How to Organize Your Life in 2024

Staying on track isn’t a one-size-fits-all system.

This is Maximalist Living, where we recognize that most people can’t get rid of all their clutter, or live in an empty white room. Life gets in the way, and that’s alright. You can still learn how to create achievable goals, stay motivated, and make 2024 the best year of your life.

Let’s maximize happiness, together.

The Maximalist Living Framework

1. Set attainable goals

The maximalist in you might be a little too ambitious. You want to accomplish everything - get a promotion, travel, learn a new language, revamp your interior decor, and learn how to crochet.

Unfortunately, if you’re in school or have a full-time job, your time is limited and valuable. What do you want to use your evenings for? How do you want to spend your weekends? Ask yourself these questions and prioritize two to three main goals you want to accomplish this year.

These goals should be achievable, motivating, and rewarding. Each time you reflect on these goals, you should be motivated to pursue them, and every time you get a step closer to fulfilling these goals, you should feel rewarded. This cycle of motivation and reward is what will get you and keep you on track.

Here are my 2024 goals:

• Contribute $500 every month to my Roth IRA and max out my yearly contributions

• Harvest 2 crops from my backyard garden

• Read 24 books (representing the year I turn 24!)

My 2024 goals may not seem fun, or glamorous, but they force me to think long-term, which then impacts my short-term decision making. Take a look at my thought process in choosing these goals, and how motivation and reward play into them.

Contribute $500 every month to my Roth IRA

• $500 every month can be a pretty hefty sum depending on your income. This goal, which looks far into the future, is also something I need to consider every month. In order to have the $500 to invest every single month, I need to stay conscious about my spending and maintain a budget. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a night out with friends, or a cute addition to my apartment, but it does mean that I should be conscious of every click on Amazon. You don’t need to restrict yourself (again, this is Maximalist Living), but you do need to be aware of what you need, what you REALLY want, and what you could do without.

Harvest 2 crops from my backyard garden

• I’ll be honest with you - I’ve never gardened before in my life. However, I really want to be able to grow some of my own food and afford myself some level of food security. This is in attainable goal because gardening, while intensive, doesn’t always have to be a huge time-sink. Especially since I’m only focusing on growing 2 kinds of crops. If I spend a few minutes outside on the weekdays, and maybe an hour on the weekends, this goal will be well within my reach.

Read 24 books

• Twenty-four books may not seem like a lot to the average person, but I’ve spent the past few years of my life working multiple jobs and attending school full-time. This goal falls in line with a big-picture resolution to feed my brain, and is something I can easily accomplish my incorporating, a few minutes at a time, into my daily routine.

2. Develop habits and build a routine

The best way to build a routine is different for everyone. The lie that “self-help gurus” and so-called experts want you to fall for, is that there is a single formula for success. Andrew Huberman’s morning routine this (he is an actual expert, but he isn’t you), David Goggin’s exercise routine that. Blah blah blah.

Build on your natural habits. Natural doesn’t mean that you scroll through TikTok for 5 hours every day. Rather, are you naturally a morning person? Or do you get into your groove at night?

Build healthy everyday habits that you can maintain.

Here are a few good catch-all ideas to incorporate into your life:

• Stay off social media for the first few hours of the day

  • It can be tempting to open Instagram, or Tiktok, as soon as you wakeup, especially if you’ve already conditioned yourself to do so. However, what I’ve come to realize is that staying off social media in the morning reduces the want/need for it later in the day. I love Instagram, so I’ll never give it up completely, but this has really helped me be productive when it counts, and helped me reduce my screentime (I used to average 12 hours of screen time a day!).

  • I use Opal to limit my social media use in the mornings and during the work day. The app blocks you from accessing certain apps (that you choose) during the times you schedule. It’s completely free to download, and has done wonders in helping me maintain a healthy screen time.

• Use your commute to catch up on the news, or read a book

  • I used to spend my 45-minute commute on Tiktok. Fun for me in the moment, but a disaster for my brain in the long run. Being up-to-date on the news will make you a more conscious person and improve your ability to hold an intelligent conversation. Reading a book will help your brain get the warm-up/cool-down it needs before and after work.

• Decide on an optimal time for exercise at least 3-4 times a week and stick to it

  • You don’t have to run. You don’t have to lift weights. You don’t have to do Pilates. Whatever exercise you enjoy, or at the very least don’t absolutely hate, will do. If you tend to wake up early, go for a walk before work. If you’re not a morning person, schedule a quick at-home yoga session (classes are expensive, and YouTube is free!) in the evening. Starting easy will help you build this habit, before jumping into super intense exercise routines.

3. Calendars and to-do lists

Yes, it can seem like a lot of work to get everything registered in a calendar, or writing everything you need to do down in a list. However, in the long run, both these tools help you stay organized in a way that really pays off — think: you don’t miss that important job interview, or forget your best friend’s birthday.

Here’s the trick: you don’t have to use both!

If you’re the type of personality that sticks to a strict schedule and likes visualizing every hour of your day, jot it all down in Google Calendar, which lets your color code and even create multiple calendars depending on what you need.

• Take a look at mine:

However, if you’re the type of person that gets stressed when you’re a little behind schedule, and end up just giving up for the day when you see that you haven’t been able to stick exactly to a calendar, a to-do list might be more up your alley.

A to-do list gives you all the tasks you need to complete for the day without the visual and time constraints of a calendar. You can still jot down events that are happening at specific times, but can treat the to-do list mostly as a checklist of items that need to be completed before heading to bed for the day. Task managers like Todoist can help you digitize your tasks, but you’re always free to go the old-fashioned way with a pen and paper.

4. Balance your life

The all-or-nothing mentality a lot of us have often leads to a breakdown in routine, or burnout early in the year. The goal should be consistency, over perfection, and one bad day, or week, or even month will not define your 2024.

Prioritize your long-term mental and physical health, which you need to fulfill your 2024 resolutions.

Try:

• Making time for friends and family

• Getting enough sleep!

• Meditating, journaling, or even ranting to friends

• Taking breaks - short term and long term. Everyone needs a vacation once in a while, whether that be a luxurious trip abroad, or a week camping in your bedroom.

5. Dream up your work environment and living space

It’s hard to feel organized when your work environment and living space is dirty, ugly, or both. I’m not a big proponent of tidiness (a little clutter and mess never hurt anyone), but where your live and work should be sanitary and aesthetically pleasing.

Never underestimate the power of loving your desk. Maybe you can’t completely revamp your office at work, but your bedroom and desk can always use a little upgrade. Take a look at the pictures below - do any of them fit your aesthetic? I personally like a little rustic clutter in my workspace, but some people like their desks to be sparkling clean. Try what works best for you!

6. Try something new!

2024 isn’t the year to be boring! Yes - keep your goals in mind and pursue building healthy habits.

BUT it’s also important to step outside of your comfort zone every once in a while and try something new. Manifest the life your dream of through action.

Want to be a dreamy soft girl? Try out a ceramics class, or go out to a paint and wine night with your friends.

Want to find your fitness niche? Get ClassPass and dabble in all your city or town has to offer - yoga, pilates, cycling, hike clubs, etc.