6 things the most organized people do every day

6 things the most organized people do every day6 things the most organized people do every dayYour life is busy. Work-life balance is a challenge. You feel like youre spreading yourself so thin that youre starting to disappear.Most of us feel that way. Butleidlage all of us. The most organized people dont.As NYT bestselling author and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explains, the VIPs hes met dont seemscattered and frantic.Theyre calm, cool and in the moment, not juggling nine things and worried about being done by 7 p.m.Its not hard to figure out why they have help - aides and assistants to take care of these things so the VIPcan be in the moment.Via The Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadIn the course of my work as a scientific researcher, Ive had the chance to meet governors, cabinet members, music celebrities, and the heads of Fortune 500 companies. Their skills and accomplishments vary, but as a group, one thing is remarkably constant. Ive repea tedly been struck by how liberating it is for them not to have to worry about whether there is someplace else they need to be, or someone else they need to be talking to. They take their time, make eye contact, relax, and are really there with whomever theyre talking to. They dont have to worry if there is someone more important they should be talking to at that moment because their staff- their external attentional filters- have already determined for them that this is the best way they should be using their time.Must be nicesinceyou and I have to multitask and cut things short to try and get everything done, stressing the whole time.But heres the thing You can be like that, too. And it doesnt require a staff of 10.So who is your assistant? You are. Then whos the VIP? You are. (Yes, I am actively encouraging you to develop a split personality.)With enough planning ahead of time, you can make sure youre as calm and organized as the President of the United States.(For more on what the most productive people do, click here.)We just need to get a few systems in place ahead of time. Whats the first step?1. The VIPs brain is empty. And thats agood thingThe President of the United Statesis not desperately trying to remember his to-do list.He has outsourced to his staffall the things that come next so he can focus 100% on whats in front of him.No, you dont have a group of aides but theres still a key principle you can use Get it out of your head.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadShift the burden of organizing from our brains to the external worldWriting them down gets them out of your head, clearing your brain of the clutter that is interfering with being able to focus on what you want to focus on.Everything youre worried about, every to-do, every concern gets written down in one place.One. Not scattered across a notepad at home, your iPad in the office, youremail inbox, sticky notes on your monitor, andyour unreliable memory .That scattering makes you wonder if youve forgotten something - and research shows it produces anxiety.So get it out of your head and on one list. Afterwards,Getting Things DoneauthorDavid Allen says break itup into 4 categoriesDo itDelegate itDefer itDrop itOnce you have those 4 lists you know what you actually need to do and its all in one place. Just having that list is a big step toward VIP cool.Why does this work? Theres some neuroscience behind it. Writing things down deactivates rehearsal loops.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadWhen we have something on our minds that is important- especially a To Do item- were afraid well forget it, so our brain rehearses it, tossing it around and around in circles in something that cognitive psychologists actually refer to as the rehearsal loop, a network of brain regions that ties together the frontal cortex just behind your eyeballs and the hippocampus in the center of your brain The problem is that it works too well, keeping items in rehearsal until we attend to them. Writing them down gives both implicit and explicit permission to the rehearsal loop to let them go, to relax its neural circuits so that we can focus on something else.Research shows that when youleave things unfinished and worry, it actuallymakes you stupid.Solution? Write it all down.(For more on how the great geniuses of history leverage notebooks, click here.)So you got all the to-dos out of your brain and onto a list. You know what can be delegated, deferred and dropped - and what you actually need to do.Now how do you get through the day like a calm VIP?2.Mr. President, your next meeting is about to beginThe President of the United States doesnt check his watch. Hes scheduled down to the minute and aides tell him when its time togo.You may not have assistants but any smartphone has alarms and reminders.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadTime management also requi res structuring your future with reminders. That is, one of the secrets to managing time in the present is to anticipate future needs so that youre not left scrambling and playing catch-up all the time.Ironically, yourphone probably interrupts you with unimportant texts, emails, and status updates - but not about the key priorities for yourday.Few of us have our calendar so organized ahead of time that we can let it dictate all our actionsmoment to moment.Whats the key?Alarms dont work with to-do lists.As Cal Newport recommends, assign every to-do a block of time on your calendar. Then you can gauge how much you can actually get doneScheduling forces you to confront the reality of how much time you actually have and how long things will take. Now that you look at the whole picture youre able to get something productive out of every free hour you have in your workday. You not only squeeze more work in but youre able to put work into places where you can do it best.Youre less likely to procrastinate when an activity has an assigned block of time, because the decision was already made.And once it has a time block, you can bethe VIP. Alarmsallow your mind to becalm knowingyoull be reminded about the next thing.(For more on the schedule successful people follow every day, click here.)I know what some of you are thinking But I get interrupted. I get distracted.But theres a way to deal with interruptions - even if you dont have a Secret Service detail to keep people out of your office.3. Set up filtersEvery morning the President gets a top secret document with everything he needs to know from the agencies beneath him.Whats key isnt what the document contains, its what it doesnt contain 50 status updates, 100 tweets, 10 cat pictures and 1000 unimportant emails.He can focus on what matters because he isnt distracted by what doesnt. Meanwhile, you probably feel overwhelmed by information.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadToday, o ur attentional filters easily become overwhelmed. Successful people- or people who can afford it- employ layers of people whose job it is to narrow the attentional filter. That is, corporate heads, political leaders, spoiled movie stars, and others whose time and attention are especially valuable have a staff of people around them who are effectively extensions of their own brains, replicating and refining the functions of the prefrontal cortexs attentional filter.I have information overload, you scream. But as technology visionary Clay Shirkysays, Its not information overload its filter failure.Your attention is limited and valuable. You need less information. You need good filters.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadOur brains do have the ability to process the information we take in, but at a cost We can have trouble separating the trivial from the important, and all this information processing makes us tired. Neurons are living cells with a metabolism they need oxygen and glucose to survive and when theyve been working hard, we experience fatigueA good low-tech solution is to hide for part of the day. Im as serious as a heart attack. Go where people cannot reach you and get solid work done.Thats not an vorkaufsrecht for everyone. I get it. No problem. But people who feel technology has left themoverloaded with information are using it wrong.Use technology like a DVRtotime-shift yourcommunications.People should reach you when you want them to, not when they want to.Handle all communications in specified batches a set timewhen you check email, voicemail, etc.Some people say, I cant do that. But you probably can do it more than you think, especially early and late in the day.Maybe your boss wants you ridiculously responsive. Fine. Set up an email filter so only the bosss emails get through immediately.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overloadyou can set up e-mail filters in most e-mail p rograms and phones, designating certain people whose mail you want to get through to you right away, while other mail just accumulates in your inbox until you have time to deal with it. And for people who really cant be away from e-mail, another effective trick is to set up a special, private e-mail account and give that address only to those few people who need to be able to reach you right away, and check your other accounts only at designated times.(For more on how to achieve work/life balance, click here.)So youve gotreminders and filters and youre not running around worried anymore.But when you sit down to work you realize there is still just too much to do. How can you keep calm when there are somany decisions to make?4. The incredible power of good enoughThe President doesnt make little decisions. The thousands of people working under him handle thoseso only the big stuff bubbles up to his agenda.But given you dont have thousands of people working under you (or maybe any for that matter) you handle every decision, business and personal.As Ive said before, You can do anything once you stop trying to do everything. Be a perfectionist about it all and youll have a nervous breakdown.Save your limited decision-making power for the things that matter. Everything else should be satisficed.What is satisficing? Its the art of quickly picking the vorkaufsrecht that is good enough. And research shows its the path to productivity - and happiness.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadRecent research in social psychology has shown that happy people are not people who have more rather, they are people who are happy with what they already have. Happy people engage in satisficing all of the time, even if they dont know it. Warren Buffett can be seen as embracing satisficing to an extreme- one of the richest men in the world, he lives in Omaha, a block from the highway, in the saatkorn modest home he has lived in for fifty yearsBut B uffett does not satisfice with his investment strategies satisficing is a tool for not wasting time on things that are not your highest priority. For your high-priority endeavors, the old-fashioned pursuit of excellence remains the right strategy.Will this decision result in you losing your job? No? Then opt for the good enough solution and focus on what matters most.(For more on what the most successful people all have in common, click here.)Yourbosss priorities change midday. More stuff keeps getting added to your list. How can this not throw a monkeywrench into your well-laid plan?5. Mr. President, theres been achange. . .When changes come up for the Commander-in-Chief he shifts seamlessly because his aides have already revised the days plans. So he stays calm.You can stay cool too, but it requires a little bit more effort. New things will come in, priorities will change and you need to process and adapt.Always have your notebook ready to capture new ideas and to-dos.And througho ut the day you need moments of triage and active sorting where you restructure the list from your big brain dump.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadYour brain needs to engage on some consistent basis with all of your commitments and activities, Allen says. You mustbe assured that you are doing what you need to be doing, and that its OK to be not doing what youre not doing. If its on your mind, then your mind isnt clear. Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind That trusted system is to write it down.Once youupdate your list, apply the Eisenhower Matrix.ViaThe Decision Book 50 Models for Strategic ThinkingWhenyou know which category everything fits into, you can attack the list in a prioritized way.(For more on how Navy SEALs, Astronauts and Samurai make good decisions, click here.)Okay, you are master of your schedule, your mind is empty and youre ready to focusNow what?6. Have awar room Ever seen a picture of the Presidents desk? Does it have piles of papers and 1000 random post-its? No.Research shows a desk that looks like the aftermath of a natural disaster saps your ability to concentrate.You dont need to be a neat-freak but when its time for you to stop planning and be the VIP, have a separate work area designed for focus.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadOne way to exploit the hippocampuss natural style of memory storage is to create different work spaces for the different kinds of work we do. But we use the same computer screen for balancing our checkbook, responding to e-mails from our boss, making online purchases, watching videos of cats playing the piano, storing photos of our loved ones, listening to our favorite music, paying bills, and reading the daily news. Its no wonder we cant remember everything- the brain simply wasnt designed to have so much information in one placeThe neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks goes one further If youre working on two completely separate projects, dedicate one desk or table or section of the house for each. Just stepping into a different space hits the reset button on your brain and allows for more productive and creative thinking.According to productivity guru Tim Ferriss, focus is just the product of removing distractions.So you want your VIP work area to have what the VIP needs. And nothing else.ViaThe Organized Mind Thinking Straight in the Age of Information OverloadA germane finding in cognitive psychology for gaining that control is to make visible the things you need regularly, and hide things that you dont.I can hear the whining already But I dont have two offices I barely have oneThis isnt about real estate, its about mental space. Your desk can be where you plan, but the VIP works on the couch.Or your desktop computer is for preparation, but the VIP works on your iPad (which deliberately lacks apps for Facebook, Twitter, etc.)When its time for V IP work you want everything you need to get the job done - and nothing else.Your immediate environment should make what you need to do easy and what you dont need to do hard.(For more tricks successful people use to make themselves great, click here.)So how do we pull all this together?Sum UpThe steps to being as organized and calm as the Commander-in-ChiefGetyour to-dos out of your head and onto one document.Lock in your calendar and setalarms so you dont need to think about whats next.Use batchingandfilters so you only get the info you need when you need it.Opt for good enough on the little decisions so you can focus on the big ones.Regularly capture, triage and prioritize new items.Havea War Room that contains what you need - and nothing else.You used to need a secretary vigilantly monitoringthe phone all day then came answering machines and voicemail.Technology has come a long way since thenand with some planningyou can use it to keep your cool andaccomplish great things.Its h ard at first. And, yes, youll stumble. Youll need to tweak and customize. But with time youll evolve a personal system that works.And youll learn the lesson that every VIP knowsThe trickiest thing to learn to manage is yourself. But once you can handle that, you can handle anything.Join over 100,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related posts6 Things The Most Productive People Do Every Day8 Things The Worlds Most Successful People All Have In CommonHow To Achieve Work-Life Balance In 5 StepsThis article originally appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.