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“A goal without a plan is just a wish – Antoine de Saint-Exupery”

We all look to de-clutter our homes, our workplaces and our lives daily. There’s a simple logic to it, we feel most productive when we are organised without thoughts and emotions nagging us about the next errand on the list. We try to keep it all in our heads and tackle these errands when we remember or when the situation forces us to. With technology evolving around making lives simpler for us, there are endless tools that help you improve productivity. GetMyPeon lists the top 5 tools, old and new that are most easily adopted :

1. Number Your Days, (with Your Calendar):

Marking on calendars has been the route for improving personal productivity since forever. It may take some getting used to organising and living off lists when you start off initially. Why not go old-skool and use your trusty calendar to mark dates and activities that may happen in the future. Start by placing a calendar with big bold numbers at a location where you have a tendency to pass by often, such as your workdesk, bedroom door etc. Simply grab a red sketch-pen and circle up the date, followed by 1-2 word description. Easy and timeless, this technique is good for tasks that are low on priority list. For example, you can use your calendar to mark trivial tasks such as payment dates for your household help, milkman and kirana payments and use your smartphone for productivity improvement.

2. Harness The Power of A Planner:

Organization tips start with having a well designed planner. Call it a Diary, a Task Planner or whatever you want, the core purpose is that it should work for you and help you in your time saving endeavours. Before you decide to step out and pick a planner, it’s important for you to know what aspect of your life needs productivity improvement more; personal or professional? Accordingly, you can pick up a Meal Planner, Executive Planner or Activity Planner. Also, if you are going to carry your planner wherever you go, you might want to consider getting a handy one which can fit in your bag/pocket. Try to find a planner with attractive colouring and designing so that you feel like picking it up and looking at it. Nothing like a brightly coloured planner to boost productivity and help you plan ahead.

3. Label Objects, Not People:

Remember when Mom used fancy printed stickers to distinguish one textbook from the other? You can take cues and organization tips from these activities. Our lives too have place for labels, just not the same. A lot of times we prefer to have  hardcopies of our electricity bills, water bills, phone bills, creating pile on pile of paper that has the potential to act as an obstruction to organized way or working on your workdesk or home. An easy tool to sort these are labels. Find a plastic rack or folder to store these papers, on top of which you can place a label describing it’s contents. You can label your documents according to priority. As you watch your urgent pile reduce bit by bit, you will feel a wave of positivity and boost productivity. It’s upto you to design labels however it is suited to your needs.

4. A Simp-Listic Approach:

To-Do lists have existed ever since the invention of the wheel. When in a hurry, most of us tend to resort to lists and they do not require a lot of time planning. They offer us to quickly pen down what we need to finish up. The beauty about this tool is that it is used both for short term and long terms planning. Besides, aren’t excel sheets and others just evolved lists? Making a list might sound awfully similar to maintaining a planner, but it’s not. When you make a list, you can boost productivity better by giving yourself specific instructions and not vague activities. For example, in your planner you can schedule a free sunday when you would like to tackle cleaning up your room; but it’s a list that you can list each aspect such as making the bed, taking out the curtains to wash etc. You can schedule small tasks first to build momentum and then finish with the main one. Also, you can always make lists in such a way that it can be incorporated into your planner.

5. Be Mobile:

Enough cannot be said about smartphones and the productivity options that they bring along. An application on your mobile phone is everyone’s number 1 suggestion when it comes to organization tips. No matter what platform you are using, the application store will be full of apps promising better organization tips and aided productivity. It is upto your requirements to decide what kind of apps will be of use to you. Do you like to make detailed plans with steps at every level or you just like to know of the problem and walk your way towards it? This question will help you pick an app which is more your style and end up using it. One big advantage of smartphones is, we carry them along wherever we go. Despite wearing watches, we prefer to check time by looking at our cell phones.Application such as Evernote, Any.do, Fantastical, Due are commonly used organisers that work by making lists, using labels to categorise actions or information, while ones like Google Keep use a dashboard like format and bright colours that aids visual data retention and helps you retain information. How much time do you have to spend and personal browsing habits will dictate your choice of smartphone applications

Ultimately, when we wonder how to improve productivity, these tools must ensure a lot of time saving. We need to keep a few things in mind when choosing:

Organization is not a one-time activity. It was an on-going process, we need to practise it everyday.

Try a system/tool atleast for one month to understand how it can increase your productivity

Delete the application or get rid of the productivity tools that have not worked for you in the past

“You Can Never Get Enough Of What You Don’t Really Need - April Benson”

How often have you reached the fag-end of your monthly budget when you’re only halfway through the month? Tired of burning a hole in your pocket every time you step out to the local supermarket or mall? Your saving statement feels like a punch in the gut every time you look at it? If you have answered these questions with an affirmative response, then you are a victim of impulse buying. Exercise your will power in the following ways and beat the urge when it strikes. Here are 10 tips on how to stop impulse buying.

1. Choose your company wisely:

While shopping with friends may seem to be something you really look forward to, it may be a destructive habit. Depending on the company you keep, your shopping experience will transform itself accordingly. When in a group setting, we are inclined to like the people who like similar music, order the same things at the restaurant and talk in similar manner. In short we tend to bond better with individuals in whom we see bits and pieces of our own selves. If you are bad at keeping tab on your spending, it’s best that you avoid friends who say yes to everything you try on, don’t question you every time you pick up a useless object.

This does not mean you stop shopping all together! Just pick and choose. Pick miserly traits over others and be amazed at how heavy your wallet stays even after that shopping trip.

2. Don’t let glitter clog your mind:

All those cosmetics, may highlight those blue eyes of the models and while that lip shade does look out of this world on celebrities, you should not forget that the same products will not end up looking the same as you. So while you and Freida Pinto may both use the same cosmetics, they will show differently on each person every time they both use it. Live by the rule: Try a cosmetic under 3 types of light (Halogen bulbs, Yellow lights and natural light) and only then make up your mind. And no! You do not need all the flavours of that fun new lipgloss.

3. Make To-Do-Apps your BFFs:

Few things are as lethal to your wallet as a ‘go-with-the-flow’ kind of shopping trip. If you transform into a kid at a candy store whenever you visit a store, it’s best that you use the power of technology to keep you focused.Organise your shopping requirements with the help of to-do apps which are available for all mobile platforms. Many apps such as Wunderlist, Trello, Swipe, Google Inbox etc are available which are used for list making purposes. Pick items according to the list and try to stick to them. As soon as you have everything on the list, double check for stray items and run for your life to the billing counter, before temptation strikes.

4. Support Local businesses:

While you’re out there taking big leaps, why not consider cutting down on visits to the supermarket style stores? These places almost always have big budgets, which they use to lure you in. With crazy offers such as buy one get one free, get 20% off on 2 and 50% off on 4, these stores know where to catch you! Supermarkets are designed to pull you in with the most attractive counter near the entrance and psychologically make you feel like you need to buy things; even when you don’t!

How about sticking to your local kirana for your daily needs. The owners probably know your taste better and have home delivery options too. Also, the only marketing activity is the simple question: “Aur bolo kya chahiye?” Worked for us then, works for us now!

5. Stop Thela-Hopping:

Inexpensive shopping places such as Linking Road, Colaba Causeway, Hill Road, Fashion Street and many others are visited everyday by people looking for stylish items at a steal. The reason of visiting these is clear: To get the most ‘in’ style things without totally murdering your budget. But the main issue is that every small shop only bargains when you pick at least 2-3 pieces. Dirt cheap prices cause us to salivate and cave in, with more junk than we need and with the budget suffering a major setback! If shopping is what  you really needed, stick to small boutiques that you know offer a limited variety at decent prices. Trust us, you save precious wardrobe space and a lot of heartbreak when you check your account balance.

6. Keep Your Account Balance in Your Head, Not Your Hand:

The most regrettable impulse buys happen because you carry all your Credit Cards/Debit Cards around with you, wherever you go shopping. With a little planning of your past expenses and spending habits, you can divide your monthly expenses into 5 major transactions. Every time you transact, keep half of your money in a safe place and only one fraction of it in your wallet. Also, avoid carrying your debit cards when you are making plans to go out on weekends, as these are times when we let our guards down the most.

7. The Ghost of Your Bank Statement’s Past:

Fear is the most old-skool and effective way to instigate a habit in any individual. From childhood days, where we were threatened with dire consequences if homework was not completed, till adulthood employment scene, we are scared into behaving well through fear. Why not scare yourself into saving a little? Print all your transactions and bills/receipts and put them in a place where you can see. As the month passes and the space grows, so will the fear inside you. Boo!

8.Stop Projecting:

With retailers putting out exclusive offers daily and e-retailers doing their bit to rope us in, there is an offer everyday on products we may or may not need. Stick to buying products that you need and don’t buy products that you feel you ‘May’ need in the future. By the time you actually end up using the items, they will be already expired or your needs will have changed. Leave the predictions to your astrologer and stick to the present.

9. Breathe In and Breathe Out:

The best example of impulse buying and the havoc it can wreak is when your shop according to your mood. There is a reason why advertisements target you more during certain times of the year. People tend to buy more food than they need if they go shopping when they are hungry, specially in a modern-retail style scenario. Similarly, everyone’s more happy around Diwali, Christmas, New Years and other festive months; and why wouldn’t they be! Extended vacation and festivities bring joy to us all and we are more open to opening that wallet and shelling out. Rationalise every purchase with these basic questions:

Do I need this?

If I don’t buy this, I can go on till how long?

How much quantity do I need?

Can I buy a little now and the rest later?

In short, prioritise!

10. Avoid the temptation altogether