Benefits of a Balanced Schedule

January 18, 2024September 11, 2025 Lori @ Touch of OrganizedLeave a comment

If you want to get more done in life without feeling too busy and burning out, it’s imperative that you create a balanced schedule. A balanced schedule has enormous benefits for your life when you make sure to account for what you need and want to do in every area of your life as you make the schedule.

When you have a balanced schedule, you:

Get more done because you’re efficient with your time
Feel less stressed because you’re not overwhelmed by a packed schedule
More free time to enjoy life apart from work and responsibilities
Are able to focus better on the task at hand when you have regular breaks
Avoid burnout from working too much or taking on too much at once

A balanced schedule is the key to a happy, productive life. If you currently feel overwhelmed, stressed, and like you can’t keep up, it’s time to take a step back and assess your schedule. See what can be cut out or spread out more evenly. You’ll be surprised at how much better you feel when you have a handle on your time.

Creating a balanced schedule means looking at all the areas of your life and ensuring there’s enough time for everything important to you. This includes work, family, friends, hobbies, and taking care of yourself. If one area takes up too much of your time, something else is likely suffering.

For example, if you’re working long hours, you may not have enough time for your family or friends. Or, if you’re spending all your free time on hobbies, you may neglect your work or other obligations. Therefore, finding a good balance between all the areas of your life is essential.

One way to do this is to create a weekly schedule where you block out time for each area of your life. This can help you see where you may need to make some adjustments. For instance, if you realize you’re working too much, you can cut back on your hours or take on less work. Or, if you’re not spending enough time with your family or friends, you can make an effort to schedule more social activities.

Like your boss, friend, and neighbor, you only have 24 hours a day, so be realistic regarding how much time you can devote to each area of your life. Also, keep in mind that your schedule may need to change from week to week, depending on what’s going on in your life. So schedule the most critical aspects of your life, like work and family, and then fill in the rest of your time with other activities.

A balanced schedule is essential for a happy, productive life. When you are mindful about what you really need to live a satisfying life, pay close attention to needs in all areas of your life, and ensure there’s enough time for everything important to you, you can avoid stress, burnout, and feeling overwhelmed. So, take a look at your schedule and make the necessary adjustments to create a more balanced life.

Ways to Switch Up Your Daily Schedule

You have a set schedule and routine that you like to follow every day, but what if it is no longer working out for you? You might be heading to a different season of life, have new goals, or just don’t feel inspired anymore. This is when it is a good idea to make some minor adjustments to your schedule and find that motivation again.

Wake Up Earlier

This is an easy one. Try waking up a little earlier, to have more time in the morning for waking up and having a productive morning routine. If you already have a hard time getting up early, here are a few tips to get started:

Go to sleep 30-45 minutes earlier so you get more rest.
Have a bedtime routine that lets you gradually get ready for bed ahead of time.
Start slow with setting your alarm just 10 minutes earlier than normal.
Keep your alarm clock away from your bed so you have to get up to turn it off.

Have a 10 or 15-Minute Cleaning Session

Whether you don’t have time on the weekend to clean or you have trouble with daily organization, these mini cleaning sessions can help tremendously. This breaks up your day in small increments, gives you more energy, and helps you get some of your housework done each day.

Spend One of Your Breaks Outside

During the day, whether you work in an office, building, or your own home, try to spend more time outside. An easy way to do this is by taking one of your breaks or your lunch break outside. Sit on your patio or in your backyard, head to a local park, or sit on a table outside of your work.

Read or Listen to Podcasts During Your Lunch Break

If you have a habit of just working or watching Netflix during your lunch breaks, try doing something a little more productive instead. You don’t want to work through your breaks, but you can learn something and expand your mind by listening to a podcast or reading a book.

Find Time for Self-Care

Self-care is really important, and often overlooked. Find a way to fit more self-care into your daily schedule. This is a great way to switch things up if you feel like you need a change and don’t really have much time for yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of using a balanced schedule?

Many people find themselves scrambling to get things done, struggling to meet deadlines, and living in a constant state of overwhelm. No matter how many times they create to do lists and set goals, accomplishing everything seems to be impossible.

While this is a pretty common occurrence, it doesn’t have to be. A truly effective way to boost your productivity and keep your life on track is to create and stick to a comprehensive schedule. It’s not enough to create lists and set goals if you aren’t carefully planning each step and adding them to your daily schedules.

You can plan everything for days and months with a schedule. Your schedule allows you to utilize your time better and ensures that you’re getting things are done that are important to you. Most people wing it and go with the flow but having a plan will make the most of your time, just like a budget helps you make the most of your finances. It’s the secret highly productive people share.

When planning your schedule, keep the following things in mind.

Be Specific – Creating a schedule may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Once you have a list of your crucial tasks, you can begin to plug those items into specific days and times. Be specific. The more detailed your schedule is, the easier it will be to follow.
Schedule Everything – You should schedule everything you want to do. When you put everything, including your work, family, friends, self-care needs, and social life, into your schedule, you help yourself manage your time more effectively.
Be Realistic – It’s also critical to be realistic when you create your schedule. If you try to pack too many things in, you’re likely to get overwhelmed. Traffic, delays, and emergencies happen so you need to add a buffer in for them. And never forget to include some free time each day.
Be Flexible – An essential point to remember when creating a schedule is flexibility. Things happen you didn’t plan for, and you’ll need to adjust accordingly. But being flexible doesn’t mean you skip tasks you’ve labeled as necessary it only means you can move it around.
Set Boundaries – A vital aspect of creating an effective schedule is to set boundaries for yourself – with clients, friends, family, and others regarding your time. If you don’t set them, it is amazingly easy to get wrapped up in one thing and neglect other areas of your life.

Once you have a plan, give it your best effort to stick to it. Of course, there will always be some flexibility needed when life happens. But if you can stick to your schedule as much as possible, you’ll be surprised at how much more productive and organized you can be.

What should I do when my to-do list isn’t working?

Why Your To-Do Lists Are Failing You

Did you make a to-do list for the day? If so, how far did you get, or did you completely forget about it? Well, don’t worry – 41% of items on most to-do lists never get done.

The best way to fix it and have it work for you and not against you is to understand the common reasons why they fail in the first place.

Way Too Many Things to Do: to-do lists should focus on daily tasks within the period of time you plan to work, meaning you should have multiple to-do lists, not one overwhelming one.
Unclear Deadlines: set hard deadlines and have the discipline to follow through. A to-do list without them only gives you permission to take your time or not do it at all.
You Don’t Account for The Unexpected: no ones’ schedule is perfect, so don’t plan it that way. Account for flexibility and always include an extra fifteen minutes each day for the unexpected.
It Was Created with A Long-Term Mindset: in other words, you’re giving yourself too much time to complete tasks or are creating to-do lists for more than one day.
Unorganized and Unclear: taking the time to dissect and pinpoint what you want to achieve is crucial. Unclear objectives lead to unorganized plans, ideas, and actions. Learn to prioritize in order to get things done in a timely fashion.

Don’t let your to-do lists fail you anymore. To-do lists are great to utilize and guide your day to ensure you are on the right trajectory to long-term success, as long as they are done correctly.

How to Create an Effective To-Do List

To-do lists are the most popular productivity strategy adopted by many successful entrepreneurs and business owners. It’s a great way to achieve your personal goals too. However, not just any to-do list will do. Each to-do list you make must be designed strategically to be successful.

Here are six tips and tricks to implement when developing an effective to-do list:

Tip #1: Choose the Right Medium: choose the proper medium you enjoy, such as paper, a phone app, or a word document. What you pick doesn’t matter as long as it gets you working.

Tip #2: Use Your Schedule to Guide Your Day: before you make a list, look at your schedule. For your to-do list to be effective, use your most important objectives to guide you.

Tip #3: Make It Clear and Precise: don’t use too many words or go overboard with the tasks. While breaking it down is necessary, you can go overboard. Be a realist and make it scannable.

Tip #4: Make Deadline or Time Limits: for each task on your list, make time requirements or schedule deadlines. This way, it becomes a commitment, and you won’t forget about it either.

Tip #5: Limit Your Daily Tasks: remember being busy doesn’t mean being productive. Focus on the most important information such as times and what exactly needs to be done.

Tip #6: Add Ways to Keep Track of Your Progress: seeing the work that you finished is a great way to motivate yourself to get even more done.

As long as you make your list clear, direct, time-driven, and aligned with your goals, you’ll improve your productivity exponentially.

Effectively Dividing Your To-Do Lists

Most people have two types of lists: a work list and a life list. In order to make sure both lists are effective, it’s important to divide them properly.

But why would you spend time creating two lists? Because the benefits are worth it! Here are just a few benefits you’ll see from dividing up your tasks:

Better time management: identifying what is most important to you allows you to prioritize your limited time accordingly
Organized thoughts: putting tasks on paper will free up your mind and allow you to better focus on each task at hand
Increased productivity: by identifying what needs to be done, you can better focus your time, energy, and efforts on completing the most important tasks.

In addition to the benefits listed above there are several reasons for dividing your lists in this way.

It allows you to focus on one type of task at a time. This makes it easier to stay organized and avoid becoming overwhelmed.
It helps you to better coordinate your efforts so that you’re working towards your goals in both your professional and personal life.
It gives you a way to measure your progress and ensure that both lists are effective.

How to create a work list that is effective: it should be specific, realistic, and achievable, divided into prioritized, manageable tasks with deadlines.
How to create a life list that is effective: an effective life list should be based on your interests and goals, and doesn’t have to be as structured as a work list.

There are a few key tips for coordinating your work and life lists.

Make sure you schedule time for both types of tasks. This will help you stay balanced and avoid burnout.
Review both lists regularly and adjust as needed. This will ensure that your lists are still effective and relevant.
Be flexible and adjust as needed. Life can be unpredictable, so it’s important to be able to modify your lists when unexpected things come your way.

By dividing your lists in this way, you can make sure that both your work and personal life are on track. This will help you to be sure that all of your bases are covered and that you’re making progress towards your goals.

How do I create realistic and balanced schedules?

Take a look at your schedule right now. Are your goals listed yet? Do you even use one? If not, you should be. They improve your productivity, organization and help you achieve your goals both personally and professionally. However, adding them to your calendar is only the first step, you must think realistically too to be successful.

Keep in mind the tips and tricks when creating realistic schedules:

Define Your Goals and The Resources: For every goal and main objective, there are little tasks needed to get there. Highlight each one and then list the resources required to complete it. For example, do you need to purchase specific equipment, or can it all be done from home?
Always Include Breaks and Vacations: Schedule your breaks, or you’ll cause yourself to burnout. It’s a myth that breaks are only for lazy people. The most highly productive people take breaks, and they take long ones too.
Schedule Extra Time: Add around 10 to 15 more minutes to any scheduled task for things you can’t predict. Over time, little tasks you weren’t aware you were even doing, but are required to survive like go to the bathroom will add up and steal you away from doing the important tasks.
Be Aware of Shortfalls and Potential Snags: Each task you need to get done will likely have different variables or expectations, such as driving time to various offsite meetings. These examples can cause different kinds of delays that you are not used to or even aware of.
Commit to Distraction-Free Work: When you schedule tasks, you need to commit to the work time. If you don’t, you will allow yourself to work over your breaks or other essential duties. If you commit to distraction-free work, you can ensure you get your job done on time every time.
Expect Change and Variability: Planning is only there to support you and guide you. It is not full proof. Don’t expect it to be.
Reevaluate for Accuracy: To improve any systems, you must schedule a time to review where things go wrong and where they went right to do even better next time.
Don’t Forget About the Little Things: Little tasks build-up, even five minutes or two minutes here and there, which could affect your schedule.

Don’t let the best productivity tool lead you down the wrong path. Use these tips and tricks and take the time now to rethink your schedule so you can achieve all your goals and aspirations quickly and productively.

Your decluttering checklist

December 27, 2023December 27, 2023 Lori @ Touch of Organized1 Comment

We could all use a little decluttering. Whether you are already a minimalist or a collector, there is something weighing down your life journey. However, a decluttering checklist isn’t the end of the journey but the beginning.

How and Why A Decluttering Checklist Frees You

If you want to live a more organized and easy life, have less. When it comes to success and overall happiness, less is more. Getting rid of things that you don’t need frees you because it:

Promotes Clarity and Focus

When there are things not put in their place or disorganized, your brain can feel the same way. Confused and lost as to where it should go or look at. Getting rid of these extra things mean you no longer have to worry about making sure they fit.

This is why many productive people get into the habit of clearing off or decluttering their workspace. They are not constantly distracted by the things around them that are generally not there, nor do they have to think about having to do that chore anymore.

Promotes Positive Energy and Inspiration

When you remove distractions, unnecessary tasks, or people in your life causing you pain, it only makes you want to keep going forward. You finally get to see how much better life is without the pain and frustration—the power of saying no and taking control of your life breeds positivity and inspiration.

Here are a few quick tricks to help you create a personal decluttering checklist:

Streamline Your Business and Personal Objectives
Getting rid of things doesn’t have to be about material possessions. It can also be clunky processes or systems at work that are making you lose sight of what you care about.

Start Small and Categorize
Start with the smallest area in the room or department in your business and take it slow. You don’t need to do this all-in-one day to feel the benefits. The more time you give it, the more efficient you will be and the more benefits you will reap. Donate the things that don’t provide you value or are just sitting around. What are the things you don’t ever use, touch, or often save for last?

Take Notice of Your Emotions or Mood
If a task, person, or thing affects your mood to the point where you are bitter, sad, angry, or irritated every time you do it or are around them, you must rid these things or people from your life.

While you can’t use this strategy every time you feel discomfort, it should be used when you can’t get it off your mind or move on with your day, week, or worse years. You can always outsource the work or have technology do it for you instead for a low monthly price.

No person is worth keeping around that destroys your mental peace either. Even though “things” are most commonly what people get rid of, they are often not the real culprit to their problems. People are.

As you can see, getting rid of things is a great way to de-stress and reorganize your life. You don’t need to be caught up with the newest and most significant thing to feel happy. In fact, it only keeps you further away from your goals.

5 Ways to Live a Simpler Life

Many people dream of living a simpler life. Few achieve it. The idea of leaving behind possessions and finding nirvana is tempting, but it is not an easy task.

Yet, the benefits are immense. You can get your health back. You can get your family back. Your stress levels will lower. All of these add up to a life lived to its fullest. Who doesn’t want that?

A decluttering checklist is just the first step on the journey. And don’t forget that decluttering isn’t just about the “stuff and things”.

If you are up to the challenge of ditching a complex lifestyle full of stress in exchange for a life well-lived, then here are five suggestions to help you succeed:

Determine your priorities based on your values. What is important to you and your family? What do you want to achieve? What does a simple life look like to you? Once you determine your values, decisions become more straightforward. You say yes to those things that align with your goals and no to those that don’t.
Reign in the digital noise. Smartphones are wonderful tools that should be just that – tools. Ease tension in your life by turning off notifications when you are at dinner or in bed. You might even remove all social media apps from your phone. Unsubscribe from emails lists that do not serve your mission and reply to emails only once per day, not as soon as one comes in.
Declutter your home. By removing unnecessary stuff, you open up your home for those possessions you genuinely love or need. You can start small, like in a junk drawer and then move onto your wardrobe. You will feel freer as possessions no longer weigh you down. Don’t forget to sign up and get your free decluttering checklist for the best start!
Live within your means. A simple life is one free from the stress of making money to pay bills and buy more stuff. When you are in debt, your stress levels elevate. Instead, pay down debt and learn to live within your means. You will quickly learn to enjoy life without struggling with debt.
Become comfortable with being alone. The constant stimulation of technology and people cause us to be uncomfortable with being alone. You do not have to head out to an isolated mountain cabin and live as a hermit. It may even be uncomfortable for a while. However, as you learn to sit in the quiet with only yourself as company, you learn to relax and listen to what your body is trying to tell you.

Embrace the simple life by figuring out your values and then take the necessary steps to live them out. You will be reaping the benefits of this change before you know it.

5 Reasons Decluttering Won’t Work

Decluttering can be a very worthwhile and valuable endeavor. There is a wide array of benefits to the process. However, decluttering on its own is a fruitless effort. No matter what decluttering checklists you have, without personal evaluation and insight, any progress you make will more than likely be undone. Read on to discover why decluttering won’t work and how deeper personal insight can lead to lasting change.

Decluttering doesn’t require introspection.

Getting rid of stuff you haven’t used in the last year or donating an item of clothing for each new piece you bring home are short-term fixes. For decluttering methods to stick, you must evaluate your reasons for the decisions you make regarding your possessions, such as making statements regarding your values, passions and desires.

Decluttering won’t help you understand your attachment to possessions.

Delving a little deeper, you must actually consider the personal motivations for your attachment to the stuff you own. For example, do you hold onto things because you fear being without? Further examination may lead to the realization that you are holding onto habits from a childhood of poverty and that it’s okay now to let go of your abundance of stuff.

Decluttering doesn’t benefit others.

Decluttering without mindfulness does little to help others who could benefit from your overstock. Taking steps to get rid of some things and tidy up, without understanding your reasons for doing so, rarely leads to the kinds of results that could come from purposeful action. When you understand what you hope to gain from this release of clutter, you can significantly pare down your possessions, allowing more people to benefit from your abundance.

Decluttering has no impact on your debt.

You may think decluttering can help you raise some cash by selling your unwanted things. However, without examining your motives for acquiring so much stuff and evaluating your priorities in life, you’re practically guaranteed to buy more items to take the place of those you’ve sold.

Decluttering rarely leads to lifestyle changes.

Mindless decluttering is temporary. Your clean and organized environment is merely a facade that isn’t likely to last. If you want to change your life by implementing healthy changes and making positive strides, you first must do the work of introspection.

Taking time to evaluate what has led to your clutter and to consider your lifestyle goals will go a long way toward creating a soothing home environment that lasts. Decluttering doesn’t work on its own, but combining it with mindfulness can lead to success.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to simplify your home with this decluttering checklist

Cleaning your home isn’t exactly fun. When you’re tired at the end of a long day, it can be easy to put off things like vacuuming, doing laundry and tidying the bathroom. However, making an effort to maintain a nice, clean home is important for your overall health. Here’s why.

Improve Your Indoor Air Quality – For one thing, the air that you and your family members breathe in your home can have a major impact on your health. If your home isn’t kept clean, then you have to worry about dust, mold, pet hair and more being in the air. This can have a negative effect on your health.

Get Rid of Germs – Having germs in your home can suppress your immune system and can make it easier for you to get sick. Also, if one person who lives in your home or who visits your family is sick, failing to clean up the things that he or she comes in contact with can make it easier for others to get sick. Regular cleaning can help you get rid of germs and can help prevent you and your loved ones from getting sick.

Prevent Stress – Stress is bad for your body in many ways, and it can be caused by all sorts of things. If you walk into a messy home each day after a long day at work, for example, you might feel your stress levels shoot through the roof when you should feel welcomed, comfortable and relaxed. By putting a focus on cleaning regularly, you can avoid the stress of having to deal with a big mess all at one time.

Improve Mental Clarity – It can be easy to feel as if you are walking around in a fog when everything in your home is a mess and when you can’t find anything because you’re disorganized. Keeping a neat, clean and organized home is a good way to improve your mental clarity so that you can actually think.

Prevent Depression – If you are depressed, then things like having a messy home can make you feel even worse. If you walk into a nice, clean house, however, it can help improve your mood. Even though keeping your home clean certainly cannot prevent depression, it can help prevent it.

As you can see, having a clean home is very important for your health. Even though you might dread putting in the time to thoroughly clean up your house, you are sure to find it to be worth the effort for these reasons and more.

Simplify Life by Decluttering – Tangible Ways Decluttering Can Improve Your Life

There’s a reason why many people start on a decluttering project (don’t forget your decluttering checklist to get started) during a stressful or turbulent time in their lives or when they simply begin to feel overwhelmed by the chaos. Clearing out the clutter does more than just make your home look neater or more spacious. Decluttering can actually be a life-transforming process in a multitude of ways. Continue reading if you’d like to discover some tangible ways decluttering can improve your life. This knowledge may just be the motivation you’ve long needed to start on your own path to minimalism.

You’ll Gain More Time – Think of all the time you waste searching for things in your messy environment. Consider how often you don’t feel like doing much or going anywhere because your cluttered surroundings have left you feeling depressed. Investing the time to clean out and organize your living space will pay off in all the hours of your life you take back.

You’ll Be More Focused – A messy environment leads to a disorganized mind. Being surrounded by clutter makes it hard to concentrate and zaps your energy. You can’t focus with brain fog. An organized space can truly rejuvenate you.

You’ll Sleep Better – By clearing the clutter, you are making more room for energy to flow freely about your bedroom. It’s true that human beings are made up of energy. Being surrounded by energy that can circulate without obstacles allows for deeper and more restful sleep.

You’ll Have Room for Personal Growth – By removing physical items from your home, you’ll be making more space to move around. Some creative reorganization or consolidation of your possessions could lead to having an entire room free to put to a new use. For example, you could start a hobby you’ve always wanted to pursue or set up the space as a bedroom to host a foster child like you’ve always talked of doing.

You’ll Make Some Extra Money – Surely, you have some possessions lying around that would be of value to someone else. Why not gather them up and consider listing them on Craigslist or eBay? The money you make from any sales can go toward your new hobby or guest room.

As you can see, there’s so much more to decluttering than you ever realized. This process can lead to countless positive outcomes if you just open your mind to the possibilities. Hopefully, you’re feeling more motivated to start creating your optimal space of Zen.

Journaling for Time Management

November 18, 2023November 18, 2023 Lori @ Touch of Organized1 Comment

Did you know that you can Journal for time management? But first I wanted to share some of my best time management and to-do list tips and tricks.

The Best 5 Proactive Time Management Tips

There’s no denying that we live under a never-ending barrage of demands. The truth of the matter is that no one can manage time. What you need to do is manage where your attention goes…

To-Do List Strategies – the top 7 tips

Did you know that there are strategies than can actually make your to-do list easier to tackle? Most of us know what a ‘to do list’ is and yet, most people don’t use one…

What are the 4 P’s of Time Management?

Time management is a way to know where you spend your time and how you can improve it. The 4 P’s can help focus attention on the key characteristics to make you more productive…

Survey Results

If you haven’t had a chance to fill out the survey yet, check it out!

I wanted to share what you answered for the multiple-choice question, about what products you were most interested in.

41% eBooks about productivity and organization
29% email courses about productivity and organization
22% printable planner monthly membership
8% kids’ printable activity membership

And here’s a few of the suggestions from the open-ended question:

spreadsheets
customizable Canva templates
productivity printables

prompted journals
cheat sheets and eBook guides
home management

Journal for Time Management

Journaling can take many different forms. After all, journaling isn’t for anyone but ourselves. But Productivity Journaling is a unique way to use the efforts you put into your journaling practice. It is a way to track how you spend your time; it’s the other side of planning. The schedule and the to-do list are the front side of planning (and are certainly essential to time management and productivity). But journaling afterwards is how you measure of how the plan went.

You can map out your patterns: your most productive times of the day, most productive days of the week, what tasks can be batched together. All kinds of stuff!

How many times did you have to “reschedule” the conference call or the vet appointment? How close did you stick to your plan? What processes and systems can you revisit in order to better stick to your plan?

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some journal writing ideas for any age?

The habit of writing in a journal every day or a few times each week is enjoyable and
helps you manage emotions and stress too. This is as true for young children just
learning how to express themselves in the written word as for teens, college students,
working adults, and even senior citizens. Grab yourself a notebook and a pen and join
in. These journal writing ideas for all ages can help.

Journaling for Young Children

Journal writing in the lower grades may pertain mostly to things they learned or already
know. Favorite animals, holiday memories, “What did you learn today?”, and an emphasis on drawing with accompanying words make sense. Older children can begin exploring their emotions more.

What will life be like in five years?
What animal would I like to be for one day?
Why is my best friend the best? How can I be a great best friend too?

Journaling for Teens

Besides secret diary confessions and thoughts about their personal experiences, teens
can begin thinking about the bigger picture and the world around them. How would
they rewrite an experience they had to make it better? Prompts that focus on positive views of their individual nature are great.

What is your prized possession? Would you ever give it away and why?
Could you have handled your last argument better?
Write about you from your best friend’s perspective.

Journaling for Young Adults

People starting out in the world have a lot of stress. Journaling at the end of the day can help find different views about things that went on. Write about things you learned in relationships with others and yourself. Consider compliments you pay yourself, define success, or write down questions you want to ask.

List 5 things others (or you!) consider to be wastes of time could actually benefit you.
What is your biggest stressor and how can you minimize it?

Journaling for Middle Ages

Avoid making a journal into a play-by-play account of what your children did. As important as they are to your life, a journal is a place for you to re-discover yourself. They offer space to make your bucket list, reminisce on past adventures or events, and fully explore emotions tied to certain things in your life.

What is the biggest contribution you have made to the world? Your family?
What new technology do you love? Hate?
If you could get advice from one person on Earth, who, and what would you ask
about?

Journaling for Seniors

Looking back can be bittersweet and journaling about the people you have met, places you have seen, and things you have done can be an adventure all its own. Make an effort to look forward when writing in your journal as well. Do you have a plan or is it
time to fly free? What did you always want to tell someone?

Write a letter to yourself at major life stages or events.
Describe the place you have been where you felt most at home.
What secrets are you keeping about yourself that would surprise people?
Make a plan for next week, month, and year.

How can I use my journal for time management and household management?

How to Use a Journal for Better Household Management

When you think about journaling, you may think about pouring out your deepest emotions about dramatic events in your life. While a journal is a great place to let it all out when you are going through a difficult situation in your personal life, it also is a great way to learn more about yourself in a more general way. With a closer look at the benefits of journaling, you may realize that this is an excellent resource to use to manage your busy household more efficiently.

Clear Your Mind

When you are stressed out about how much work you have to do around the house or how you will manage getting all of your kids to their different activities after school, you may feel overwhelmed and anxious. This mindset creates a mental challenge, and it makes it difficult for you to concentrate and to enjoy the small joys in your daily life. It can even lead to burnout. Journaling gives you an excellent way to clear your mind and to unwind.

While some people journal for up to an hour or more each day, you can simply sit down for five or ten minutes to create a small journal entry. Taking a few minutes at the beginning and end of each day really helps with journaling for time management. Plan your day and then re-assess how the plan went. This is an excellent way to improve your mental health. After your mind is clear, you may be able to think about ways to better manage your to-do-items. It may also help you to focus on the items that you are currently doing, and this can boost efficiency.

Gain Clarity About Your Daily Activities

This one is a huge component if you want to journal for time management. Because your busy schedule may be at the front of your mind, you may find that some of your free-flowing journal entries explore the activities and chores from time to time. When you spend time focusing on how and why you are doing these activities, you may find a better way to address them. With some items, you may find that they are not needed or are not convenient. For example, if your child s piano lesson is booked at the same time your other child s soccer practice is scheduled, you may realize that a simple solution is to schedule the piano lesson for a different time that is more convenient.

Determine When Chores Are Not Equally Divided

Journaling may also help you to determine if you are pulling more than your fair share of weight. Remember that chores may not be evenly split if one parent has a much more demanding work schedule than the other. However, this does not mean that you need to do all of the work. The other parent should pull some weight, and you may get the kids to pitch in and help in different ways. Journaling may give you clarity about how to allocate weekly chores so that everyone does their fair share.

Understand When You Need Extra Help

Journaling can help you in each of these ways, but there are instances when you and your family members are simply too busy to handle all aspects associated with running a busy house. If you have determined that your to-do list is too demanding and that you cannot reasonably expect to get help from your family members, you may need to look outside the home. For example, you could set up a carpool with other busy parents to get your kids to their various activities. You may determine that you need to hire an assistant at work so that you have more time to spend at home. Perhaps you can work remotely to better manage your busy home life. You may even hire maid service to clean your house periodically.

Journaling is an excellent way to reduce your stress level regardless of the source of the stress. It can help you to find balance and harmony in your life when you are going through tough times and even when your stress is caused by your daily activities or schedule. Many people who journal regularly find that they can think through their problems more clearly, and this includes both smaller or larger problems. If you do not currently have a journal, now may be a great time to begin journaling. Whether you want to journal for your own emotional growth or productive journaling for time management, the entire procedure helps center and focus you. Remember that your entries may be rather short if you have a busy schedule, but even short entries can provide you with excellent benefits.

The Best Journal Gifts for the Holidays

November 10, 2023November 10, 2023 Lori @ Touch of OrganizedLeave a comment

I want to share some of my favorite journal gifts for your friends and family (or even yourself, I won’t tell!). I’ve been searching on Etsy because Etsy creators are so creative with what they have to offer!

One of my favorite things about coming into the new year is a fresh new planner and a new journal. I’ve already started my holiday shopping because I want to have everything ordered and delivered and wrapped in time! The holidays are fast approaching. It’s like once we hit Halloween every year, someone hits the gas pedal on the year and we accelerate forwards.

Personalized Recipe Book

The perfect gift for anyone who loves to cook or bake. Ideal for keeping a record of those all important delicious family home cooked recipes that you simply do not want to forget. It comes with a beautiful Sage Green utensils cover and is personalised with real foil, in your choice of Black, Gold or Silver for that extra special touch.

Cactus Hardbound Journal

A cactus hardbound journal that is perfect to write your thoughts and travel experience. This writing journal will look good on your desk or kitchen table as you go through your to do list and organizing your thoughts. Also, perfect as a personalized gift for your best friend or mom.

Tear Off Notepad

Small tear off notepad with watercolor illustrated elements.

Peony Pattern Notebook Set

Each notebook features a different design. The first is a lush macro detail of a large painting of peonies. The second notebook features our signature Floradore pattern repeat featuring an endless supply of florals taken from different paintings.

Keep Calm Notebook

Our Spiral Notebooks are NOW WITH SEE-THROUGH PROTECTIVE COVERS and bright white 90 gsm smooth paper 🙂 Scribble Away! These notebooks are great for writing notes or even drawing some amazing doodles. Makes a wonderful useful and unique gift!
“Keep Calm, I Have a Spreadsheet for That”

Game Night Notebook

Every board gamer needs a place to record the happenings of game night. Let this Board Game Journal track wins, games played – your heart desires. This is a great gift for the board gamer in your life, as a gift for game night, or a unique Housewarming Gift – sure to make everyone chuckle.
“What Happens at Game Night… Gets Written in This Notebook”

So whether you’re looking for the best journal gifts for your sister or your coworker or even yourself, check out these selections!

Strategies to Beat Procrastination

October 19, 2023October 19, 2023 Lori @ Touch of OrganizedLeave a comment

Sometimes you need to hold off on a task, job, or project because something more pressing comes up. When you continually push it off, you may be struggling with procrastination. There are many reasons people procrastinate, from perfectionism to overwhelm, but check out these strategies to beat procrastination.

Figure Out Why You Procrastinate

Understanding ‘the why’ helps overcome it. Some of the reasons may include poor organization, feeling overwhelmed, and perfectionism.

Write Out a To-Do List

You may be overwhelmed at everything you need to get done. Writing everything down can help you get a better idea of what you need to do.

Prioritize What You Need to Do

List everything then prioritize what needs to be done and how much time each will take. The goal is to identify where to focus first.

Break Big Projects Down into Tasks

You move a mountain one pail of dirt at a time. It helps to break your project into smaller, more manageable tasks that you can quickly check off.

Do Away with Distractions

Completing tasks take twice as long when you’re being pulled away. Turn off all your notifications, including email and social media.

Take Care of the Hardest Job When You Are at Your Peak

Take advantage of your peak time to tackle the jobs you have been putting off. You’ll have more energy and might even be invigorated!

Tie a Reward to an Accomplishment

Some people love rewards! If you do, pick a task and set a reward for hitting a milestone or knocking something off the to-do list.

Find an Accountability Partner

Knowing you have to answer to someone can be a great motivator. Look for someone who can encourage you when you get sidetracked.

One of the best strategies to beat procrastination? Just Get Started

Getting started is often half the battle. Set a timer for 5 minutes and start. Once the timer goes off, you’re five minutes closer to getting it done!

Fast-Action Strategies to Beat Procrastination

Ask yourself why you procrastinate on some jobs but not on others. You can then work on alleviating the blockers and learn how you can accomplish more.
Take a piece of paper and brainstorm everything you need to do. Then, assess what you can do and what you can delegate. This frees up time for those items only you can handle.
Decide on some different rewards you can give yourself, write them on slips of paper, and place them in a jar. You can have the extra fun of choosing a surprise reward once your task is complete.

Putting a Stop to Procrastination

Procrastination is a huge problem for many people. Sometimes they think that if they put something off, it will be less of a task later, but that’s not exactly true. And sometimes it’s about the fact that we don’t have the strategies to beat procrastination. At any rate, it’s a big problem, and it happens with work, household tasks, important projects and so on. people do it all the time. The following are some strategies to beat procrastination. They can help you get motivated.

1. Do Your Undesirable Tasks First

One way to trick yourself into getting happy about a task that you’re procrastinating on is to think about your desirable tasks. You can go do all those fun tasks that you love to do just as soon as you get finished with the one that seems laborious. It’s a way of tricking yourself into having mindfulness for productivity.

2. Focus on the Accomplishments

All tasks that you complete in your life are called accomplishments. You can change your mindset and turn it from negative or hesitant to positive by thinking about the accomplishment that you will have completed on that day when you can finally say that you’re done with that task. It feels good to get finished with a task, especially a challenging task. You can even promise yourself a little “reward” when you are done so that it will boost your motivation a little bit more. There’s nothing like a reward to just make you put out a sigh of relief when you’re done with something that was majorly important.

3. Be Mindful of the Other Person

If the task that you have to do is for your loved one, boss, friend or some otherwise important individual, you should consider how that person will feel if you take too long with the project. Now think about how happy that person will be when you deliver his or her product, service or favor. Think about the smile that will appear on that person’s face when you do this.

4. Tell Yourself That You Can Do This

Finally, the most important part is the “I can” specifics. tell yourself that you are more than capable of doing what you need to do. Refuse to be too tired to do it. Refuse to be too upset to do it. Refuse to put it off for another minute. Look in the mirror and say, “Today is the day that I’m going to accomplish XYZ, and just do it. Don’t even think about it. Just start doing it and then you’ll get into the groove quickly, especially if it’s a task that will get your heart rate up a little bit.

Those are just some ideas to get you out of the detrimental mindset of procrastination. Try them the next time you drag your bum on anything.

How to Avoid Procrastination

Procrastination is a habit of putting things off until the last minute, or worse, until it’s too late to get them done. It is really easy to procrastinate, especially when the only person you are accountable to is yourself. If you have been struggling with this lately, here are some tips that can help.

Identify Why You Procrastinate

It is likely that you already have a good idea about what causes you to procrastinate, whether you feel it is in your control or not. Think of it as something that triggers you to stop working, gradually lose your focus, and then begin doing other things. This might be notifications on your phone, checking your email, having tasks that are a little more difficult, or even something like the weather outside.

When you know the reasons for your procrastination, it becomes easier to avoid them.

Figure Out When You Tend to Be Less Motivated

Likewise, there may be times of the day when you are more or less motivated, and when you tend to procrastinate a little more. Maybe you are someone who gets a lot of work done early in the morning, but once the sun comes up and people get loud, you lose concentration and are far less motivated. You could also be the complete opposite, where nighttime is when you are most motivated, and are more likely to be distracted earlier in the day.

Finish Just One Small Task

If you feel like you want to procrastinate on tasks, just choose one very small thing to get done. This can give you a little momentum when you feel like all you want to do is watch Netflix or do anything but work. Pick the easiest task on your list to complete, and just get that one thing done. If you still don’t feel like working, go ahead and take a break. But in all likelihood, you will get the momentum to keep working and getting things done.

Set a Timer When Working on Projects

An easy way to stay on track even when you feel like putting it off is to set a timer. Use a Pomodoro timer where you work for 25 minutes straight, then can have a short break afterward. You can do just about anything for 25 minutes. It goes fast, and you can get a lot done when you are completely focused during that time.

Be More Organized

The more organized you are in your workspace, the less you will tend to procrastinate. It offers you less distractions and your mindset is much clearer and able to focus on work instead of the mess around you.

3 Quick Strategies and Tips to Beat Procrastination

The habit of procrastination has caused more people to fail in life than any other habit on the planet. And there are lots of strategies to beat procrastination, but check out these top three!

The cost of procrastination is the life you could have lived.

The truth is that most people want the best for their lives, and they do want to make positive changes and focus on what matters. However, in most cases, doing what you need to do is often associated with discomfort.

If you want to get fit, you’ll need to exercise daily. That will mean sweat and exertion. Unless you love exercise, this is not a pleasant thought and your mind will conjure up a thousand excuses as to why you should procrastinate the workout to the next day or skip it totally.

The same applies to any type of productive work that will elevate you to a higher level. Your mind will try to protect you from pain by cooking up multiple plausible excuses for you to avoid doing what you’re supposed to do.

1. Observe the 2-Minute Rule

Inspired by author, David Allen, this rule states that you just need to do the activity you’re avoiding for 2 minutes. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a workout session or writing a report.

If you’re avoiding it or thinking of procrastinating it, just give yourself that 2 minutes. This is a short enough duration for it not to be overwhelming and you’ll trick your mind so it doesn’t go into ‘self-preservation mode’ and cook up excuses.

In most cases, you’ll notice that once you start, the entire mental hurdle disappears. You’ll often go well past that 2 minutes and take your task to completion.

If after 2 minutes, you’re still not in the mood, you can take a break and come back to it later for another 2 minutes. Over time, your mind will get conditioned to accept a higher threshold of discomfort.

It’s overcoming the inertia and getting started which is the hardest part of the process. Quite frankly, if you just applied this hack, you’d beat procrastination most of the time.

2. Keep a Tight Schedule

An object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest. If you want to beat procrastination, it’s best to have a tight schedule where you maintain your momentum from start to finish without taking too many breaks.

Many of the most successful people wake up early in the day and start working on their most important tasks first thing in the morning. Very often, by 1 pm, they’re done for the day and are more productive than most people who work till 5 or 6 pm.

By keeping their routine tight, they moved from one task to another in rapid fashion and didn’t give their minds much time to think of ways to procrastinate. So, you’d be wise to plan your days ahead of time and keep breaks to no longer than 10 or 15 minutes at a time.

Once the biggest chunk of your important work is done, you can take a break for an hour or so.

3. Manage Your Environment

You’d be amazed at how many distractions can pop up to detract you from the task at hand. Social media notifications, email alert, phone calls, other people, etc. can all get in the way of your daily work and disrupt your momentum.

This is why highly productive people prefer to work either very early in the morning or late at night when most people are sleeping. Do whatever you can to eliminate most of the distractions during your working hours.

You may wish to set your phone in silent mode or even place it in another room, if you can’t resist the temptation to look at it. If you’re addicted to social media, you may wish to use an app to block the sites you normally visit (during your working hours). Removing social media apps from your phone is another way to eliminate distractions.

In conclusion, procrastination is a nasty habit that will stop you from achieving your full potential – but only if you let it. Always be aware of what’s going on in your own mind, and reflect on your daily activities to see if you’re procrastinating.

From there, it’s just a matter of curbing the occasional instances when you shirk your commitments and staying on track with your daily plans.

Always remember that immediate action will destroy procrastination.

So, get started without hesitation.