How to stay more organized at work.
The people who are the most successful at administrative jobs are the people who know how to get things done. A large part of achieving results is staying organized. If you look around at the overachievers in your office, you'll probably notice that they are also the most organized.
Because there is only a limited amount of time to accomplish everything in one day, making the most of your time is crucial. If you are trying to improve your results and further your career, here are some tips for getting your work flow organized and being more productive:
- Goals – If you don't set work goals, you won't be able to know when you have accomplished them. The most successful people typically set goals for what they intend to achieve daily, weekly, monthly and so on. It's important to set both long and short term goals. With any task, set a goal for how much time it should take and try to stick with it. As you check off your daily list, you will quickly see how much you are able to accomplish in an average work day.
- Prioritize – This one is a biggie. Sometimes it seems that there is too much work to be done and not nearly enough time. Rather than doing a little bit of each task, find out which ones are the most important and devote a larger portion of time to completing those tasks. Don't be afraid to ask your boss or your co-workers if you aren't sure how important a job is.
- Be realistic about deadlines – It seems that sometimes every job needs to be done as soon as possible, but that isn't very realistic. If something comes across your desk that takes a lot of time, find out how urgent it actually is and give a more realistic time frame for getting it done. Everyone wants things done right away, but letting them know when they can actually expect it is a great way to take some of the pressure off.
- Don't multitask – Multitasking is a lie. The idea is that if you do a little bit of multiple things, you can get them all done faster. This simply isn't true. When you are working on several things at once, you aren't able to devote enough energy to any one of them. Instead, you end up exhausted, burned out and frustrated. Decide what's important and work on each task individually.
- Delegate – Even if you aren't in management, there are going to be tasks that can be delegated to a lower level co-worker. This allows you to focus on more important things and gives your co-worker a chance to learn about other aspects of the job. Too often people think that they have to do it themselves in order to be sure that it is done correctly. This isn't true. If you let your co-worker know what you have on your plate and explain what you need done, you'll probably find that they are more than happy to help.
- Know your work pattern – We are simply humans, not machines. Therefore, we have highs and lows each day. Get to know yourself and find out when you are most productive. For some people, the mornings are the best time for getting things done, while others find that they are able to focus better in the afternoons. Once you know how you work, you can plan your day based on when you are the most productive and efficient.
Staying organized at work can really be a challenge. It's one I struggle with every day. It's so easy to get caught up in the stress of working as hard as you can and end up overwhelmed by the list of tasks that have to be completed. Simply making a list of what you need to do can eliminate a lot of wasted time and effort and make you work day run a whole lot smoother.
What do you do to stay organized? I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for Administrativejobsblog. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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