If you feel disorganized, you probably have too much uncertainty in your life.
1. You're uncertain where to put the information that comes into your life.
2. You're uncertain about your priorities.
3. You're uncertain of what do to next (right now).
Here's how to fix these:
1. Build a productivity system - or a "second brain" as @fortelabs calls it.
This is an external tool (or combo of tools) that acts as a trusted place to store everything that comes into your life.
I use @NotionHQ for this, but the best tool is whichever one you trust and LIKE.
You need to like your tools and enjoy using them - otherwise you won't use them.
It's just like a workout routine; the "best" routine is one you enjoy enough to stick to.
When you stop using your tools, you start trying to trust your brain, and things fall through the cracks.
Your second brain should do these things very well:
Make it fast and frictionless to capture information at any time, wherever you are.
Make it obvious where you should store information.
Make it easy to find things.
Make it easy to archive non-relevant information.
2. Write out your priorities. Make them easy to access.
When new opportunities come into your life, written priorities will help you answer this question:
"Would taking on this opportunity hurt my ability to focus on my priorities?"
Written priorities are the cure for shiny-object syndrome - that temptation to jump to the next interesting thing before finishing the thing you're doing now.
When you're easily able to see your priorities, you'll have more confidence to say "No" to things that don't matter.
So write your priorities down.
Here's a great way to write out your priorities: Create a "Now" page.
I got this idea from @sivers. The idea is to publicly declare what you're working on and what your priorities are.
See mine: thomasjfrank.com/now/
Your "Now" page doesn't have to be public - but it should be easily accessible by YOU.
Again, it's about being able to easily pull up your list of priorities whenever you're tempted by another opportunity.
Remember: People only pay attention to that which is EXCEPTIONAL, and becoming exceptional takes focus.
You can't cultivate that focus when you say "Yes" to a million little things.
twitter.com/TomFrankly/status/1526578347911675905
3. Plan your day either first thing in the morning or before you go to bed the night before.
Limit your day plan by using @Chris_Bailey's Rule of Three:
Only plan to do three big things during your day.
Most of us plan to do more than we can actually accomplish in a day.
This builds an insidious pattern:
We start to teach ourselves that we'll always FAIL to accomplish everything we set out to do.
We learn that we always fall short.
Wouldn't it be so much better if you could end each workday knowing you accomplished everything on your day's plan?
If you purposefully limit your plan to a few items, you'll be much more likely to do that.
When you're making this daily plan, also try to:
1. Commit to the order in which you'll tackle each item.
2. Make sure each planned item has an obvious, physical next action.
If you do both, you'll eliminate all uncertainty about what you should do next.