We are headed into the busy season for work, home, and life so I thought today I’d throw out a few organizing tips on how to stay on top of everything. I also have a free printable to share with you too!

So let’s get right to it. How do you stay organized and on top of things? I usually end up with a lot of random lists floating around. Weekly to dos/to buys/to not forgets etc. But now that I’m back at blogging and developing product for my etsy shop, I’ve gotten super-busy and the lists are just making me more cluttered.

After taking a recent blogging course, I decided I really needed to develop a plan and editorial calendar for every 3 months. What is an editorial calendar? Well in general, It’s a monthly schedule that contains all of the posts for each week and how to get them accomplished. One little post (like today’s) takes a lot of pre-planning, usually there is photography, possible links to sources, and even printable material for all of my sweet readers (that’s you!). But an editorial calendar is just a calendar tailored to the type of work I am doing. You can use an editorial calendar for any sector of life or multiple areas because it all starts the same way:

Start BIG with some 3 month goals!

Brainstorm and ask yourself a few questions: What would I like to accomplish in the next three months? In life for myself, In the office with my work, and at home for my family?

For instance, we are expecting a baby in 2 months, I know that at home, I need to start really organizing all of our baby gear and closets for our new little guy. I’d also like to plan lots of activities for my daughters throughout winter break.

Simultaneously, my work goals are to launch some new products for the Christmas season in my etsy shop.

My life goal is to paint more and learn some new techniques.

This is an extremely paired down version of what I brainstormed in my 3 month big goals but I just wanted to give you an idea of how you could get a hold of all these different areas of life calling for your attention.

Breakdown these broader 3 month goals into actionable steps you can realistically complete in order to attack your broader goals within 3 months.

Next it’s time to get more serious and print out a calendar.

I’ve included a free printable calendar here for you to use and fill in. To start you’ll need three copies.

After you print out these three calendars then you’re going to do the hard work of sitting down for about an hour and filling in these three month calendars. Week by week try to get through these actionable steps that will accomplish your three month big goals. You can even set mini deadlines for yourself per month.

You can use these organizing tips in any capacity of work, home or life goals or combine the three different areas and fill your calendar up. Once the calendars are filled up, you’ll have a real, on paper plan that you can follow as strictly or loosely as you’d like but at least it will be tangible and not just floating around with all of your broader ideas. This narrows it down to the important things.

So I’ll leave you with this thought, what are your 3 month BIG goals?