Everyone wants to achieve their goals, live their dreams, and be perfect in every way, forgetting that you can’t accomplish all these things if you aren’t organized and have a plan. Knowing how to stop being disorganized should be on everybody’s bucket list. You should know what causes one to be disorganized which are, perfectionism, lack of skills, our beliefs about things and indecision, and mental health and health-related conditions amongst others. If you fall into any of these reasons for being disorganized, then it means this article is for you.
Some people who don’t grapple with mental illness or perfectionism grapple with ADHD and the only way out of this mess is to look for ways how to stop being disorganized. Here are some tips on how to stop being disorganized…
7 Easy Guides to Stop Being Disorganized
1. Start Small
This means that you don’t necessarily have to do things all at once, you can start by taking baby steps. Knowing how to stop being disorganized has to do with prioritizing and scheduling.
You don’t always have to do everything all at once, doing that just makes your work feel all jumbled up and causes a mess, which leads to procrastination and disorderliness. As I’ve said before, starting small helps you stay on track, both on your time and in your life. Starting small also helps you prioritize your activities and also do well in everything worth doing. Looking, for a way how to stop being disorganized? Start small, it helps.
2. A Good Way to Stop Being Disorganized Is By Starting Smart
Starting small has to also do with being tactful, strategic, and smart. That’s why you have to be very skeptical and scrutinize what you prioritize to be organized.
Don’t waste time or stress out over random acts of tidiness. Instead, pick an area that will greatly impact your daily life. By doing this, you can start by getting a planner, like a book, calendar, or an app planner, whichever one works for you. List out all your routines and plans for the month or the week or for the day, whichever you want to do. To be honest, we all struggle with staying on top of our game by being organized and all, but starting small and smart will surely help you tackle a multitude of work that has been piled up for some time. By doing this, you are not only organizing your life you are also investing in yourself.
3. Calculate How You Spend Your Time
We all have 24 hours in a day. It may be because your lifestyle is preventing you from properly managing your time. By lifestyle I mean, what you eat, how long you stay on social media, how long you sleep, how long you watch TV amongst others, if you are looking for ways how to stop being disorganized, you should be able to know some of your routines and see if there are habits you are holding on to that need to be let go.
Just by doing this, you are staying afloat in your game, and you’re trying to stay organized. Once you must have figured out what exactly is making you stay disorganized, you will know that your lifestyle could be preventing you from properly managing your time.
4. Organize Your Time Wisely
Time management is hard. To be successful at time management, start using a planner. I know I’ve spoken about using a planner and speaking about it now should let you know that writing down your plan and goals, helps you stay on track and also stops you from being disorganized, and helps you stay focused.
Knowing how to stop being disorganized should be a top priority for everyone and organizing and managing your time is a way to help you stay organized. In your planner, list every activity that involves scheduling. This includes appointments, project deadlines, exercise, and social events. Don’t schedule activities every hour of every day which leads to frustration. You also need to plan for the unexpected too, because anything can happen.
5. Plan, Prioritize, and Follow Through On Tasks
Chris Bailey, the author of the book “The Productivity Project”, writes that “having just three items to focus on throughout the day and week will help you stay centered and accomplish more, even on days when everything hits the fan’’.
Many people, including myself, fail at time management because we haven’t planned, prioritized, and followed through on tasks. The best way to correct this is by creating a routine.
You can do this by creating a weekly schedule inculcating essential tasks, such as writing articles, cooking, finishing assignments, or doing laundry. Next, you need to establish set blocks of time for these essential tasks. Because you know your essential tasks and also the times for them, now it’s time you evaluate the time spent on each task. Be consistent and keep these tasks and times up to date, try not to slack, and try doing this for 3 weeks.
For larger tasks, break them into smaller tasks and try working on them in chunks, that way you will be alright and by doing this, you are learning how to stop being disorganized!
6. Drop Your Bad Habits
You should know that multitasking is also a bad habit, that’s biting more than you can chew. One of the reasons you may be disorganized is because you must have developed bad habits that are preventing you from being organized. If you want to get better at being organized and at time management, is by eliminating these bad habits. By eliminating bad habits, you can start by understanding your limits and knowing how to say no.
Another bad habit is relying on your memory. No matter how ‘sharp’ you claim to say your memory is, you have to know that you will always forget and you can’t always rely on your memory, whether it is on notes or anything else.
7. Decide What You Want To Achieve!
To stay organized, you should know what you want, your result, and how you want to achieve that.
Most people don’t know how to set and achieve their goals which is why they do whatever they like whenever they want to thereby making them disorganized.
Knowing how to stop being disorganized has to also do with deciding what you want to achieve, how you want to achieve it, and when you want to achieve it. For instance, you want an assignment is done which is due in the next 2 weeks that has to be printed. Now you have a goal of doing an assignment and finishing it up within a week and a half, all you have to do, is write at least one page of what you researched on as the assignment for the next 1 week and a half after you must have done all these, you will find out that you have ample time to correct your mistakes and put your assignment in check before the deadline.
By doing this task and accomplishing it, you haven’t also achieved a goal, you have mastered a principle which is time management.
Conclusion
Knowing how to stop being disorganized should be a task that everyone should know because, you can accomplish a lot with just being organized, I mean a whole lot! So why not dive into the concept of being organized in your life.
Try and develop the habit of writing down everything you want to accomplish in a day, and try meeting up to most of the deadlines on that day, you can achieve a whole lot, only if you want to be organized.
FAQs
Why is it important to be organized?
It helps you to prioritize activities, set and achieve goals and reduce stress.
What makes you well organized?
Some of the things that make you well organized are, specific tools and technologies, general strategies, task management software, teamwork/communication, and more.
Can staying organized reduce stress?
Staying organized can reduce your stress levels because it can end the last-minute scrambling in various situations.
Can I stay organized without planning?
Without planning and organizing, there would be chaos. Nothing would be done.
Why is staying organized important to work?
Organizing and planning help you get your work done accurately, avoiding costly mistakes.
It’s December, It’s Christmas, and it’s all celebration. Did I mention that winter is coming? Yeah, Jon Snow has been in touch lately so get your coats and socks because it is the season. Here is what I have for this week’s newsletter.
Monday
For Monday, I dove into You! You have not been taking care of yourself, but I will give you 14 Smart Ways to Invest in Yourself because I see you, and I care. You may not know this but everything I do is for you because I love you.
I see that I have your attention now, are you flirting with me? You obviously are because how couldn’t you when I am armed with the 5 Stunning Ways to Make a Good First Impression. I can’t just walk up to you dressed up anyhow. I have to prepare for you and this is what people don’t understand – that for you to catch a person’s attention, you have to do it well. And you are not making it easy for me.
I started a small business a month ago but I can’t for the life of me understand how I am always broke. I know that I have sold so many of my products but I can’t account for the money so I started looking for ways to solve this problem. Luckily for you and me, Umar Farouk Kabir gave us How Manage Cashflow For Your Business to Succeed.
Tuesday
Brought to you on Tuesday are 10 Interesting Facts about First Borns You Should Know. I don’t know about you but most of the comments I have heard that are being made about first children are not flattering at all. I don’t know why people fail to acknowledge the several great attributes they have. They are after all like our second parents. I know mine is.
Wednesday
Isn’t it nuts that nuts are part of the 8 Foods That Will Help Boost Your Memory? Pun fiercely intended. I used to remember everything I was told or taught but now I struggle to remember the smallest things. I won’t be deterred by this and neither should you, so read this with me.
Did you know that having a negative Rh Factor could endanger your baby? I did not know either. This is What You Need to Know about Rh-Factor and how to keep your little angel alive while it’s still in your tummy.
Thursday
It’s not death that bothers me, it’s living a painful life. And what’s more painful than people pointing fingers at you and acting like you carry a contagious disease? Read the story of Malama Sa’adatu and find out how HIV AIDS Didn’t Kill Her, The Stigma Did. It’s sad that despite all the awareness about this disease, people choose to stigmatize.
On our wedding agenda this week is How Kamu Tradition is Done in Hausa Land. I may not agree with some traditions but I can’t do away with fun – significant ones like this. Come and watch the Hausa culture flourish.
Friday
As much as the Hausa culture is interesting, the Yoruba people like gbedu more than we do, and where best to experience it if not Kwara State? These are the 12 Interesting Places to Visit Kwara State to get the best experience.
Saturday
One of my favorite sayings in Yoruba language is “ati lo ati de” which means “we have gone, we have come” it signifies a lack of progress in an activity. Don’t you just get tired of being served breakfast in relationships? If You See These 10 Signs in Your Relationship, You Are Dating Yourself. Spot the red flags and flee while you can.
Sunday
As usual, I’ll sign with my favorite thing – food. Learn How to Make Gullisuwa (Milk Balls) and How to Prepare Miyan Kubewa (Okro Soup). I’m guessing Okro soup learnt of my little rant against it last week.
Thanks for reading. I can’t wait to write to you next week. It has become the highlight of my week. Cheers!
What are the best foods that boost your memory? Will these foods reduce the length of time you spend learning? Will these foods make you smarter? Also, will it be better or more efficient than taking brain supplements to improve your memory? You are not the only one asking these questions. Researchers believe that eating a healthier selection of foods rich in phytonutrients will make you smart.
The founder of Kwik brain, Jim Kwik stated that a brainpower smoothie in the morning will boost your brain function throughout the day. When preparing meals, always make sure your meals are rich in vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Healthier fats and oils, herbs, nuts or seeds, or fruits are the foods that improve your memory. Let’s look at some in detail.
Foods That Will Help Boost Your Memory
1. Fatty Fish or Oily Fish
Oily fish contains Omega-3 fats in the form of Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA). Essential fatty acids are from foods and they are important as they promote healthy brain function as well as hearts and joints. Foods containing fatty acids reduce the risk of developing dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and memory loss.
They help in lowering blood levels of the proteins forming damaging clumps in Alzheimer’s disease. To boost your memory, try eating fish that are not high in mercury at least twice a week to boost your brain function, or improve the structure of brain cells, have better-thinking abilities, and be smarter.
We have some fishing festivals in Northern Nigeria like the Argungu Fishing Festival. You should try it out.
2. Blueberries
Blueberries improve short-term memory loss as they contain anthocyanins. Anthocyanins reverse age-related deficits that affect neural and behavioural actions like memory functions. It aids in protecting memory and enhances brain performance.
It also contains flavonoids antioxidants that help in reducing inflammation and oxidative stress. These antioxidants present in blueberries help in improving communication between brain cells, reducing inflammation throughout the body. Increasing plasticity helps brain cells in forming memory, boosting learning, and forming new connections and it also helps in reducing age-related neurodegenerative diseases and brain function decline. Make sure you add a handful of blueberries to your daily meals or eat it as snacks or even add it into your cereals or desserts to improve your brain function.
3. Broccoli
Broccoli is high in glucosinolates and a good source of vitamin K. it enhances brain function and improves brainpower. It is Broccoli is high in glucosinolates and a good source of vitamin K. it enhances brain function and improves brainpower. It is also able to slow down the neurotransmitters hence, keeping your memory sharp. This food reduces oxidative stress and lowers the risk of neurodegenerative diseases since it contains isothiocyanates a degraded version of glucosinolates. It is also known to boost the health of the brain as it contains vitamin C and flavonoids antioxidants.
Try to incorporate broccoli in your meals at least twice a week to enjoy it.
4. Nuts
Nuts are considered foods that boost your memory because they contain Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants vitamin E which protect cells from radicals that cause oxidative stress. When you take enough nuts, it might help prevent cognitive decline since it is rich in vitamin E.
You should consider adding nuts to your meals or eating them alone or mixing in your vegetable soups like Miyan Taushe or in your salads.
5. Avocados
Avocados are beneficial to the brain because it contains monounsaturated fats that help in reducing blood pressure and improve blood flow to the brain thereby brain function. They are good sources of carotenoids and vitamins that may help boost memory. It is also one of the healthiest ingredients for breakfast. It may also lower the risk of cognitive decline.
Eggs are essential to brain food as they are sources of vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, and Folic Acid. Vitamins prevent brain shrinkage and delay cognitive decline. The yolks are also rich in choline that helps in nerve cell transmissions.
Also, it helps in maintaining the structural integrity of the cells of the brain. It helps in increasing one’s attention and maintaining focus. You can add eggs to your Danwake and enjoy it.
7. Whole Grains
To concentrate and focus either doing some tasks that need brain function or reading, you need energy and the energy is from the food we eat. We need to eat whole grains to get the energy to power our brains. This will solve the problem of losing focus or concentration.
Furthermore, whole grains are good for the brain because they release the energy in the form of glucose in the brain that goes to the brain and hence keeping you mentally alert for that day. Also, whole grains are a good source of foods that improve your memory as they are a good source of vitamin E. You can eat brown rice instead of normal white rice.
Take oatmeal as breakfast or even make a sandwich with whole-grain bread instead of the normal break you consume daily.
8. Soy Products
Soybeans are also known as Waken Soya in the North and it is a rich source of polyphenols antioxidants. These antioxidants are good in reducing the risk of dementia and they help in improving cognitive abilities in aging processes. You can make drink soy milk or you can make Tofu or “Awara” as a quick breakfast to enjoy the health benefit of this foods.
There are certain foods that improve your brain’s health and help in giving you stronger memory. Foods that boost your memory are foods that improve your cognitive functions. The brain requires nutrients to stay healthy. These foods will not only help in fueling to maintain focus but also reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. There are also drinks and certain brain tips that can improve mental alertness and make you smarter.
What are the foods that improve your memory or cognitive function? Kindly leave your comments below or share them with your loved ones to let us know what your brainpower foods are.
I was a skilled crammer who could retain thousands of words at the same in my brain and recite them all without omitting a single word. Great! Was the compliments that kept trolling in and at that instance, I felt like a genius. However, something was off. I discovered that once the aim of my cramming was accomplished, a few days later I wouldn’t be able to recall the things I claimed to have read. This method of reading gained a negative effect on my memory, academic, career, and everyday life. Hence, I went on a quest on how to improve memory retention without cramming.
However, cramming has its advantages, but they are short-term, with lots of disadvantages. Moreover, instead of cramming try understanding and applying the steps on how to improve memory retention which I will share in this post.
How To Improve Your Memory And Retention capabilities
These are techniques used in remembering things easily, includes Personal interpretation: Create your abbreviation for information and ideas you want to retain permanently in your memory. Perhaps, you can be more creative by changing them into songs. For instance, I read a cookbook guide on how to bake a cake. I needed a way of remembering the major ingredients needed, so, I made my abbreviation as follows; FEBS which means F=flour/flavour, E= eggs, B=butter, and S=sugar/salt. Trust me, it works like magic you should try it out.
Connect them with real-life experience: Most times people find it so hard to retain things for a long time because they only read words and information as fiction. To enhance your memory capability always relate things to real-life experience which has happened to you or someone else.
Restructuring: This implies that you group similar words and information, to avoid mixing up ideas in your memory. Also, break words down into similar categories to aid your remembrance and don’t crowd your brain with unnecessary information.
2. Focus Enhances Memory Capability
Do you want to master how to improve memory retention? If yes, avoid multitasking your brain when reading stuff you hope to remember forever. Learn to set your attention to one thing at a time and ensure you have understood it properly before hopping onto another.
Eric Phillips once said “Learning how to rein in your thoughts and focus is going to help you to achieve your goals in life. Without focus, you can never achieve anything. Hence, to improve your retention ability become more focused.
3. Visualizing The Concepts Fast Tracks Memory Retention
When learning about something new get your imaginative faculty at work and exercise them in picturing what you have just read. It’s easier to recall images of things no matter how long it might have happened.
4. To Improve Your Retention Ability Continuously Engage in Repetition
Repetition is another step on how to improve memory retention and shouldn’t be like cramming. The more you read words over and over again your brain becomes conversant with those words. Oftentimes unconsciously they begin to reply to your remembrance without struggling to recall.
5. Healthy Diet Boost Your Assimilation Ability
Medically, nutritional diets help enhance memory retention. Such as beans, tomatoes, blueberries, milk, oily fish (contains omega-3 fatty acid), Seeds, and nuts (walnut, peanut, almond). Click here to learn more about food to avoid.
6. Exercise and Rest More Often to Increase Your Retention Ability
This step might sound ridiculous to some people, but it works. Regular exercise helps to keep the brain alert and sensitive to new incoming knowledge. Likewise, rest eases the stress from the body including the brain. Both combined are effective tactics to combat forgetfulness irrespective of your age.
7. Avoid Certain Medication That Hampers Memory Retention
There are drugs that, when taken, reduce the retention capability of the brain and affect its reasoning. They include Quazepam for anxiety, clomipramine for depression, hydrocodone, and hard-drugs like marijuana, and lots more.
8. To Enhance Your Memory Enjoy The Act of Meditation
Always keep your mind fixed on that which you intend to remember and dwell on it for a long time. This exercise helps you study and understand that phenomenon. As you fix your mind one fact at a time your brain adapts as you continue.
9. Reading Out Loud Improves Retention Ability
Oftentimes, the human brain seems to understand what is being read but in a real sense, we communicate what we want to the brain not what is written. Hence, there can be the omission of words, but when you read-out-loud you become conscious of every word as you come across them.
10. Taking Short Notes Helps to Active Your Brain Retention Ability
Reading directly from a book or the internet is bulky and large for the brain to assimilate all at a time. Instead of forcing yourself, make short notes on what you need to understand. Do you know that writing also boosts your retention capabilities? As you write your brain becomes familiarized with what is taken down.
Conclusion
Age is not a factor when it comes to improving memory retention. The more you practice the steps listed above you expand the speed rate at which your brain retains information, events, ideas, and phenomenal permanence. As for me repetition and mediation were my favourite steps in improving my retention and living above cramming.
Furthermore, do you have other methods which have helped you improve your memory retention? feel free to share in the comment section below.
