Simple Organization
My older brother and I love collecting vinyl. There’s a lot of bands we love and records that bringing back memories from our childhood. Every time we get to hang out we find a day to go hit record shops and breweries and have an absolute blast.
Several times on our adventures one of us has by mistake bought a record we already had simply because we couldn’t remember if we owned it or not. So after doing this a few times we both got organized and made lists of stuff we owned and lists of records we wanted to buy.
Getting organized saves us time and money and helps ensure we take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way.
I know organization is not a strength of many creatives that I know and/or work with but it can literally save you time, money, and help you get the gig sometimes.
So I want to talk about some simple organizational resources and practices that have helped me through the years to make sure that I’m being effective and efficient and that I’m ready to handle whatever opportunity that may come my way.
CALENDAR
The first thing to get organized is your calendar. Time is the most valuable resource we have because we can never get more. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. So we better manage it in the best possible way that we can.
The first thing to do is to decide what calendar you’re going to use. The best calendar for you is one most closely related to your email. If you use Gmail it’s easiest to use Google calendar. If you use your desktop email app like Apple Mail or Outlook then it’s best to use Apple Cal or Outlook calendar. There’s a lot of great calendar apps out there but if your trying to get organized make sure and start simply and use the easiest and one that’s already connected to your workflow.
Once you’ve chosen a calendar app do these 4 things.
Put EVERYTHING on it. Every appointment, birthday, meeting, etc… whenever you’re scheduling things you need to see everything around it.
Put everything in categorized calendars so that you can see everything or only what’s most important. Family, Personal, Work, Hobbies, etc… create as many calendars as makes sense for how you categorize clearly.
Every time you make an appointment IMMEDIATELY put it on the calendar. It takes less than 60 secs and will save you infinitely more time than that in the future.
Make a practice of looking at your calendar at the end of your day to see what tomorrow holds and make a practice of looking at your calendar at the end of your week to see what is going on next week.
TASKS
The next most important thing to manage are your actions. Managing your tasks, to-dos, and projects can ensure that you do your best work, that you never miss a deadline, and keep you from being overwhelmed.
There’s a lot that goes into task management, but like calendaring, it starts with using an app that connects easily with your workflow and is easily accessible from everywhere you are. Similarly to your calendar, it works best to use a task manager that integrates easily into your workflow. I personally love using Apple Reminders, but you can use anything that integrates into your workflow, supports recurring tasks, and has the ability to connect to your calendar.
Once you’ve chosen the right app to manage your tasks do these 4 things.
Put every task in your task app and check it off when you complete it. Writing it down ensures you won’t forget it and checking it off keeps a record it’s done and gives you a nice little dopamine hit of accomplishment.
Make sure and appropriately schedule recurring tasks. They could be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc… but it’s wise to put them down and set their recurrence correctly.
Write down every task IMMEDIATELY. It will take you less than 30 seconds and better ensure that nothing gets overlooked. Make sure and set the due date of the task correctly.
Make a practice of looking at your task list at the end of your day to see what tomorrow holds and make a practice of looking at your task list at the end of your week to see what is going on next week.
INVENTORY
Lastly, to make sure and cover all your foundational organizational basis you need to take inventory of the tools, resources, and equipment you use on a regular basis to ensure that you always have what you need to do the job.
Make sure that you have what you need and the right quantities of what you need. Whether it be tools, accessories, parts, or other resources and be certain that you have what you need to keep things cared for and up to date.
Do these 3 things to keep inventory and keep your things organized.
Organize your space so that you can access what you need easily. Put things in categories and spaces in a way that you know where they are when you need them.
Set a schedule for your equipment to make sure that you keep things updated and maintained. Your software and digital equipment need to be updated regularly so make sure and set a schedule to check for updates and put it on your calendar. Also, set a schedule for cleaning, caring for, and maintaining your physical gear and put those dates on your calendar as well.
If you travel, make sure that you organize your travel gear accordingly and include the things that you need for every conceivable situation.
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Simple organization can be the difference in getting a gig or even getting to the next level. It’s also something that anyone can do if you set yourself up well and stick to the necessary rhythms and habits.
You can do it.
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Also, check out the MY⚡️FI CREATIVE CLARITY PLANNER for Notion. It’s a free tool to help creative people organize in their ideas, tasks, projects, and habits.
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