Being organized is one thing that we must need to learn in life sooner or later, but the sooner is always better. And it can truly change your career.
An organized person is one who has managed everything around them beforehand in such a way that when they need to make use of it, they know exactly where to go. It could be things in your bathroom cupboard, files on your desktop or dates on your calendar. Everything is well organized.
But learning how to be organized is not a very easy and attractive task for most of us. We usually don’t like the idea of taking out a little time to organize our stuff now but would rather just sit and wait until the situation is hanging on the line.
This is because we have like to have short term pleasure over long term satisfaction. Though no matter how fun it is to live in the moment the smart person will know that long term satisfaction is more valuable, and will always have some elements of their life organized.
Organization is especially rudimentary for career goals and advancement. Being organized and planning is essential for professional success regardless of what is it that you want to achieve.
Often we concoct genius ideas and projects in our minds and sometimes we even write it down but rarely do most of us actually see it to the conclusion. There is a lot of excitement and joy in the beginning and maybe even little action but with organization and a clear plan of action thing don’t fall into place.
What follows are bouts of self-criticism, discouragement demotivation and abandonment. It’s funny how often we repeat these cycles yet we never push ourselves enough to put in some effort and get organized. It’s almost like we are scared of success! Sounds preposterous? Then why doesn’t slacking seem as ridiculous to us?
While everyone dreams of a life and a career which is fulfilling, the only ones who get it are those who work for it in the right way. Dreams are made true with organization and hard work.
It’s understandable that life is busy and there are always things to take care of like family crises or babies. But that does not mean that you continue to put your dreams on hold. In fact, if you can’t achieve your goal then maybe it’s because it’s not clearly defined.
Hence, to start organizing and achieving career success one must begin by assessment.
This means assessing what have you been doing the past to fulfill your goals and is it working? It could be a change of career path, finding a new job within the same line of work or learning a new skill to complement your current work and life.
If your goals are not clear then get to that task right away! Take time out to lay down what your short term objectives and long term goals are. It will be better for you if you write them down and put them up somewhere you can see them often.
Organization doesn’t end here though. Having a defined goal is only the beginning because organization will be needed in every part of your life to achieve those goals. To achieve a bigger goal than just momentary pleasure, it will greatly help if you try to simplify your life a little.
Letting go of things, people, activities and habits that don’t serve you go a long way in creating peace of mind and will help in organizing.
Thinking about essential things like what to wear at the office is okay but thinking about reusing your high school prom and college graduation party dress is not. In fact, if you haven’t reused them already then they shouldn’t be there. With the unnecessary out of the way focusing on career planning will be easier and operational.
If your career change requires moving then get down to the nitty-gritty of it and start planning. Do your research, organize your schedule to see how soon that is possible and plan it out.
If your career change requires learning new skills then start finding when do you have free time and how can you devote it to learning that skill. Can you learn it online? Perfect. No? Where is the nearest teacher and how will you get there. Plan out how many weeks or months of learning will that skill need before you can be qualified enough to work in that field.
If changing your career means more success, a higher salary and a promotion then start working for it. Perform well at work and when you come back home organize your free time to become an expert in your field. Divide time between doing different things like reading, watching tutorials and finding mentors.
Organizing your time well will aid you in accessing the myriad of knowledge outlets that are available to us today. And if any time in between the boogeyman comes out to bite your will power show him your calendar, for you have no time to waste on that!
