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The life of a maori at times can be hectic! Have you ever been in a situation where you are so busy, that you forget to do to something important? And you think to yourself, how the hell did I forget to do that?? Suddenly you’re annoyed at yourself for forgetting and then the rest of your day goes bad. It seems to happen all the time, and the only way to overcome this is being organized.

Now to explain this easier I’m going to break down the term ‘being organized’ into three key principals to remember, which will help our maori improve several aspects of their life’s. These principals are essential for all maori who want to improve the everyday running and planning of there weeks, months, years. The key to these principals is practice, until you find out what works for you.

The first principle is time management. It is amazing how much you can achieve in one single day if you apply good habits of time management. It took me until I had graduated and I started working in the corporate world to really appreciate the gift of managing my time, and I am still constantly improving. Its important for my maori to realize that time management is a principle that you will never master, and can always be improved; yet it is something that can really enhance your life.

When I was at University, the only time management skills I had was how to make it to the pub every Thursday night for cheap drinks. Through my University years, I become a professional procrastinator and I could never manage my time efficiently. I would consistently do all nighters for assignments due the next day that I had been given several months to complete. I would tell myself, that is the last time I will do an all nighter like that, next time I will get it done earlier. I remember thinking if only I had a couple more days, I could have got an A for that assignment. Of course it never worked that way. And then there was my family, I never had time to make it to family occasions, but always made time to go clubbing four nights in a row. Small levels of procrastination is just apart of being human, but I believe if you can try and limit how much you procrastinate in your life and really plan and execute your time well you will achieve a lot.

When you go to bed each night think about everything you have to do the next day and visualize yourself getting everything completed. Use tools such as the calendar in your email, your cell phone or even just write a list on a note pad. Make sure you incorporate everything you need to complete that day. At work plan your day from start to finish and allocate a timeframe for each task you want to complete. Sometimes you will not complete everything but believe me you will get so much more accomplished in your day. Depending on your situation try and include times you will eat, time for training/exercise, time for family and friends. Now the key to this principle is making it habit. Practice it everyday; show all your family, friends and your employer that you exhibit good time management skills.

The second principle is prioritizing. This is probably one of the most important skills you can learn in your lifetime, and it has taken me a lifetime so far to grasp a hold of it. Ask yourself “What is important in my life?” It could be your friends, family, your partner, work, gym, sports, music etc. Then as you plan your day prioritize the most important things, to ensure that they are completed. Write them in bold, set several reminders to make sure that you plan and execute the important things in your life. Believe me everyone will start to notice, including your employer. Some people are naturally good at prioritizing, but for some reason I have always battled with it, and I have learnt slowly. My priorities have always been back to front, upside down, the wrong way, yet somehow I have managed to get to where I am in my life, although it has been a battle. I’ve let down many people during my time, and it’s never a great feeling to do so. In the last year or so I have really tried hard to improve my prioritizing and make sure that the important aspects of my life have the majority of my time. My boss has helped me heaps to prioritize my workload at work, and has helped me ensure the most important tasks at work are completed quick and efficient. He has helped me set processes to ensure everything is done properly and quicker and to ensure it’s done 100%. Like anything if you practice, you will improve. Its also a case of learning from your mistakes cause everyone makes mistakes, but its what you learn from them that will help you minimize the risk of you making that mistake again.

I encourage our maori from a young age to learn how to plan each and every day and really isolate those important things in your life. Wake up everyday and say thank you for all the things that you are going to achieve and conquer today as if you have already achieved it, and then process through your day and execute with minimal effort. Keep improving, cause life will always throw new obstacles, and experiences at you, but if you know what is really important in your life you will ensure the important things and people know it too.

The third principle is preparation. Now that you have your day planned, and you have focused on how to prioritize, what do you need to prepare, to ensure that you can plan and execute efficiently? It could be, do I have everything ready for work? Have I found out when and where I need to be tomorrow? What will I be eating tomorrow? Do I need to take anything from home? Preparation is the key to being organized. You have already put in a tremendous effort to plan your day from start to finish and you know what is important during your day to be completed. Now go through each item, and think about everything you will need to prepare to complete the task efficiently, and then move to the next item. By the time you know it you will have every thing sorted, and your day will just flow perfectly. Now before you go bed, reflect on how awesome your day has been, say to yourself “Gee I was a champion today” Be happy with yourself for what you have achieved, no matter how small it is. Then while you’re in bed, start the process again, start thinking and planning for tomorrow.

As a maori our future is what we make it. If everyday you plan execute and then evaluate before you go to bed you can be certain that everyday will flow beautifully, and you can tick another box to becoming MEAN MAORI MEAN

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.” Henry Ford