Organize Your Work Life With These Simple Tips

For a busy professional, order is essential; it increases efficiency and productivity. If you often find yourself wasting time hunting for everything from emails to completed contracts, it's time to get organized. With a few dedicated hours, you can streamline your work life and create less stress in your day.

Prioritize

Prioritizing is the most important thing you can do to get organized at work. Each week, rank your projects and tasks starting from most important to least important. Include due dates, and put items with earlier deadlines closer to the top of the list. Then, take 15 minutes each morning to create a prioritized to-do list based on your weekly plan. Stick carefully to your list to avoid getting off track. In doing so, you can ensure that crucial projects get completed on time and avoid wasting valuable hours on nonessential tasks.

Create Manageable Steps

The feeling of being overwhelmed is the enemy of organization; it often prevents you from taking efficient action, leading to delays and confusion. Get organized at the micro and macro level using a step system. Start by breaking down individual projects into small, manageable steps. Each step should include a single, specific action that is easy to achieve. Instead of saying, "Get a quote from the new supplier," you might write, "find new supplier's email address," "determine the quantity needed" and "email supplier to request a quote." Each time you complete a step, cross it off on your list. This process helps you understand the scope of each project and gauge progress at a glance, so it's easier to stay organized.

Organize Your Physical Space

Physical clutter can lead to mental clutter — it can be difficult to focus when you're distracted by loose papers and scattered office supplies. Take an afternoon to get organized in your workspace. File loose forms, store books and project binders in a bookcase, and place memos and papers into an in/out tray. Buy small containers for office supplies, and use dividers to bring order to your catch-all drawer. With a clean office, it's easier to find what you need when you need it.

Organize Your Digital Space

If you're like many modern professionals, a significant percentage of your work life happens in the digital realm. As you get organized, don't forget about your computer and online spaces. Go through your inbox, and move each email into a folder; leave only the emails that require action. Then, tackle loose files on your computer, in your Google Drive account or in other cloud accounts. Move files off your computer desktop, and arrange your phone apps in a logical order.

Bringing order to chaos can be a challenge, particularly if it doesn't come naturally to you. By making small, incremental changes, you can get organized and design a smoother professional process.

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