Do you want to better organize your thoughts in your business?

Are you looking for some practical ways to capture your ideas and organize them in a useful way?

In this article, you’ll find a whopping collection of seventeen different ways to organize your thoughts.

Why Should You Organize Your Thoughts?

Have you ever heard the phrase, “thoughts are things?” I certainly believe this is the case.

While we can’t physically see our thoughts, we carry them with us everywhere we go throughout the day.

Thoughts can weigh down our minds and prevent us from getting things done on a regular basis.

One key reason to organize your thoughts is that it helps you to better plan your work.

Once you’ve identified tasks to be completed, you can appropriately prioritize your workload for the day, week, and month.

When Should You Organize Your Thoughts?

As a productivity coach, people often ask me, “When should I organize my thoughts?”

One practical way is to do so at the beginning of every work day.

Setting aside uninterrupted time in the morning to identify, capture, and clarify your thoughts can be a helpful daily process.

You may also choose to organize your thoughts whenever you feel the need, morning, afternoon, evening, or night.

Thankfully, this can be as simple as jotting down your thoughts on a piece of paper so you have them contained in one place.

What are the Benefits of Organizing Your Thoughts?

There are several benefits to organizing your thoughts. Some benefits may include:

• Having more clarity in your daily, weekly, and monthly work
• Better understanding of your overall business affairs
• Greater awareness of your client and customer workload
• Knowledge of tasks, to-dos, projects, or assignments to be delegated to others
• Having mental energy freed up so that you can make better decisions
• Feeling less stressed and overwhelmed by your ongoing work

17 Ways to Organize Your Thoughts

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “I wish there were a way to organize my thoughts…” you’ve come to the right place.

Whether you’re organizing business marketing ideas or your daily to-do list, this collection of organization techniques is here to help.

Choose the thought organization method or methods that interest you most and get organizing!

Practical Ways to Organize Your Thoughts

When it comes to organizing your thoughts, you can’t go wrong taking a practical and step-by-step approach.

Sometimes, the sheer process of turning thoughts in your head into a few notes can literally make things as clear as black and white.

As such, the techniques that follow are great for those times when you need take stock of the thoughts in your mind.

Simply transfer your thoughts to analyze, evaluate, and manipulate items as needed.

Assemble sticky notes on a wall

For this exercise, you’ll need a stack or two of sticky notes, a writing implement, and a clean area of wall space.

Write down one thought on a sticky note and stick the note on the wall. Continue the process, making sure to write only thought per sticky note.

When you’ve emptied all thoughts from your mind, take three large steps back from the wall. What do you see? What don’t you see?

You can then place sticky notes into groups. Create whatever groupings you’d like for more clarity.

Draw a mind map

A mind map is a simple way of connecting different thoughts together. They have one main thought in the center and are surrounded by related thoughts and ideas.

To create a mind map, you’ll need a sheet of paper or a notebook. In the center of the paper, write down your predominant thought, and draw a circle around it.

Next, you’ll want to draw a line from the circle radiating outwards towards the sheet of paper. At the end of this line, write down a thought related to your predominant thought. Continue adding thoughts to your map as necessary.

As you work on your map, you may find it helpful to create sub-maps of related thoughts to help further organize your ideas.

Take notes on index cards

Index cards are a classic way of keeping track of your thoughts and ideas.

For this technique, you’ll need a stack of index cards, blank or lined, along with a writing implement such as a marker or pen.

The first option is to write out one thought per index card, which is quite similar to the technique described above using sticky notes. Once you’ve transferred thoughts to index cards, shuffle and reorganize them for new combinations.

The second option is to use the top of an index card for a main thought. List out related thoughts underneath the main thought. Shuffle and reorganize index cards as needed for a new look at your ideas.

Create a list

One of the easiest ways to organize your thoughts is to capture them in a list.

Here’s what to do: grab a piece of paper, journal or notebook, along with a writing implement.

Write down one thought per line. Keep writing down your thoughts until you can’t think of anything else.

When you’re finished, take a bird’s eye view. You should be able to see some similarities and connections in your list.

Use this moment to draw connecting lines to your list items or create a brand-new set of lists based off of your original list.

Make a pie chart

You’ve probably seen pie charts before. These are visual charts created in the shape of a circle, or pie. Each shaded area represents a different amount, number, or item.

You’ll need a piece of paper and a pencil. Draw a large circle in the center of the paper and write your thoughts in different areas inside the circle.

As you collect your thoughts, consider their relationship to one another. For instance, are some thoughts more important, pressing, or timely than others?

Make sure you mark your thoughts as such in your pie chart.

Creative Ways to Organize Your Thoughts

Are you looking for a fun way to organize your thoughts? Use your creativity to organize all those incredible ideas, ‘aha’ moments, and genius thoughts?

Unleashing your creative side can allow your mind to view your thoughts and ideas from an entirely different perspective.

Try any of the following techniques the next time you want to shake things up when it comes your thoughts.

Some of these ideas may seem a bit unconventional, but you may be pleasantly surprised by what you uncover!

Handwrite a letter

The art of letter writing is a true skill. You must think about what you want to write in an organized and coherent manner.

Here’s how to get started. Pull out a blank piece of paper and a pen. Spend the next few minutes writing a letter to a dear friend.

Keep in mind, you won’t actually be mailing this letter to a friend, it’s just a way for you to think about and organize your thoughts.

How would you describe your thoughts to your friend? Which thoughts are connected to one another and which aren’t?

Another approach is to simply write a stream of consciousness letter. Write down what comes to mind as you think about it.

There’s no need to edit, correct, or fix errors. Just write and keep on writing until you decide to call it quits.

Make a collage

Are you a visual person? Create a collage of your thoughts using a variety of different pictures and images.

This process is a bit more intensive than others, so you’ll want to make sure you have sufficient time at your disposal.

Begin by collecting any magazines, newspapers, flyers, cards, and other printed materials from around your office.

Round up a glue stick, glue, or rubber cement, a pair of scissors, and poster board.

Leaf through your collection of print materials. Find any pictures, words, images, colors, or shapes that catch your eye.

Once you’ve finished cutting out items, take time to group and arrange on your poster board.

Glue items down as needed and review your handiwork.

Create a table of contents

Does it feel as if your thoughts could create a weighty tome of information?

Why not take things literally and try your hand at writing a table of contents?

This method forces you think about ideas and thoughts, and how they should be presented in a logical fashion, from start to finish.

Grab a piece of paper or notebook along with a writing tool. You can also use a word processing program for this exercise, should you wish.

Now, imagine you’re writing a table of contents for a book. Which of your thoughts should come at the beginning of the book?

Which of your thoughts should come at the end? What items should take up the middle?

Construct your table of contents as you see fit.

Develop a timeline

Seeing your thoughts listed in a timeline or calendar format can give you some much-needed perspective.

For this exercise, you’ll need paper and a writing implement. You can use a printed calendar or paper planner to organize your thoughts.

Start by choosing one timeline method for your needs. Use a calendar with months of the year, days of the week, hours of the day, or chronologically by year.

Next, write in a single thought in each slot. The idea is to organize your thoughts by what comes first, second, and third.

Feel free to organize your timeline in any way you see fit. Be sure to include ample notes for yourself for easy recall.

Make a recording of yourself

An incredibly easy way to hear what you’re thinking is to simply record your thoughts. This gives you a unique look at not only what you’re thinking, but your tone of voice when you’re recording your ideas.

For this technique you’ll need a dedicated voice recorder, cellphone, or voice recording app.

When you’re ready, make a recording of your thoughts and ideas.

Put the recording aside for a day or two. Come back to it in a few days’ time for a different perspective.

Thoughtful Ways to Organize Your Thoughts

You may believe you must actively think about your thoughts in order to create some semblance of structure.

You may not have realized it, but you can “organize” your thoughts through a variety of less active methods.

These approaches encourage you to switch from active thinking to more passive thinking, and letting your subconscious mind take control.

If you’ve never used any of these methods, then you may want to give one or two a try.

Work on a repetitive task

Repetitive tasks can help you sort out the thoughts in your head.

While your hands are busy, your mind is free to sort out all the details and considerations floating around your head.

Identify a task or tasks that don’t require much effort or thought. You could enter data into a spread sheet, shred old paperwork, or file papers.

Finally, choose your preferred task and get to work! Your mind will organize your thoughts in the background while you work.

Sit quietly or meditate

This approach asks you to relax and just be…and let your mind do the work for you.

Turn off the lights or draw the blinds in the room in which you’re sitting.

Next, sit quietly in a chair, on a bed, or on a pillow on the floor. Whatever position makes you comfortable is a good choice.

The next step is one that is really simple: just sit quietly. Breathe slowly and calmly. Sit and relax and enjoy the moment.

If you practice meditation, you can use this as opportunity to meditate for several minutes.

Sleep on it

That which seems incredibly chaotic and puzzling now, will look a whole lot different in the morning!

There’s just something about the power of sleep when it comes to clarifying and clearing up your thoughts.

This process can be incredibly useful if you need to make a decision on something.

Simply change into your pajamas, climb into your bed, and go to sleep. You’ll awake in the morning with some fresh perspective.

Physical Ways to Organize Your Thoughts

Sometimes you have to “get out of your head” so you can find the answers to which you seek.

These methods force you to step out of your mind and into your body.

The next time you need to get your thoughts in order, put your body in motion!

Get some exercise

It’s time to move your body and get your heart pumping.

What activities can you perform to get some exercise?

How about making a visit to the gym, going for a walk, jogging outdoors, or doing some light stretches?

As mentioned earlier, the change of pace will give your mind a break, and allow your subconscious to work on your puzzle in the background.

Spend time in nature

When’s the last time you spent some quality time outdoors? This is a great opportunity to explore the world around you.

Think about all the natural areas you could visit near your office or home.

For instance, you could sit in the park on a bench, hike a trail in a nature preserve, or gaze at a beautiful green pasture.

A little bit of research online will give you some great ideas on places to visit.

So, put on those sneakers or walking shoes, get out of your head, and let your eyes take in all the beautiful sights.

Talk to a friend or family member

No matter how many times you’ve turned thoughts in your own mind, sometimes it helps to talk things out with another person.

What’s more, you’ll feel a whole lot better getting things out of your head, and off your chest.

An added bonus is that your friend can help you find patterns, clarify your thoughts, or give you some perspective on your current situation.

Make arrangements to meet with a trusted friend or colleague for a one-on-one, uninterrupted chat.

Tell a story

Lastly, telling a story is a great way to organize your thoughts. It prompts you think about what’s important to the story…and what isn’t.

You can tell a story anyway you’d like: through storytelling, through acting, through a drawing, through radio drama…whatever method you so choose.

Just start with one of your thoughts and take it from there.

In case we haven’t yet met virtually, it’s nice to meet you! Hi, I’m Rashelle Isip, The Order Expert®, productivity coach for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and professionals.

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Rashelle Isip Productivity Coach

Rashelle Isip, The Order Expert®, is a New York City-based productivity coach and consultant who helps established entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals improve their relationship with productivity so they can work comfortably and sustainably for the long term.

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