How to get organized at work

For many people getting and staying organized at work is a daily struggle. When the papers are piling up, the post-it notes are everywhere, your emails are flooding your inbox, you may think there is no way you’ll ever get caught up and let the organization slide. The thing to remember with the organization is it’s a key component of productivity. When you have too many papers accumulating, or emails in your inbox it becomes a distraction and then your job performance can suffer as a result. When your time, workspace, and projects are organized it becomes easier to stay focused on the tasks at hand.
Here are some tips to get yourself organized so that you can be more productive and less stressed during the day.

Organize your workspace. The first thing to do when trying to organize your desk is to get rid of the non-essentials and declutter. Having papers and clutter all over your desk is a huge distraction, so if you haven’t used or needed something in the past 6 months either throw it away or store it away.

Put paperwork in its place. If you are someone who hates filing as much as I do, then you may have piles and piles of paperwork on your desk that simply just needs to be filed and put away. Do it! It may take a big chunk of time out of a day, but then it’s done, it will be put away and you will not stress about seeing it sitting there on your desk every day. Then either schedule a time every week and file the papers, or just simply file them once you are finished with them.

Organize your email. Email is such a huge distraction especially when you are in the middle of a project. So, organize your emails as you would your paperwork, make a folder and once you’ve handled that email, file it away in its folder and then it is removed from your inbox. Another piece of advice for email organization is schedule times throughout the day to check your email.

Organize your time. Time management is a big key to success when you are getting organized. If you schedule your time to finish certain tasks, but keep room for adjustments then you know when you are going to be filing or checking your email, or whatever time you need to work on your projects, etc. Time management helps you create deadlines to keep you on track.

Take breaks. Sometimes when you are feeling rushed or feeling a lot of pressure to get things done, you may end up skipping a break. When you miss a break, you don’t get your mind enough time to step back and then come back to something you are working on with fresh eyes. Sometimes taking a short break is just what our brains need to get the creativity flowing again, so make sure you take them.

Create a task list. If you create a task list and then prioritize them this will help you define what needs to be taken care of first. Sometimes it’s easy to focus on the little things that you can “just get out of the way quickly” than to take care of something that is the top priority because it’s more work. So, writing out a task list will help you decide what needs to be done first and what can wait. Also, crossing something off a list that has been accomplished is an energy booster!

Keep important things on your desk. Take a careful inventory of what you need and what you use daily and keep those items on your desk. If you have a huge notebook, a stockpile of sticky notes that you really don’t use every day, put them away and declutter that desk.

Use technology. You can set reminders on your mobile phone about meetings, deadlines etc and this will help keep you on task.

You may find it difficult to stay organized at work when you first start but remember to just start. Don’t give up, nobody is perfect at everything all the time. Keep practicing with these suggestions we’ve outlined here, and you will eventually get yourself into a routine and start seeing your results.