Clutter makes you dizzy, disorganized, and inefficient; you not only lose time, but you decrease your target output by the end of the day. An organized work space increases efficiency, improves the quality of your work, and saves you time. If you’re struggling to be efficient, try to follow these simple steps that you can do now.
- Devote a few minutes to organize your desk before you leave your office. If you work from home, wipe your desk, put away clutter, and put everything in its place before you end your work day. This way, you feel good and relaxed when you see a clean desk the next day and you don’t have to scramble to find things that you would have misplaced if you didn’t organize your desk beforehand.
- Go through your file inbox at the start of each work day. Check if you need to follow-up anything and do so right away. File documents that are important and throw away those that you don’t need.
- Create a list of tasks that you need to accomplish each day. Use a tool that’s convenient for you to use like your phone, laptop, or your organizer. With a laptop you can even work at a cafe or other places where you might be able to take in the view or just have a different space to enjoy a change of pace. This should help with any tedium that might be building up as routine sets in. If you don’t have one, you can find different rent to own laptop options online that you can take full advantage of. This should mitigate the factor of having to save money to buy the device in full upfront, providing you with an important tool to work with and earn money to pay for it.
- Your task list must be handy enough to bring it with you anywhere. You may also use the traditional pen and paper. Make it a habit to cross-out tasks that you’ve already finished. Make it a goal to finish all tasks that you listed for that day.
- If you have assistants or co-workers who work on the same project as you, delegate the tasks early in the morning. This allows them to plan their task list in advance as well.
- Store pertinent information in your computer or organizer. Consolidate everything if you can. Don’t put these information in different pieces of paper and let them lie around or get lost with your other files.
- Let your colleagues, friends, and family members know your work days and hours so they know when to call (or not to call) you for a chit-chat. This minimizes work interruption on your part and allows you to work more efficiently.
- Don’t be an email slave. Open your email at a certain time of the day, ideally at 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. Most people check emails all the time without realizing that it eats up a bulk of their time. Don’t be like these people.
- If you’re not expecting an important call, let your callers leave a voicemail. Check your voicemail messages twice a day only, when you’re free to return calls. If you get a message from someone who loves to chit-chat and you don’t have the time to talk with him or her, reply to him through an SMS or e-mail.
- Don’t take your work home and don’t try to do tomorrow tasks today. If you work from home, strictly work around your schedule. If your schedule is 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., you must stop work at exactly 6:00 p.m.
