To organize your life and help you get your life back in order there are some organization hacks you must know. And one of the best ways for it is to make lists.
If your life is pretty messy running in all directions, you keep forgetting things, and you’re failing to get your things done, then I highly urge you to buy a simple notebook and start making lists in it.
Why you need lists to help you stay organized
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I say this so strongly because in order to get into action (which certainly seems so hard at times) we need the support of our minds.
And surprisingly it’s not so easy to convince our mind to get up and do things, and that is why we keep procrastinating.
More on why we Procrastinate and how to stop procrastinating in this post.
Anyway, what I am saying is, when we put out things in a physical form, even if that is writing down lists in a notebook, it allows our brain to actually ‘see’ things, we help our minds to easily process it and this helps us to start getting into action.
I have come to know that if we want our mind to support us, then we must make things clear to our mind.
Making lists is the best and easiest way to make things clear to our mind and this helps you gain your mind’s support.
You can make lists for anything and everything. Whatever you feel you need to get back into order, making a list for it is the first step to help you get organized.
But here in this post I share 12 basic lists I feel everybody should keep that will help you organize your life
12 lists to organize your life

1. List of things you need to organize
This might sound stupid, but how will you organize your life if you don’t know what you need to organize.
Make a list in your notebook what you think you need to get back in order. Maybe it is your budget, your home, your fridge, your closet or anything.
Make a list and set days for when you plan to organize them
Here are 9 real ways to start organizing your life
2. List of your Dreams and Goals
You can’t have your life together and organized until and unless you are clear about your life goals and dreams.
Until you write your goals and dreams down, it only stays as a wish. When you write it down, it means you are serious and ready to make a plan for it.
Please write down your goals, it makes it 10x more achievable.
I have in my notebook written down my Life Goals and Dreams. I also have my goals till 2030. Then I also have written down, my 5 year Blog vision of how I want my blog to be in 5 years.
Writing these and seeing them from time to time keeps me excited and enthusiastic of all that could be and so hopeful for all of my dreams to come true.
3. Monthly Goals list
People with no goals and dreams will never have their life together. I hope you are not one of them.
Start envisioning yourself, start believing in your potential because you really can do anything you set your mind to.
Based on your goals and dreams, you must set a monthly goals list. Make sure your goals are not too many.
Have at max just 3 goals you would like to work upon in a month. Never more than that.
To know the process of goal setting, here are 5 goal setting mistakes you must avoid.
4. Daily To-do List
Then based on your monthly goals list, you must keep a daily to-do list. Don’t just have things in your mind.
Write it down.
Every morning after I wake up, I always write down my to-do list and set a schedule for it. I use a sticky note for it, because I like to see it in front of me.
This way I don’t forget and it helps me stick with it.
You daily to-do list should also be small. You can follow the 1-3-5 rule which lists down 1 major important thing you need to do, 3 medium things and 5 small things to get done.
A small tip I would like to share: for the list of small things you need to get done you can batch it to be done at the same time. This saves time as similar things get done faster.
5. List of things to improve upon
At the end of the month, I like to review my month and list down the things I would like to improve upon. Then when I set my monthly lists, I write down things I want to work upon in the month.
This can be working on my intentions, on my self talk, on my self care, on my relationships and things like that.
It also includes the courses and skills I want to improve.
For now it is improving my blogging knowledge and create a time block everyday to learn something new about blogging.
For this I have also made a list of blog courses I want to take.
6. List of pending things to do
Anything that you don’t do right away, anything that you say, ‘I do it later’, you need to write it down in your list of pending things to do and then set a schedule for when you plan to do them.
You can also use your phone to keep this list of pending things. Writing this list helps you to never forget a thing!
7. A Distraction list
Are you someone who when working on something suddenly remembers that you had to send someone an email, a document, or something?
Or you’re sitting down to study or working on something and suddenly you remember where you kept your keys and then go to look out for it.
Well, we’re all humans and we’re all easily distracted especially when we’re working on just one thing.
But the key to focus and productivity to do only one thing. And to tackle this disctraction, a thing that I have found really helpful is to have a distraction list.
Whenever you’re working on something, set a timer for 20 mins, 1 hour, anything! But in that time, just do that thing.
If your mind goes off somewhere and you want to do it, write it down in your distraction list and then you can get back to it later after you have your work done.
8. Meal planning list
Having a meal planning list is really helpful if you have to constantly beat yourself up about what to eat and then end up ordering food and eating lots of junk food.
Here are some easy weekly meal planning ideas and some free weekly meal planning printables.
9. List of monthly things to buy and bought
For your personal expense, make a list of monthly things you need to buy in one column and a list of things you bought in another colouring.
This helps you stay on track of your expenses and know the things you bought you didn’t actually need. Then slowly you can reduce your expenses.
For other things like pantry, toiletries etc, you can just list down the things you need to buy.
10. Lists of books to read
If you’re not a reader, you can still be a reader. The first step is to always know ahead what you’re going to read.
Create a list of books you want to read. I personally have many books in my cart and I have a list of books I want to read in general and books I want to read as a teacher.
Every month I also create a list of books I want to read in the month. For it I set out 3 books to read.
I also have a list of books I have read so that I know how many books I read in one year.
Till now (As of October 2021) this year I have read 16 books so far
- Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
- Up from Slavery
- One thing
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- The Archer by Paula Coelho
- Only Love is Real by Wein Briess
- Daring Greatly by Bene Brown
- The Richest Man in Babylon
- The Human Revolution by Daisaku Ikdeda
- Think and Grow Rich
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
- Educated by Tara Westover
- 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
- The Power of Now by Elkhart Tolle
- Awareness by Osho
P.S Here is how I make time to read every day
11. List of Passwords
If you’re like me who keeps forgetting passwords and has a hard time every time you have to log in from another device or anything as such, then you need to keep a list of passwords.
12. Gratitude list
You can write a daily gratitude list at the start of a day, at the end of the day, or at the end of the month.
I personally like to list down all the things that I’m thankful for, all the things that went well, at the end of my month.
I write the heading in my notebook, ‘What went well for me in this month and that I am thankful for…’ and then I list down the things.
When you do this, you will start knowing that every month there are so many good things that happen if you only start taking notice.
When you make this a habit, at the end of the year you will come to know exactly what all you did in a year and how wonderful your months exactly went.
So here were the lists that will get you organized.
I hope you will start making at least some of them and notice the difference it brings in getting your life organized for yourself. It’s so much fun too!
Related posts:
- 3 tricks to build Self Discipline
- Why you need to be okay with wasting time
- 12 Things to do every month to get organized
- 10 toxic morning habits to give up
- 10 toxic habits to quit immediately
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Thank you for this article 🙂
You’re much welcome <3
Thank you so much, great advice! I needed this. God Bless you!
You’re welcome!