6 Organization Hacks for Handling a Busy Schedule

In a society where almost everyone has a day job, a side hustle, and 50 other things on their plate, it is essential to be organized and on top of things. As someone who is always busy, I’ve come up with 6 organization hacks for handling a busy schedule, and I wanted to share them with you. Everyone is different and has a different way of getting organized, and this is my way of doing it. Some or all of these may be beneficial to you, so test them out and see how they work for your needs.

Make a daily to-do list: This is a non-negotiable step for me every single day. Truth be told, if I don’t write something down, I will most likely forget it, and this lets me add items to my list and check off items which I’ve taken care of. Any type-A person knows that there is no better feeling than crossing an item off your to-do list!

Pro Tip: Get yourself a little notebook that fits in your purse or pocket, and that is easy to take around with you. This will enable you to have all your notes in one place, and keep you from having easily misplaced sheets of paper or post-its lying around.

When scheduling out more than a day ahead of time, add it to your electronic calendar: I use google calendar that links with my Gmail account, but there are other great calendar apps such as calendly. By adding an event to your calendar, you can add reminders and invite guests so that the event shows up on their calendar too. This is especially helpful for meetings where multiple parties are involved, because it ensures that everyone is on the same page and has the same information. By adding an event to an electronic calendar, you’re also ensuring that you can easily access the details from various locations (phone, computer, etc.).

Write emails the night before so you have them ready to send first thing in the morning: This is one of my most recent organization hacks. I try not to work on nights and weekends, and set boundaries with my clients so they have realistic expectations for when they can contact/interact with me, however if I know I have a busy day coming up, I will often draft emails the night before and leave them in my outbox so I can simply click send the next morning without much hassle. This does require you to be proactive and put some work in outside of regular business hours, however when you’re extremely busy in the morning, this can help you get on top of things and maintain organization throughout the day.

Automate when you can: Thanks to technology, there’s a lot we can automate. While working hard and putting in the effort is important, a busy schedule calls for working smarter, not harder. Take advantage of things you can automate. We’re all accustomed to the out of office email which automatically tells people when and where you can be reached if you’re not sitting at your desk, but you can take automation a step farther with things like social media posts, newsletters, etc.

For social media, my favorite tool is Hootsuite because you can set your various social media accounts to post at given times. Want to make sure you’re staying relevant on LinkedIn? Gather some articles that interest you, and set them to share at various times throughout the week! The same process can be done with Facebook, twitter, Instagram, and others.

Another great tool is MailChimp which is used for mass email. If I’m going to be out of town or out of the office, I’ll often write my newsletter beforehand and set it to send out at a specific time so I don’t have to worry about it. Automation isn’t great for everything, but for small tasks that don’t require you to be sitting there, you might as well take advantage of it!

If you’re ahead of schedule, be proactive and get items ready for next time: On the rare occasion that I am ahead of schedule with my tasks, I always try to get some work done for the future. For example, if I have some extra time, I’ll brainstorm/start writing blog posts, or take some pictures to keep on hand. It’s always better to be proactive and have inventory on hand than to be scrambling at the last minute to throw something together. When you’re in one of those situations where there just aren’t enough hours in the day, having inventory or work that you’ve done ahead of schedule will save you. Putting in the work now to reap the benefits later is a very important concept to grasp if you want to stay organized with a busy schedule.

File documents in a cloud storage system for easy access: I use Google Drive for this, but any cloud storage system will work well. Upload documents and information that you may need to keep on hand such as company logos, documents you’re currently working on, etc. Create folders for different information and simply drop stuff in there as you go to stay organized and maintain current information which is easily accessible.

I got my computer stolen in December and using a cloud storage system is what saved me. Thankfully I had all important documents, pictures, and information stored and organized, so it made setting up a new computer really easy. It also kept me from losing everything I was working on!

I always suggest that people make a folder containing job information, and when you receive your job description as you’re hired on, drop it into this folder. If you want to be really on top of things, you can update this folder as your responsibilities change and increase. Keeping a folder with your job information will immensely help you out when you go back to do your resume and need a refresher of all the duties and responsibilities within a given job.

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So there you have it, 6 organization hacks for handling a busy schedule. Multitasking and maintaining a lot on your plate isn’t easy, and it definitely isn’t always fun, but it is possible! Take a breath, clear your head, then get down to work! Once you establish a routine, staying organized is easy. It’s just another habit that some people need to work harder at than others, however these 6 organization hacks for handling a busy schedule will help you start down the right path!