It’s hard to stay organized at work. Distractions are all around employees in this day and age. Even phones can present a huge problem with staying focused on a task. The age of distraction and the age of organization can feed each other.
With the distractions coming from all directions, employees can find it hard to stay organized whether their main workspace is their home or a physical office. However, organization is crucial to efficiency and success in the workplace.
Keep in mind that being organized does come more naturally to certain personality types. No matter the personality type, though, organization can be and must be achieved for productivity with any employee.
What Does It Mean to Be Organized at Work?
Being organized means it is easier to focus on tasks so that the employee can be more efficient in the workplace. Organization can improve employees’ work performance, contributing to effective collaboration on projects. When employees are organized in the workplace, it is easier to prioritize tasks and complete them by their deadlines.
Productivity in the workplace can help businesses succeed in meeting their company-wide goals. One way to increase productivity is to improve organization because it allows employees to focus more on their tasks and collaborate more effectively with coworkers.
When someone is more organized, they’re more likely to accomplish their career goals. With a plan, the work tends to be more streamlined, and they can complete tasks more quickly. For example, being organized can save you time, which may allow you to pursue other career goals in your free time, such as going back to school or earning certifications to further your role in the company. When an employee is organized, they can also help their company reach its objectives.
Here are 17 tips and tricks to stay organized at work.
1. Schedule Your Priorities
The first tip is to schedule priorities first. In the book 7 Habits for Highly Effective People, Steven Covey writes that people need to schedule the “big rocks” first. What tasks and people are most important to the productivity of the job?
The employee needs to set weekly appointments with these through “time blocking.” They will make sure they have a standing appointment with their most important tasks and standing meetings with their most important people. If they don’t do this, the least important things will take up their day, missing out on their big rocks.
2. Prioritize Your Schedule
After the “big rocks” are scheduled, schedule the “little rocks.” Most people will fill in their schedule as meetings or problems arise instead of prioritizing their schedules. The best energy should be used on the most critical tasks. This is where prioritizing a schedule is very important.
Color coordinating the schedule can help tremendously as well. A color can denote what type of category the task fits in on the schedule. A number can help indicate what kind of priority it fits in.
3. Make a Daily Plan/Routine
A routine can be very beneficial for getting organized. If an employee knows what time they are doing what tasks each day, it can help with flow. For instance, if someone gets to the office at 8:00 am, they can set the first 30 minutes of the day to check voicemails, and emails, and schedule any new meetings that may arise. They could make sure every day during their break or after lunch to take a brief walk and enjoy some sunshine.
4. Get Rid of Clutter on the Desk
Clutter on the desk makes it difficult to focus on what is essential and how to find needed information quickly. Clutter impairs the employee’s mental ability as well. A cluttered mind equals a cluttered workspace. Organizing and decluttering the workspace may help with a clear mind.
5. Limit Multi-tasking
Close tabs. Keep distractions to a minimum when focusing on a single task. Create a rule to finish one task before attempting to start another one. This also helps the mental ability to feel a sense of accomplishment which may snowball confidence for the other tasks on the to-do list.
6. Take Breaks
After finishing a meeting or a task, the employee should pause to get a mental “reset” for the next appointment. It would even behoove them to set aside five minutes to prepare for that appointment. It will cost more time throughout the day but provide better clarity.
7. Silence the Phone
Nothing may be more disturbing than hearing “dings” and feeling the phone’s vibration when trying to focus on a task. Simply silencing the phone can be a massive help to remaining focused.
8. Unsubscribe
An inbox flooded with unimportant emails makes it hard to focus on what needs a response and what doesn’t. Even taking time to delete these emails over and over can be a big problem for efficiency. Simply unsubscribing will make a big difference.
9. Set Aside Time for Scheduling
One of the blocks of time should be the time to schedule. This is the time to schedule meetings, appointments, and tasks, and to evaluate the overall flow of the day or week. This time will help declutter the calendar.
10. Have Different Zones for Your Desk
One person said, “Everything has a place, and every place has a thing.” If multiple jobs need to be accomplished by one person, the person should have different zones for each job and even materials.
11. Delegate When Appropriate
A good leader will do only what they can do and what they are good at. If there are tasks that the person isn’t good at or someone else can do 70% as well, then it should be delegated.
12. Block Time to Return Calls and Emails
Set aside time each day to return calls and emails. This could be done first thing in the morning, right after lunch, and right before the end of the day. This strategy will help you not feel overwhelmed every day with calls and emails to return.
13. Clean the Workspace Regularly
A good rule of thumb is to block time on Friday afternoon to declutter and reorganize, so there is a fresh, organized feeling to start Monday.
14. Stick to the Schedule (as Much as Humanly Possible)
Once the schedule has time blocks, priorities, and slots for meetings, it is best to stick to it as much as possible. Everything is called an “appointment” or “meeting.” The Friday declutter and reorganization is a meeting. Scheduling meetings is a meeting. Returning calls and emails after lunch is a meeting. Why? Because they are meetings.
15. Keep a Notepad for Follow-up
This notepad can be used via an app or notes on the phone or a physical notepad for follow-up conversations, emails, etc.
16. Incorporate a Timer
If a time block is 30 minutes, it never needs to exceed 30 minutes. Every meeting should have an alarm set 5 minutes before it ends to alert the employee and the person in the meeting if the meeting is with a person. A timer will help everyone stay on schedule, and it helps the person they are meeting with know that time is limited and valuable to them.
17. Block the Break Times
Breaks are important. Find out how much break time and when that is each day. Then, schedule that. Utilize it for a walk with earbuds in or to get out of the office for a snack. Rest breaks from the day will help the employee be sharper mentally for the other tasks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some common questions Christian employees might ask:
1. How can I reduce decision fatigue to stay more organized?
Decision fatigue can drain productivity and lead to disorganization. To combat this, establish routines for recurring tasks (like responding to emails or planning weekly to-dos) to minimize daily decisions. Pre-planning outfits, meals, or meetings can also save energy, allowing you to focus more on work-related priorities and stay organized.
2. How can I prioritize tasks when everything seems urgent?
Use the Eisenhower Matrix, which categorizes tasks into four groups: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither. This framework helps prioritize effectively, allowing you to tackle high-impact tasks first, avoid unnecessary urgency, and stay organized under pressure.
3. What are some strategies to avoid digital clutter?
Regularly clearing out old files, organizing documents into clearly labeled folders, and limiting the number of browser tabs open at one time reduces digital clutter. Scheduling a weekly “digital clean-up” session helps keep your workspace streamlined and avoids the distraction of a cluttered screen.
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