Whether your work from home, in a traditional office, for a big company, or don’t have a specific occupation at all, organizing is key to a successful and productive week. Some are keener on organizing and others like to go with the flow. Neither is better than the other but being the organizational junky that I am, I wanted to document what works best for me and my busy week. Read more to get a closer look at what I do to plan my week and stay organized in the work world.
Constant communication with your team is essential for an organized and productive week. While Team Ignite is in constant communication throughout the entire week through multiple communication platforms, our Monday team meetings set the tone for the week. Every Monday we all hop on a call whether it be a Zoom, Facetime, or just an old-fashioned audio call, we all go over what we need to get accomplished during that particular week. From experience, I suggest that you have a weekly meeting with your “team” each week. Your team can be the people you work with or your family. These meetings set the tone of the week and ensure nothing falls through the cracks when it comes to things to do.
Who knew that your ABCs were so essential even past grade school. When it comes to organizing your work week alphabetizing your clients can keep things in line and will ensure you are not missing someone on your list.
Whether you gravitate towards a physical planner that you can carry around and mark on or an electronic planner found on an app, a planner is a great tool. Nothing quite is more satisfying than crossing off your to-do list, so for me, a physical planner is essential. Luckily, planners are “in” these days and are located everywhere. Available in different colors, materials, sizes, and price ranges, a planner can be the key to your organizational switch.
To keep things on track I suggest that you look for a planner that has lines as well as bubbles or checkmark boxes. These features make for easy tracking and clean lines, ensuring your planner stays organized.
Get a look at a few of my favorite planners:
Emily Ley: This is the planner that I am using this year! It has lines, bubbles for marking tasks complete, and much more! This truly is my dream planner and I highly recommend it.
Lilly Pulitzer: The Lilly Pulitzer planners are well made and have great organizational features.
Artfan: This planner is a little more subtle, great for those who don’t want a feminine-looking planner.
If you are more of an app user and like easy tracking tools that you can use on your phone or electronic device here are a few of my favorite FREE features you can download onto your smartphone.
To-doist: This app is FREE to download and can be added as an application on Mac computers. Organized and offers alerts, the To-dosit app allows you to plan in advance, snooze reminders, move reminders, and scan your list at both a daily, weekly, and monthly glance.
Apple Notes App: This is a feature on all Apple products.
Google Calendar: Easy to download on your Smartphone, any Google user has access to Google Calendar. Here you can add your weekly tasks as well as share them with your team so everyone has access to what you are working on.
MinimaList: This organizational tool is a minimalist’s dream, hence the name! Simple and easy to use this app is laid out as a simple list similar to what you would write on a basic piece of paper.
A good pen: The base of a good planner is a strong pen. There are erasable pens, great for making edits when needed, while still offering the bold look of a pen. Regular pens with a fine point are also a great item to have. The precise point will allow you to write all of your tasks on the compact areas of your planner.
Color coding: Keeping assignments separated by colors can help remind yourself throughout the week what needs to be done. For example, I put top priority projects in red. This reminds me when I open my planner that these are non-negotiable items that need to get completed by a certain date.
Highlighters: This item is not a necessary piece to your stationary lineup but it sure is fun to use to cross items off of your to-do list. Erasable highlighters are all the rage, well maybe just for me, ha, and I “highlighty” recommend them.
Ding, ding! While you might feel like the meetings and planners can keep you in line it’s still important to have all your bases covered. Whether you left your planner behind or are a little “off” on your normal schedule a reminder ping on your phone can be your saving grace. I like to add reminders on my phone and I separate the reminders by client or task. This allows me to scroll through each day and see what needs to be done for which client, and nothing gets forgotten.
.jpg)
