10 Tips for Organizing Your Office in 2005
Date: Monday, January 24, 2005 @ 11:23 AM EST
Topic: Events
At our January 17, 2005 Unit of 1 networking event, Kendra Muscella, an expert organizer, presented 10 tips for organizing your office.
Her presentation is below:
What stands between you and an organized work space?
Before you buy another item that you think might help you get organized stop and consider what is behind the chaos.
- How do you feel about the space?
- What do you think of when you think of going into your office to do work?
- Do you delay the start of work to avoid going into the space?
- Do you find yourself wanting to work in a different space?
- What is the decor like?
- Have you given thought to room color, adequate furniture for you and
your quests?
- Does your work space express who you are?
- How do you feel about the work that you do?
- Are you satisfied?
- Do you have systems in place for time management, paper management, file management, client management and appointment management?
- Are these systems working for you?
- Would you like for them to be portable?
- How do you keep your business and personal space separate?
- Are you keeping up with technology or do you and your business need an upgrade?
- Do you get any physical activity during the day?
- How do you decompress during the day and at the end of the day?
I ask you these questions because in most cases of chaos, no matter the extent, internal feelings and one's perception of one's environment are at the root. Feelings of dissatisfaction personally and professionally can cause stress and the breakdown of established systems. This is cyclical in that system breakdown can lead to dissatisfaction.
Why do you want to be organized?
What does being organized mean to you?
Answering the questions above, taking stock internally and modifying your behavior can then lead to system modification, the creation of order and in the end a renewed sense of personal and professional satisfaction.
Next steps are to schedule time to spend in the office dedicated to sorting, purging and finding homes for items that will remain. If systems work don't change them. Focus on what is not working and analyze the situation. Do not buy a new organizing system until you have a solution.
A few tips that can aid in the creation of new habits and systems:
Time Management
- Set aside time at the end of the day to lay out the following day?s schedule, establish structure.
- Work at being proactive as opposed to reactive so that the priorities that you have established do not fall down the list as the day progresses and fires arise.
- When a large project requires your full attention be sure to schedule time to touch base with smaller clients to keep up on your pipeline and reduce the amount of time spent playing catch-up.
- Keep track for a week or two of how long particular tasks take to accomplish. This information can help you plan your days more effectively.
Paper Management
- Keep the source, get rid of the paper.
- Assign a home to the objects in your office. For example, paper going into files most recent papers first.
- Set up a paper purging schedule to keep files and reference materials current and to avoid over growth.
- Keep whatever you can online to limit the amount of paper you have in your office.
- Mail - go through the mail everyday. Divide the mail into keep, trash and recycle. Mail that will be kept is then divided into business and personal. After that take the personal mail out of the office and address the business mail. The point here is to keep business and personal mail separate and to address mail each day.
- Reference Materials - Assign a home and again keep the source, get rid of the paper.
Kendra Muscella
All In Order
k.muscella@verizon.net
610-996-3690
Unit of 1 members have been recommending their favorite resources for getting organized - here's the top 4 books from our Amazon.com powered library:
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