Can you believe that this time next week Christmas will be over? And we’ll be cruising towards 2019?! I know, I know. I can not believe how quickly this year has gone. But what a new year means is a new chance to get organised. To make sure that 2019 is the best ever. So here are five ways to get organised for 2019… well, five things I’m going to do anyway…

5 ways to get organised for 2019

Plan

Planning is essential when it comes to being organised for 2019. If you can get your hands on one of those big year to view planners, do. This allows you to plot campaigns, see what shows and events you’re going to, etc. If you know when you have an event or launch you need to promote, you can work backwards and forwards and start planning in photoshoots, graphics, teaser campaigns, emails, social media, promotions, etc. This also means that it won’t come as such a shock when you think ‘oh no, I’ve got x next week and I haven’t done any prep!’

Write it down

Hands up, I need to do this more. I have this rather stupid belief that I can remember everything. But I can’t. I can’t even remember where I left the car keys. The good thing is I do write down/send myself emails/add things to my calendar for work. But I could be better. Sending myself an email does feel a bit sad. Writing things down is actually a really important thing when it comes to goal setting too. And it makes perfect sense. For me, if I’ve written something down, the chances of me remembering it are much greater as I am reminded of it because it’s in front of me, I get the satisfaction of crossing it through. And I can also plan my time better and work out when to schedule work.

Tidy

I HATE having a messy desk but especially when things get busy (like December), it becomes a complete state with things I need to look at and file… but don’t have the time to. Being able to see what’s on your desk or in your workspace (rather than piles of magazines/letters/envelopes and more) will make you feel better and make it much easier to stay organised.

Treat work and ‘life’ as one

When I try and keep things separate, I drop the ball. If I’m doing something like getting the car serviced, that falls in the ‘life’ category, I also need to be mindful that I can’t be off seeing a client that day because I have no transport. Equally if I have an appointment for work, I can’t also be taking the children to a swimming lesson. Being self employed, the lines get blurred anyway. I can’t bend the laws of time and space, that’s why this is important!

Goal set

I know this sounds like stating the obvious but if you want to be organised, you need to know why you’re doing it. If you want to increase your sales by x, you need to formulate a plan to get there, write it down, and plot. If you know what you’re really aiming at (either small goals or big HUGE ones that scare you!), you’ll know what you’e planning for, what events you need to attend or want to be at, what timetable you need to adhere to for a product launch, etc. See what I mean?

A few things you might like to check out…

There are lots of tools you can use to do the above. I’ve recently bought myself a Media Diary that has key awareness dates in, which will be really useful for planning social media in particular. I still have the rather big job of adding all the industry specific dates in, but that’s fine – I’d rather do that now than when I need to know! You don’t need to buy a Media Diary at all – you can take to Google and research awareness days and other days of note. It’ll take you a while but it’s very doable if you have the time. For me at the moment I felt buying the diary was a better plan, but I do also appreciate that a lot of the things in it aren’t relevant to me or my clients.

When it comes to writing it down, ANY excuse to buy new notebooks I’m there! I was recently given a BEAUTIFUL Martha Brook notebook by a lovely friend, but you can pick some stunners up from places like Paperchase, Sainsbury’s… and I’ve seen some beauties in TK Maxx/Homesense too. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on a nice notebook – you can use printer paper and a bulldog clip if it works for you!

And when it comes to writing, I have a LOT of Pilot V Pen Fountain Pens in all the colours of the rainbow. There’s something rather nostalgic about a fountain pen, and I really love the colours. My faves are pink, peacock green and purple. They brighten up even the most boring notes!