trick. After you have devoted a bit of time to yourself only, you will have more energy, and things will not look so bleak. 

“A good system shortens the road to the goal.” – Orison Swett Marden

One of the reasons why it’s essential to stay organized when you have too much on your plate is that it will help you protect your sanity. When the list of things to do keeps piling up, and you have found yourself buried in work, you will first start feeling inundated. It can lead to the inability to sleep, waking up frequently, recollecting your tomorrow’s schedule, and stressing out about it. The lack of sleep will consequently make you feel too tired to be productive. And, thus, begins the vicious circle. 

Ultimately, you will end up so stressed that you will start struggling to balance other aspects of your life. Your relationships and social life will suffer the hardest blow. Finally, under so much pressure and suffering from extreme exhaustion, the quantity of the work you do will take precedence over the quality. But, if you step up your organizing game, you will quickly get back on the right track to success. 

Laura Simmons is a consultant at Big Heart Moving and a freelance blogger. Because handling two jobs requires her to deal with some logistics and implies having good time management skills, she has become something of an expert in organizing. For that reason, she likes to share her advice on staying organized and managing time effectively. In her free time, she enjoys going to the gym and jogging with her rescue pup, Lola. 

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Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

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Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

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Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

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Creating legal boundaries
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The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

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Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

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How to be motivated
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Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

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Success Advice

10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind

The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy

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micro financial habits
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You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)

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