LIFESTYLE: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO BEING ORGANIZED

By Oyinyechi Obike

On a scale of 1–10, if you were to describe how busy you are, you certainly might pick a 15. Everyone has one thing or another that occupies their time. It can range from attending classes to studying, cooking, and even sleeping. Regardless of how little you spend individually on these tasks, it all adds up to taking up a lot of our time. However, if you were to evaluate the amount of time you spend each day, you’d discover that aside from all the numerous activities you’re engaged in, there is a whole lot of free time that lies in waste.

In a nutshell, a number of students have what may be termed the “busy syndrome”, which means that you only have the feeling and mindset that you are so busy when, in reality, you’re not completely so. All these then boil down to you being organized and effectively managing your time. Being organized is not a far-fetched reality or something impossible. It’s simply the ability to properly arrange your time, spending, responsibilities, activities, and, well, your day. Apart from helping you efficiently manage your time, it also gives you a “feel good” feeling, knowing you are in absolute control of your life.

To some, being organized is a natural trait that is effortlessly coordinated and can be associated with chronic perfectionists. But this isn’t the absolute truth; organization is a skill that can indeed be learned and honed. And, well, it does have a great number of benefits. Here are a few that should definitely pique your interest:

1. It reduces stress. Having been able to clear your clutter of tasks and sort out the mountain of responsibilities to be done, you’ll discover how stress-relieving and therapeutic it can be.
2. It gives you control over your life and time. This helps you get a hold of those sprinkles of time lying waste and gets you to use them effectively. Being organized helps you put your life in order and be highly productive.
3. It helps you sleep better: Though it may seem that 24 hours isn’t enough for you to accomplish things on your to-do list, proper organization comes in handy to help you maximize this same 24 hours and give adequate time to sleep and rest. You must also know that the more rested you are, the more productive you’ll be.
4. It aids in building better relationships. Most times, because you’re not able to effectively manage and keep on track with so many tasks, you may tend to give little to no attention to those things that matter to you, especially your family and friends. However, becoming organized is the key to giving the right amount of attention to loved ones as well as keeping in check with them.
5. More opportunities to explore and engage in activities: Organization helps you to disseminate your time and resources wisely, thus giving you the freedom to have me time, achieve your goals, and tick off all you’ve listed in your bucket list.

Now that you have been exposed to the beauties of being organized, let’s dive right in to the myths and wrong ideologies that have been associated with getting organized, which may also stand as an obstacle to your new journey. Here are the top five myths that should definitely be eliminated from your mind:

1. Organization is for certain people. If there were to be the worst ideology out there, it definitely would be this. Organization is for everyone to incorporate into their lifestyle. Although it may come naturally to some, it can be learned and practiced.

2. Organization is time-consuming: In reality, it does save a lot of time rather than take. You’ll end up having a couple of hours of free time that was once neglected or obscure. Besides, the time that should have been spent scrabbling in the piles of activities will then be redirecting to productivity.
3. Organization is frustrating. It is understandable that trying to sort through things and arrange them could in some way be hectic, but you can always spice it up by listening to music while doing it, using creative approaches, and basically having fun organizing. Considering that it has so many benefits, you should find happiness in it. Another tip is to focus more on the results and see the future of a stressful and balanced life that awaits you.
4. Organization is expensive; rather, it is a means of saving costs and unnecessary expenses that may spring up due to the chaos of missing items, damaged items, and cancelled appointments. Though sometimes you may need to get some things to help your system of organization be aesthetically appealing, you can choose the path of improvising resources and taking up DIY projects.
5. Once organized, always organized: Technically, your space could remain organized on the condition you’ll never step foot into the place. But this is highly unlikely. This goes to show that organization must be continuous and should, in fact, be part of your lifestyle. There is a need to continually reorganize, declutter, and filter through your things and space.
6. Organization equals perfection. If it were, there would hardly be anyone who would be organized, seeing that the road to perfection leads to infinity. However, organization helps you get a hold of your life by giving you a feeling of sanity and calmness. Whenever you make an effort to arrange or sort through your things, do it to your own preference. You must remember that what is considered glorious by someone may be plain to another. The focus is on living the best of your life through proper categorization and not attaining perfection.

It’s important to remember that organization in the long and short run is highly beneficial. It may seem stressful now, but the reward far outweighs your initial hesitation. Take that bold step to bring some sanity to your physical space and, in turn, your mental and physical space.