Staying Organized in a Chaotic World
There are so many people, places, and tasks vying for our attention—we always have to be somewhere or do something, and things tend to slip through the cracks more often than we’d like. It can get pretty chaotic.
I love helping folks get and stay organized, whether at work or at home (but, usually, both), and I share all of my best tips in my weekly Friday Five Newsletter. If you haven’t gotten on my email list yet, or can’t wait for Friday to come, here are a few tips for staying organized in a chaotic world.
Let Alexa help you around the house
The routine possibilities are endless with Alexa. Here are a few of the ways we use ours (all of which are possible with other similar products like Google Home):
Our kids wake up to Alexa saying good morning, sharing a joke, and telling them the date and weather.
We have a routine so that if our garage door is ever open at 9 pm, Alexa closes it.
Alexa reminds all of us when we need to head out to take the kids to school in 5 minutes.
If the space heater in my office (that I often turn on in the morning) is still on at 11 am, Alexa turns that off (I can always turn it back on again quickly by voice if I'm still chilly, but usually, by that time, things have warmed up enough where I live).
In the winter, we use Alexa to automatically turn Christmas lights on and off on a schedule.
My daughter does an online class once a week - we set it so that Alexa announces everywhere in the house when that's about to start in 5 minutes so we don't forget!
Our wax melter turns on and off using an Alexa routine.
We have automated blinds in our bedroom and we've set up a routine so that they automatically close at sunset every night (and it changes daily depending on when sunset is that day, which I find to be so fun).
Whether you want a tool to remind you to do things or to take over the role of multiple separate systems (alarm clock + light timer + blinds closer), there are tons of ways to incorporate a system like Alexa into your home.
Schedule reminders in your iPhone
The brain isn’t a reliable place to keep our to-dos, especially in a chaotic world where our brains are constantly being flooded with information. But one great thing about our world is that we can let our phones remind us of the things we need to take care of—whether it’s setting a doctor’s appointment, buying a sympathy card for a coworker, or sending a friend flowers for her birthday.
I use the Reminders app on my iPhone to keep track of all the things I need to do. I just press the little button on the side of the phone and tell my phone to remind me about that thing I’m likely going to forget three months from now.
To help you out, I created a highlight on Instagram with lots of ideas for how to utilize reminders on your phone.
Use filters and labels to keep track of emails
I think the best way to keep track of emails that you’re waiting to hear back about is to use a filter where you BCC yourself and have the filter automatically apply a label to the email (you could name the label something like "Waiting On" so you can easily see all those in one place). Then, when you've either gotten a response or decided to stop following up, you can remove the “Waiting On” label.
If you need instructions for how to set this up, this is basically exactly how I'd do it (works well for Gmail). And if you’re an Outlook user, here's how you'd do it in Outlook.
Want more tips?
If you’d like more tips like these, my popular Friday Five Newsletter is the best place to get them every week!
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About The Author
Jessica Eastman Stewart is a consultant, workshop facilitator, and podcast guest expert. She teaches busy professionals how to get more organized at home and at work so they can stop feeling worn out and start living a Joyfully Managed Life! Thousands of readers drop everything when her weekly newsletter, The Friday Five, arrives in their inbox. Every Friday, you’ll get FIVE amazing tips to help life feel INSTANTLY more joyful and easy!
