10 Tips to Help You Stay Organized
Learning how to get organized is one thing, but staying organized is a completely different matter. Many people put off getting organized because they’re not sure they can sustain the process long-term. Breaking your disorganization habit takes more than making sure to put things in their place.
Once you have a system in place and you know how to be organized, you will need to know how to stay organized.
Conquer clutter immediately. Clean up clutter as soon as you create it. If your desk harbours mounds of papers, books, files and personal accessories, you may be adding unnecessary stress to your day. An organized desk will help you relax and become more productive.
Conquer clutter daily. Schedule 10 to 15 minutes each week to clear your work area of junk mail, old papers, and other accumulated clutter. Eliminate behaviours that lead to clutter.
Defuse distractions. Distractions can add up to a major drain on productivity. Check out these three posts for tips on eliminating external distractions:
A place for everything and everything in its place. Quick—can you tell me where your toothbrush is? I bet you can. Most people know exactly where their toothbrush is, because those things have a specific home. Everything in your office or home should have its own place so you can find things quickly and easily. As you probably can’t remember every item in every storage space, use a label maker to label the space.
One in, one out. Get rid of something every time you bring an new item into you office or home. When you buy a new item —something in the same category has to go. Overcrowding items invites disorganization.
Use the one-year rule. Everytime you come across an object or piece of paper, ask yourself if you’ve used it in the past year. If the answer is no, chances are, the item can go. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Write it down. This is a must. Have you ever had a great idea, heard something useful or needed to remember something later? If you didn’t jot it down, then and there, you likely forgot it. Unless you have very little to do or the tasks you have are highly repetitive, you cannot depend on your brain to recall everything. The things that are most immediate are going to push away things in the background —often the most important. By writing things down you free up you brain to analyze the information and make productive decisions.
Set routines. You should not try to work against your inner nature. What time of day you are at your best? Schedule the toughest work for your period of peak productivity. Schedule patterns for eliminating clutter and disorganization. The idea of “Spring Cleaning” has been around for a long time because it works. Set routines for archiving files, maintaining equipment and vehicles, running errands, etc. If you need reminders, mark the date in your calendar.
Plan and schedule. If a major organizing job arises, don’t sit around waiting for a golden opportunity to get started. Break it down into smaller chunks and schedule a process. Tasks can also be grouped for increased efficiency: file all at once, prepare invoices all at once, answer e-mail all at once.
Share the load. Maintaining the system doesn’t have to be a one-person job. As the old saying goes, “many hands make light work.” Performance of dreaded tasks—like an annual inventory—can be a lot more fun when many are involved and frequent breaks are scheduled.
A couple more thoughts for keeping organized:
Introduce a bit (or a lot) of fun into your work. It will make the day easier. Instead of looking at the negatives, look for the positives. Instead of looking for problems, look for opportunities. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, look for constructive solutions.
Celebrate the achievement of goals. Promise yourself a reward for completing each task, or finishing the total job. Then keep your promise to yourself and indulge in your reward. Doing so will help you maintain the necessary balance in life between work and play.
Ann McGee-Cooper says, “If we learn to balance excellence in work with excellence in play, fun, and relaxation, our lives become happier, healthier, and a great deal more creative.”
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Some great advice here. I’m slowly but surely becoming a more organized person. The one in-one out rule has been particularly useful to me. I have a rather large game and DVD collection and I’m gradually whittling it down so I have more space.