Tired of being controlled by your papers, e-mails, telephone & last minute fires?
Use these 12 tips to manage your time and organize your office so you will have more time for success and to follow your passion!
Don’t check emails first thing in the morning!
Take time to get grounded and organize your day before you check your emails.
Organize at the beginning of each day before you begin reacting
Schedule time every (or all day) Monday to set up your week.
Set aside time every morning to look over schedule and intentions before you start with meetings, emails, calls etc.
Stop reacting, without thinking, to other people’s fires
Do not react quickly to problems that are not yours.
Slow down before you jump into a mess to see what the priorities are that you will have to set aside to help the person in distress.
If you have organized your week in advance, you will know what you will bump to help.
Decide what scheduling device you will use and use only one
Do not keep multiple calendars.
One for business one for personal.
Or one digital and one paper – commit to online or offline.
Set up a proper action file system so your papers will flow in and out of your office
Store vertically according to type of action required
Use hanging files for your other papers
Piles will not serve you long term.
Manila folders in a drawer have no support and tumble together, use hanging rods.
Make sure to use file tabs on your folders.
Sub divide large files with manila folders.
Keep only the one project that you are working on your desk.
Put away all other folders to avoid confusion and distraction
Clear off your desk surface at the end of each day and wipe off the dust
Spend time at the end of each workweek to put away all unfinished projects
Protect the million dollar real estate in your office, otherwise known as your circle of influence
Keep only the essential items you use every day on your desktop.
Organize your work space so all tools are within arms reach File drawers, printer, etc.
Return calls all together in a batch
A great time to return calls is when you are starting to feel lethargic
Calling everyone at once in a row, saves time later.
You get off the phone faster because you have other calls to make.
Start a small spiral ring notebook to keep quick notes by your phone.
This gives you an instant place to notes as you talk.
Special ‘to do’ items can be transferred into your ‘to do’ list later.
This will avoid loose pieces of paper and sticky notes from cluttering up your desk.
Write a date on the cover from beginning to end of use.
If you feel like you must keep these books for a little while, keep them for only two years tops (odd year/even year)!
When you attend conferences, follow these rules:
Bring home only the important papers, take the time to weed through and discard all extra papers in the hotel before you check out.
Keep a running list of ‘to do’s that you learn and really want to implement as you learn during the conference.
Keep this list on one sheet of paper and make a note that refers to the speaker’s website or the page number to reference their material.
Do not attend any conference unless you can take the day after to organize, regroup and absorb what you have learned
This is also the time you will put all of your contacts into your database and email any promised follow-ups with the people you have met.
