There is no doubt that being organized does make a difference and it does not have to be as difficult as you think. Really organized people are not born organized people. They have to cultivate healthy habits, which then help them to stay organized. If you are generally an unorganised person, it can have a very negative effect on your work life and productivity (and many other areas in your life).You may do your job properly and complete everything fine, but that isn’t the point. The fact is you will do it better if you have good organisational skills. Employees with this skill are more productive on the job, make better impressions on bosses and receive more promotions than those who keep sloppy, inefficient work habits. You are also less likely to make silly mistakes or miss an important meeting which could potentially derail your career.
Here are some tips to keep you well organised:
• Plan ahead as much as possible: consider trying to plan ahead, so if you know that there is an appointment at a certain location for a certain time, then plan your day around that appointment. Basically, if you often go to other places near that appointment, then try to do a number of things in the one area at the same time rather than going across the city on numerous occasions and wasting time as this approach will certainly be more productive.
• Make schedules and deadlines: Organized people don’t waste time. They recognize that keeping things organized goes hand-in-hand with staying productive. They make and keep schedules for the day and week. They make deadlines and set goals. And most importantly, they and stick to them! Similarly, by living a cluttered lifestyle, you will not have the time or space to make your deadlines or achieve your goals.
• Make sure everything has a place and put it back: Knowing where everything is really will allow you to get more things done as you will waste less time hunting for that object that you require to complete your task. Too much time is wasted hunting for keys or that piece of paper and it also just stresses you out and can upset your rhythm. Instead, by being able to go right to everything you will feel as if your day is going quite smoothly and as a result more progress will be made.
• Keep only what you need: More stuff means more clutter. People who live organized lives only keep what they need and what they really want. Having fewer things also means that you enjoy those things more and feel better about using everything you own, rather than letting half of what you own collect dust. This also includes having clear and required thoughts.
• Stick to a schedule: Having a schedule will help to force you into completing tasks on time and actually getting more done in the process. The only problem here is that you need to be sensible when working out how long something takes or you will put undue pressure on yourself and this is where mistakes can occur and you will actually then start to get less done. Always give yourself some leeway when working out your schedule for the day, so if you believe that something will take you 10 minutes, then write down 15 because in actual fact seeing that you are ahead of schedule will give you a boost and this can help keep you motivated and you will do more than you expected.
• Be disciplined: Finally, you must be disciplined at all times or you will ruin all of your hard work. It is important that you keep your focus and try to avoid being side-tracked, even though this can be very difficult to do, so eliminate as many potential distractions as possible or you will just be making life harder for yourself. If you have people around you, then make sure that they know when to leave you alone, or if somebody wants to have coffee just remember that your favourite coffee shop will still be there tomorrow and there is no need to stray off your schedule if it can be avoided.