How Being More Organized Can Increase Your Productivity

For some reason, nowadays people take pride in being messy and are low-key ashamed of being organized. Who can blame them? There has always been a lot of stigmas related to organized people. They were and are still sometimes called neat freaks, vanilla, squares, and more. When you’re young, these names can affect you, but as you grow older, you realize how dumb it is to want to be messy. It’s incredibly counterintuitive. Messiness means constant all-nighters, lower work quality because you can’t focus, and don’t get us started on memory. The point is, we’ve all been there before, and if we could, we’d go back and opt for better organization skills every single time. If you care about your productivity, you will do the same, too.

Organization Helps you Visualize a Plan

Being organized means knowing the tasks ahead of you and knowing their deadlines. Instead of waiting for everything to pile up before you get working, you’ll be using this time to create a solid attack strategy. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’ve got so much due in one week. However, when you take advantage of the two to three weeks’ head start, why would you ever feel overwhelmed? The leeway and extra time will provide you with the liberty to visualize a plan that suits you perfectly. Instead of organizing your schedule based on your assignments, for once, you’ll be organizing your assignments to fit in your schedule. 

It Saves Time

Picture having a set bedtime and a solid wake-up routine. Instead of sleeping in too late, getting poor sleep, then waking up lethargic and unable to function until you’ve had your coffee and checked your socials, you’ll fall asleep instantly, get quality shut-eye, wake up refreshed, and ready to start your morning. Good organization also helps when it comes to paying attention to details. If you get it right from the first try, you won’t have to go over it again. Plus, if you know what you are doing and when you can organize your tasks in groups which will allow you to multitask your way through your to-do list.

It Reduces Stress

Organizing your tasks allows you to visualize a plan and chart a course. It also gives you the chance to plan ahead and complete tasks at your liberty. Rather than getting crushed in the pre-deadline grind, you’ll be able to plan some self-time in your Blank Calendar Pages and use this time to recharge amidst your tiring work week. As you approach your deadline, you will be as confident and as relaxed as ever. Don’t forget that you’ll have a handle on everything with the milestones you set for yourself. More importantly, if life throws any curveball at you, you’ll be able to adapt easily. Why? You’re confident in your system and relaxed enough to think rationally rather than freak out.

It Increases Creativity

There is a reason why artists hate corporate jobs. They understand that with creativity you need to be patient. Deadlines and stress will only drive away creativity. According to psychologist Robert Epstein, stress is a creativity killer. Having a solid, organized plan provides stable roots for you, thus reducing your stress. Without the stress, you can feel safe enough to let loose and create. After all, who, in the midst of an anxiety episode, will stop to think, “wait, I can figure out a more creative way.” Desperate times call for desperate measures. Relaxed times don’t.

It Increases Motivation

You’ve organized everything so well that now you have no stress and you’re able to see everything coming from a mile away. You know when you’ll be working and when you’ll be relaxing. You’re confident that you won’t be pulling all-nighters and you know that, worst-case scenario, you’ll have a couple of days before each deadline to handle any sudden snafus. Why wouldn’t you be motivated to work? A lot of us think they hate work, but they don’t. What they hate is the stress and the toll it takes on their personal lives. If you’ve established a work-play balance, you’ll always approach work with a renewed drive because you’ve fulfilled all your other needs.

As you see, organizing increases productivity because of its impact on all the factors that comprise productivity. For one, it frees up time to allow for careful planning. An efficient plan saves time while helping the planner maintain a balance in their life. This leads to reduced stress. In other words, less energy and focus are spent on stress, and more is spent on work and creativity. This overall balance results in an increased motivation to work.