Getting Organized to Get Shit Done

Hi friends! One thing to share about myself, I LOVE organizing nearly every aspect of my life. Now I know some of you may be groaning, “What a boring life,” but rest assured, I leave room for spontaneity as well. Balance is key.

This post is about the few steps I took before 2026 to get myself organized for what I anticipated being a busy and very productive year.

For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned. -Benjamin Franklin

Organizing the Brain

There are obviously many areas of life one can organize. This particular post is going to focus on organizing one’s brain.

Now, you may be thinking, “what the hell is she talking about?” Or maybe you’ve been doing this for years and you’re 10 steps ahead of me. Either way, I’m going to break down what this means for me in particular.

• Getting clear on priorities – what are the big goals in the next 1, 5, 10 years?
• What milestones can you break those goals down into and which can you target in the next 3, 6, 12 months?
• What tools or methods can you use to make progress on those milestones?

Now here’s a very important note – this isn’t one size fits all. I’ll outline what tools and methods that I loved, hated, or was recommend, but there are thousands out there y’all. Don’t lose faith if you don’t find the right fit in this post.

This is one that is best narrowed by really thinking about what has worked in the past. If you’ve never finished an annual planner past the first week, then maybe that’s not the best medium for you. If you regularly keep track of tasks at work with a written to-do list and you get a rush when you get to cross a bullet out, that’s telling you something. Listen to that.

Listen to yourself, not the noise of the world. Only you know what is right for you. – Leon Brown

 Now a caveat, keep in mind what this particular goal would best be served by. In my case, I had a bad history with annual planners. I hesitated to go that route, however, I knew this year was going to be a busy one and I was tracking a lot of moving pieces. That meant staying organized to the day, week, month level so I can keep track of to-dos and make sure I’m making steady progress where I want to be moving.

Below are the tools or methods I LOVE:

Annual planner

Now I have very specific needs and preferences in a planner. I’ll outline mine and explain why, but keep in mind that yours may be different.

• • To-do based

• • Only down to the day level, not hourly

• • Habit tracker included

• • Somewhere for goal tracking

• • Writing space for ideas or thoughts that don’t fit anywhere else

• • Some motivational aspect

• • Monthly view available

A ritual that puts me in “Work Mode”

For me this is lighting candles and turning on my electric fireplace. Something simple, yet luxurious. I prefer unscented tealights and pillar candles so I’m not distracted or overwhelmed by different scents. If you are a candle lighter like I, Etsy is my go to place to find long lasting and cleanly made candles. You’re breathing it in after all.

Tealights on autoship:

Bold beautiful pillar candles that make a statement:

• • Other ideas:
    • •  

Just starting – even when i don’t know exactly what to work on

When I was a kid, I was procrastinating on starting a paper that was due the next day. I went up to my dad and complained about how I needed to do this paper, but I didn’t want to. My dad responded, “The hardest part is to start.”

This was profound to me at my age. So instead of going back to my room and working on my paper (lol); I went into the garage to grab some paint and a ladder. I proceeded to paint “The hardest part is to start,” right above my window.

I don’t remember if I finished that paper, but I will always remember the paralysis and subsequent procrastination that can come right before starting something new.

There are so many reasons this happens!

• • Uncertainty on what to focus on.

• • Too much to do that you don’t know where to start.

• • Self doubt or imposter syndrome around the work you plan to do.

• • Wanting to have everything “figured out” before you start.

Whatever your reason for not wanting to do the thing, the biggest (and often hardest) step you will take is the first one. Be brave and strong and just start. If your work involves studying on your laptop, start with just turning your laptop on. Then go to the website you need to be on. Once you’ve crossed the threshold, you’ll be amazed how much easier to keep going.

Those are three key things I’ve introduced to my life this year that has shot my productivity into overdrive. I do more and am proud of what I do. If you have any tools or methods that help you stay organized and working on the things that matter to you, comment below!

Thank you for reading and I hope you gleaned some value from here. Happy organizing. 🙂