If you missed out on our 2019 diaries at the start of the year, we’ve got the perfect solution. Our mid-year diaries are now available for pre-order and with all the features of our best selling 2019 Weekly Diary - a week per double page spread, luxe Ivory acid free paper, organisation tips and goal planning pages - the mid-year diary also features new budgeting pages and monthly focus quotes. 

In our signature chic and minimal leather look design, the mid-year diary is the perfect solution for organising your life with ease; note down events, reminders, deadlines, tasks and priorities for each day, all while working to the financial year.

To inspire you on the importance of organisation, we chatted with some of the hardest-working women we know in business. Read on to find out their Sunday rituals, the best advice they’ve been given and why being organised is non-negotiable in their busy lives.

Georgie Karloci, Director, After the Rock

At An Organised Life, we’re sticklers for to do lists (obviously) and every Sunday, jot down priorities for the working week ahead. Do you have any organisational rituals that you swear by?

I have a one page productivity planner that I fill in at the end of every day that lists my 3 major projects I’m working on, who I need to reach out to, who I’m waiting on and also lists my self care and learnings from that day. It’s a super handy sheet and I really can’t live without it!  I do print one of these every day and write it fresh. I get such a high from highlighting a task when it’s complete so prefer this to any of the online planners I have tried. 

We use Google Drive at An Organised Life as our team members all work from different locations. How do you keep on top of tasks / actions between colleagues / team members? Any tips for organising tasks / teams?

I use Evernote to capture thoughts and we use a program called ‘Teamwork’ that keeps me up to date of upcoming projects and allows me to communicate with my team and see where they are up to with certain tasks.  It allows me to assign tasks to my team, create wedding templates and even have my team time each task. 

We use Google Drive a lot too – for example we have personalised planners for each clients wedding that shows what needs to be actioned each month. 

Do you have a favourite motivational quote for the office?

It’s not so much motivational as something I ask my team to live by – “it’s just as hard to do a good job as it is to do a bad job”. What I mean by that is if you don’t do it correctly the first time – you will just have to redo it – or face some uncomfortable repercussions. So you may as well take the care and time to do it right the first time! 

How often do you set goals within your business / organisation? Is this quarterly / annually? How do you determine your goals?

I go away each quarter for 2 days – removing myself from the office and the normal runnings of day to day life and set goals for the business during those times. It’s non-negotiable and locked in at the start of each year so it cannot be changed. I also reassess After the Rock quarterly  with a group of business owners where we prepare reports and give advice on different aspects of each others businesses. It’s set up like a board meeting with each business in the hot seat for 2 hours each. It truly is invaluable to get that helicopter perspective. 

What’s the best advice you’ve been given / read / heard about staying organised in the workplace?

I have really had to learn through trial and error and forced myself to become an organised person. I read a lot of books on organisation and management and am an audio book and podcast junkie! So it’s hard for me to narrow to just one word of advice. For me, organization does not come naturally.

I always seem to come back to the age old - If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. So simple yet so powerful! 

Chelsea Kirby, PR & Communications Manager, Australia & New Zealand, Sephora.

At An Organised Life, we’re sticklers for to do lists (obviously) and every Sunday, jot down priorities for the working week ahead. Do you have any organisational rituals that you swear by?

• I am religious with scheduling things in, otherwise it won’t happen. For years my old boss/mentor use to drum this into me and I thought she was nuts. But now it’s my life! Whether its exercise, life admin, work tasks or project timelines if it’s not in my diary it doesn’t happen! 
• I work with both a digital and hard copy calendar and lists – I work digital further out as things change so much in my job but I do week-to-week and day-to-day written lists – both are gospel for me 
• I clear my inbox every day/week. I can’t work any other way! 
• Sunday nights I check my diary and ear-mark important meetings and timelines, but I don’t plan my week until Monday morning – it just feels fresh and like I’m kicking off a new week 

We use Google Drive at An Organised Life as our team members all work from different locations. How do you keep on top of tasks / actions between colleagues / team members? Any tips for organising tasks / teams?

• I live by my outlook diary, shared calendars and Google Drive! 
• In my personal life (currently wedding planning!) my partner and I share a million “notes” on our iphones and then I share out GDrive him and all our suppliers. 

Do you have a favourite motivational quote for the office?

• Just do it. 

How often do you set goals within your business / organisation? Is this quarterly / annually? How do you determine your goals?

• Annually with a mid-year review. The start of a new year is filled with so much inspiration and optimism, I always end up setting really ambitious (often ridiculous) goals for myself. That 6 month mark is a really great time to note; “oh my god where did the last 6 months go?!” and what can I realistically get done while still pushing myself to do more – every year I aim to do at least one big thing I’m proud of. 

What’s the best advice you’ve been given / read / heard about staying organised in the workplace?

• Schedule it or it won’t happen 
• Get in and get it done (eat the frog) 
• Learn to self-manage – work out the times that are good for you to complete different tasks and split your day into that. Ie (Mornings are for phone meetings with International brands and emails, get one big ticket item done before lunch, afternoons are for more emails and internal meetings - the easy things, late afternoons are my most productive time for the “hard stuff” so anything creative or detail oriented slots in there!) 

Kate Bucceri, Public Relations Manager, Australia and New Zealand, Tiffany & Co.

At An Organised Life, we’re sticklers for to do lists (obviously) and every Sunday, jot down priorities for the working week ahead. Do you have any organisational rituals that you swear by?

I swear by to do lists; I have them everywhere – on my phone, on my desk at work, on my fridge, on my computer. I find it really helpful to separate my lists from personal and work as otherwise I find work will always take priority and I won’t get any of my life jobs done! 

Also for me being organised is really important for my head space so I make sure I prioritise my time and dedicate an hour before work in the office to go through my priorities and checklist by myself. For me I have recognised that being organised is essential for me to perform at my best so I need to make time to do so.  

We use Google Drive at An Organised Life as our team members all work from different locations. How do you keep on top of tasks / actions between colleagues / team members? Any tips for organising tasks / teams?

I am also a big fan of Google Drive, we use it every day at work for guest lists and editorial plans. I am also a believer in quick catch ups and less emails. Our team checks in at the start of the week with the wider marketing team and then at the end of the week I have a meeting with the smaller PR team. I much prefer talking and brainstorming in person and find we can often get so completely overwhelmed by emails and feeling the need to reply back, which can be completely consuming. 

Do you have a favourite motivational quote for the office?

My husband always likes to say – Any job big or small, do it right or not at all!  And I agree – if you are going to bother make sure you have taken the time to do it properly. 

How often do you set goals within your business / organisation? Is this quarterly / annually? How do you determine your goals?

I personally set goals every day, even if they are small getting things done by the end of the week goals, or bigger goals that take a year to achieve- I feel it is important to constantly reset and assess. The goal posts are always changing in my role so I always need to make changes or push even harder to ensure I achieve what I have set out to do.  

What’s the best advice you’ve been given / read / heard about staying organised in the workplace?

Make the time to plan! It will save you time in the long run.