Organizational skills are a necessary part of life. Whether you want to stay on track with your tasks, pay bills on time, work your way up the corporate ladder or manage your children's extracurricular schedules, having good organizational skills can help you achieve what you are after. Understanding what organizational skills are will help you assess your own skill level so that you can make changes and improvements.

Self Organization

Although you might think you are capable of remembering everything that you need to do, places you need to be and every deadline in between, it is common for even those with the sharpest memories to forget something from time to time. Self organization describes an individual's ability to manage and keep himself organized. That is, coming up with systems that help cue or trigger the memory so that someone remembers what needs to get done. Examples of self organization include setting up a special mailbox tray for bills so that you never forget to pay a bill, maintaining an appointment book and setting automatic alarms that remind you of upcoming tasks.

Good Time Management

Time management is an element of organizational skills, because being able to manage your time represents your ability to be organized. Various aspects of your life require you to employ good time management skills, such as making sure you attend meetings on time, showing up for scheduled appointments, shuttling your kids between school and soccer practice timely and fulfilling deadlines. You can be more productive and efficient when you have good time-management skills.

Know How to Prioritize

Being organized has to do with your ability to prioritize. Prioritization refers to the process of determining an order of importance and significance when it comes to performing tasks. For instance, if you have a long to-do list to get through, someone with excellent organizational skills can look at the list and decide the order that the items should be completed based on level of urgency, time or convenience. Knowing how to prioritize allows you to stay on top of your tasks for successful outcomes.

Maintaining the Environment

Having organizational skills relates to your ability to maintain your environment. People who are organized designate places for their things, such as special file folders for paper, desk compartments for storing writing utensils, bookshelves to keep their books and binders in place and other systems for de-cluttering. An organized environment allows people to get more done because it minimizes distraction and eliminates the issue of not being able to find or access something easily.