Are you ready for the New Year? Have you given any thought to your New Years resolutions? Would you like to make more money? How about having more free time for vacations or enjoying friends and family? Getting organized can help free up that spare time and make you happier and more productive.

Making lists can be an effective tool for getting better organized. Begin by listing everything you normally do. Then add to the list all the things you wish you had time for. Here are some suggestions for important things to add to your list: eating, sleeping, exercise, time with friends and family, and inspiration (this could be time spent in prayer, meditation, inspirational reading, or journaling).

Prioritizing your list is the next step. Remember that without the proper amount of food and sleep, that you will probably not have the energy to accomplish as much as you would like to. Taking time to exercise will also increase the amount of energy you have, and give you the mental clarity you need, to be at your maximum efficiency.

Next create a schedule for a typical week. For the next month or so, keep a journal or log of how much time you spend on all of your daily activities. Try to stick to your schedule, but even if you can't, make notes about how you are spending your time. At the end of each week, look over your journal and determine what things you do, which take up your time, but are not as important as other things on your list.

As you go through this process, make adjustments to your schedule, trying to include more important activities. For instance you may find that you are spending time surfing the Internet or watching TV that could be better spent reading or exercising. The discipline of following a schedule and keeping a journal of your activities, may be just what you need, to get into a routine of doing things that increase your energy and productivity.

Do you spend a lot of time worrying about your finances? Keeping track of the money you spend may be a good next step. By tracking your expenses you can then prioritize the things you're spending money on. Then you can decide which things you can live without and not worry so much about how you are spending your money. This will free up even more time and energy for more important tasks.

If you have your own business, keeping closer track of the time you spend on various activities, and all of your expenses, may increase your profits because you will be able to identify where you can spend your time more effectively.

Remember that better organization, plus the discipline to do the things that produce the best results, will yield increased productivity, and more time for recreation and happy times.