Organize your way to Efficiency

The past few weeks of my life have been a whirlwind! Summer is coming as well as a million things to plan and do, places to go, people to see and work to get done. For some odd reason, in the middle of this extremely busy time of year I decided to completely overhaul one of my websites, Washington Wine News. Completing this giant task right smack in the middle of the rest of the busy spring/summer season wouldn’t have been possible without being so organized. I realized several years ago that you should not put off anything that you can do today; With this I thought, if I don’t re-vamp my website now it will never get done… and it really needed to be done! I also kept coming across twitter/facebook updates and peoples blogs about themselves feeling the same way lately, such as “Overwhelmed“. This got me thinking that perhaps me putting my organizing habits into words may possibly help someone else who may be feeling the same way! The first thing I do to get myself organized is write down everything that needs to get done. I prefer to list everything electronically so I can delete what is completed and also take the list with me anywhere.  I love the iPhone Awesome Note app that I use – it also allows me to jot things down while in bed and get that last minute thought down before I lose it.  Some people prefer to literally write things down and cross them off – like SOHO Wife, who is the queen of Whiteboard lists. I like to put my lists in to-do order, but depending on the list it may not be necessary. If you do put the tasks in order you can save time by doing similar tasks one after another instead of apart. This especially saves time when you’re running errands. Creating a list can be a daunting task in itself, especially if it is a long list and you’re in denial about how many things you actually need to get done. It is a necessary task and once it’s done you can get started on crossing things off! A giant time saver that my mother taught me is to OHIO (only handle it once). After you read that email either reply, delete or move it into the appropriate folder. Revisiting it again later will cost you time that could be better used. This can apply to so many things: chores, work, errands – time adds up and this will save you a lot of it! If you’re organized and prioritize you can complete any task! What is the  largest project you have completed or are about to start?