Office Organization Tips

Workplace organizing is a specialty of mine and something that can be learned by 85% of the workforce. You, however, may have never been taught the necessary office organization tips. Research reveals that American firms lose 86 work days a year being unproductive. I ask you these questions: Is disorganization affecting your workplace productivity? Do you waste precious time looking for things you know you have but cannot find? As a Utah based professional organizer and productivity coach, my business clients find that office organizing diminishes the very tangible monetary losses associated with disorganization. Becoming organized also remedies the loss of time, creativity, confidence and peace of mind that disorganization brings.

One of my favorite definitions of “organized” comes from Stephanie Calahan, “Finding what you need when you need it, with little effort”. Organizing your time, space, papers and computer data is worth every bit of time, money and effort it takes.

Office organization is very doable with these 3 organizing strategies. Putting them in place will increase productivity and bring greater order to your worplace environment either at home or in a business office.

• Office Organization Tip #1 Schedule a time to plan. I teach my clients to plan their week on paper before it begins. If you don’t know what you should be doing, how can you get it done? Establish a routine of planning your week the Friday before it actually begins. The weekly plan doesn’t have to be extremely detailed, just include the tasks of greatest importance. Then, use the first 5 minutes of each day to detail that plan further. Streamline by setting specific days for specific tasks as much as possible so your schedule has a routine.
• Office Organization Tip #2 Prioritize your work to-do list by keeping 3 lists of 3. The first list contains 3 things you will do today that are most important to the success of your business. Be sure to differentiate between urgent and important. The second is 3 tasks you’d like to get done, but which aren’t of greatest importance. The third is 3 responsibilities that need to be taken on at some point. If you only have a few hours each day to devote to work related tasks, just stick to the 1^st list of three. Schedule a beginning and ending time for each of the tasks on your list. Stick to that time limit strictly. Accept the fact that you will rarely finish your to-do list. For my clients who are perfectionists this is frustrating. They eventually learn to delegate or delete the non-essential items from their list. As busy working women, learning to delete and delegate can turn our minds from chaos to calm.
• Office Organization Tip #3 Get your office desk, papers, supplies and computer files organized. The National Association of Professional Organizers reports that the average American wastes 55 minutes per day looking for things they have misplaced. A major cause of ineffective time management is disorganization. Although many people claim not to have enough time or money to get organized, the truth is that usually the more organized you are, the less time and money you waste. When my clients know where everything is, they don’t spend their valuable work time searching for things. What could YOU accomplish with 2 ½ extra work weeks a year?

Give my office organization tips a try by scheduling a time to plan and then prioritize with your 3 lists of 3. When your task list is planned and prioritized and your “office stuff” is in its place, you will be a more productive person and your business profits will reflect positively.

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Vicki Winterton is a professional organizer who has been highlighted here at Start-up Princessin newspapers, magazines and on TV. She is an online organizing expert who co-hosts   The Organized Woman Show. Vicki’s Utah based professional organizing business is found at http://www.OrganizingMindOverMatter.com/