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I have a secret to tell: I have a cluttered mind.

No, don’t laugh. Don’t roll your eyes. It’s a serious matter. My mind trips and stumbles over a hundred thoughts every 15 minutes. Sorting out all my thoughts and organizing them is a major challenge I face every day, from the minute I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. Plus, I procrastinate. Often.

One of the biggest obstacles our business faced was the way I think. When you can’t stay focused, get distracted easily and forget stuff you have to do, nothing gets done. To make sure that I stayed on track and kept working effectively toward goals, I had to come up with a plan to tackle a cluttered mind.

1. Write everything down.

The almighty to-do list is a savior for people with disorganized thoughts. I have a whiteboard by my computer and in my kitchen. I have a pad and pen on my desk and to-do software on my computer. I carry a pen and paper in my coat pocket and I have the same duo in the glove compartment of my car. The minute a thought comes to me, I jot it down.

2. Organize at the end of the day.

Each day, I take my notes and compile them into a list. That list gets posted in one central location where I can easily refer to it. But I’ll tell you a secret: my list is really two lists. I have a list of non-priority tasks that I can leave to rot until I feel like getting to them, and I have another list of task that are a higher priority and can’t wait.

3. Schedule and stick to it.

Each evening, I work out my schedule for the next day. I look over my to-do lists and add tasks to a schedule for the next day. Every task gets one hour of time – no more, no less. If the hour is up and I’m not finished, I schedule another hour for the next day. I find I get more done when I break down jobs and work on them consistently each day.

Was it easy to get organized? Hell, no. It takes about two weeks for a habit to sink in, so for the first two weeks, I had to force myself to apply my new organizational skills.

But the payoff? Worth it. After two weeks, the habit and routine of jotting down notes, organizing them on a to-do list and scheduling work to be done has made me more productive, less scattered, more focused and much more efficient.

Even better, I’m not struggling to remember so much anymore. I jot everything down and move on. I actually feel a lot better with a mind that isn’t so cluttered and knowing that what I need to remember is safely written down somewhere.

Nothing gets forgotten, everything is attended to, and all the work gets done.

If you want to learn more tips on getting the most out of your day, head on over to James’ blog, Web Content Writer Tips, where you’ll get more great advice on for better web business. Better yet, subscribe here.

To Do List

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