Finding the Method of Organization that Works Best for You

Business owners, writers, bloggers and busy families alike all have one common question—what is the best method to get myself organized? There is not a one size fits all solution because some people are tech-phobic while others are tech-junkies. Here is my big list of ideas brought to you with the help of my friends on Facebook and network of business friends. Not every method works for every individual and during different seasons of your life you may have to adjust your method. For some people a looming deadline is all that it takes to scramble and get something done and for others a well-drawn out plan with multiple steps and small deadlines in the answer. The point is to find what works for you, implement it, stick to it and make small adjustments forward as you need to.

We will start out low tech first and work our way towards high tech solutions.

WHITE BOARD

Nothing beats a good old fashioned white board to organize tasks and get the satisfaction crossing a task off or erasing all together. White boards come in a variety of sizes. I’ve even had ones that were custom cut to fit my entire wall of my office. I love a good visual white board. For some people the white board will be where they list off tasks to do, others will make it a vision board, and some will use it for mindmapping. Mind Mapping isvery visual and creative way to get information out of your brain and onto either a whiteboard or paper or computer program. Mindmaps create an organizational structure to your idea the radiates from a central idea. It is very visual and memorable.

PEN & PAPER METHOD

BASIC: Scraps of paper all tossed in one drawer, and/or maybe organized into subjects. Trust me—I still use this method despite all the other methods I have in play. Sometimes you just have a brilliant idea and whipping out your phone to enter it into an app sometimes just isn’t the right solution at the moment. You can use Google Drive, CamScanner, GenuisScan, Scannable by EverNote, or FireScanner to scan your scap of paper and save it.

SIMPLE: You might just need a plain Jane notebook to track your ideas, mobilize your ideas and put your plan into action. Or you could get something fun like The Writer’s Block Journal, The Notebook of Success, Work Hard Dream Big Notebook, or Plans for World Domination.

PLANNER METHOD

Or maybe a planner is just what you need. Something to keep track of your commitments and schedule in time to write, blog or build your author or business platform platform. You can always go with the very basic planner, but why when you can find even more exciting and inspiring planners for similar prices.

Erin Condren Life Planner is full of personality, customization and personalize it. You can plan out the cover, colors, layout, time span, and so much more! where you can customize and personalize every detail from the cover, colors, layout, time span and more. At Erin Condren you will find everything from a Deluxe Monthly Planner, Hardbound LifePlanner, Teacher Lesson Planner, Art Prints and Accessories. So many choices!

Passion Planner is extremely popular—the Passion Planner is all about managing your time, seeing the big and little picture, following your passions and staying focused. At $30 to $35 they only cost slightly more than what you could buy at your local office store, but are designed to organize your thoughts, keep your calendar and incorporate your goals into your daily life.

Me & My Big Idea Happy Planners are so adorable, very creative and definitely for people who like to decorate their planning. There are many to chose from including the Best Year Ever edition and kits with extra stickers, pens and picket folders with a Happy Planner.

ELECTRONIC

You can keep it simple by just creating folders on your desktop organizing your writing by subject, chapters or books. You can also create tasks on the calendar and reminders that come standard on your smartphone or you can chose from a whole host of websites, apps and programs to help you get organized.

Word is my number one tool as a writer, publisher and editor. Getting Office Suite 2017 Premium Edition CD DVD 100% compatible with Microsoft® Word® and Excel® for Windows 10-8-7-Vista-XP gives you both Word and Excel. Excel is also a wonderful tool to keep track of resources, content and other materials essential to business and writing.

Scrivener is a word-processing program and outliner designed for authors. Scrivener provides a management system for documents, notes and metadata. Scrivener s available for Mac and for PC users.

Trello: Allows you to sync all your devices, work as a team or an individual to organize your tasks. Trello integrates with other apps as well to organize all your workflow. Very visual and incredibly useful if you are working with a team.

Airstory is writing softwaredesigned for research-based projects – captures research sources, imports Evernote notes and more. Whether you are writing an email, blog post or book you can use Airstory templates to help fill in the blanks and outline your project.

iA Writer is a space where all the menus and dashboards and options and confusion have been stripped away. It is for people who get distracted by any bells and whistles.

Write or Die – tracks word count, load your favorite writing music that will play as long as you keep writing but when you stop the music fades, has a countdown clock and more. Write or Die aims to eliminate writer’s block by providing consequences for procrastination and, new to this version, rewards for accomplishment.

Dragon: A personalized, voice-driven product that gets even more accurate as it learns the words and phrases you use the most. This is for people who would do better dictating their work rather than typing it out. There are inexpensive Dragon, Natural Speaking Home versions all the way up to a premium wireless Dragon version and many levels in between.

Ulyssess organizes all your writing projects into one place and hold a library of everything you ever wrote. Can be used to create PDFs, Word documents and ebooks.

Outlining Your Novel Workbook a download to work out all the big details of your book.

MindNode uses mind mapping to map out your thoughts, novel, plots and so forth digitally. This is the step up from doing it on the whiteboard or on paper.

QuickMind is a downloaded able MindMapping & Brainstorm program to help you map your ideas. Can automatically reorganize complicated mindmaps.

EverNote allows you to capture, organize, and share notes from anywhere. Your best ideas are always with you and always in sync.

Asana allows you to track tasks, work as a team, track the team calendar, and more. This one is great for project management.

Slack allows you to access messages, files, decisions in life and business. Connects thousands of apps, allows you to search past conversations an files for your team and streamlines workflow.

G Suite by Google Cloud is one package that includes Gmail, docs, drive and calendar together and it works from computer, phone or tablet.

Cozi Family Organizer is for those of use who are in the phase of life where you have to organize everyone life including your own. Keep family appointments, shopping lists, chores, recipes, and so much more in one place from multiple devises. Cozi Calendar App: The #1 app for the modern family! Sign up for a free Cozi account today.

DropTask is a visual and fluid way to get things done that utilizes Windows and Smartphones. Gives a clear view of workflow, tasks and calendar.

SmartSheet is great for organizations to plan, track, automate and report on work.

Telegram is used to connect, coordinate, synchronize, share documents, store using the cloud, and free.

DropBox is great for storing, organizing and sharing your documents in the cloud.

Eliminate distractions: A common big problem with productivity for people who work from home can be the distraction of a messy house. Try out the Fly Lady app to help you get organized with distracting housekeeping.