Seven Tips To Get Yourself Organized

Do you mislay things? You are not entirely on your own, friend. We all suffer moments like that.

In elementary school we were taught that there isn't any such thing as "cold"; that the condition we call "cold" is actually just an absence of heat. Well... disorganization is just a lack of organization. It takes time to clean up the chaos you have.

I enjoy my job. Making accounting websites for a living is like playing video games all day long. Time spent organizing can feel like it's taking away from your work, but this really isn't true. Organizing allows you to get more done in less time in the long run, and that's good.

Hiring an assistant is, I suppose, the standard solution. If your business is like most, however, hiring someone just to keep you organized is a waste of money. There are a number of basic changes you can make to your work day that will help you keep everything in it's place.

- For everything that you own, designate a place for it. Use labels. Whenever you use something, you'll know exactly where they belong because of the labels. You won't need the labels for long. Over time it will all become second nature.

- Don't let your stuff out pace your available storage. If you don't have enough storage space organization becomes impossible. Once you run out of shelf space there's not much you can do except pile stuff up on your desk and (gulp) floor. Take some time to buy the stuff you need, and while you're at it, get a place for temporary storage. Do you have a tray near the front door of your home where you can hang house keys and place outgoing mail? Most of us do. It just makes it easier to gather our stuff before leaving the house. You can do the same thing in your office. If you're going to have a meeting or important task that day go ahead and pull the stuff you'll need and put it on this desk!

- Organize one aspect of your office at a time. Get it cleaned up and organized, then try to keep it clean.

- Remember when your mom used to tell you to wash the dishes as you use them? Apply this discipline to your office, too. Don't let things pile up. Put them away when you're done and you'll have a much easier time getting out of the office at the end of the day.

- Don't waste time constantly resetting passwords and login information. This stuff is way too easy to forget. Keep your password and login information in a single text document, a wiki, some other type of system.

- Use a good, old-fashioned inbox. If you make it a point not to leave for the weekend until it's empty you'll never miss a task suffer a loose piece of paper again. You may need to use multiple inboxes. You might want one for home and one for work, or have separate boxes for sales, product development, and employee issues.

- Get a calendar and use it. Google has a great calendar app. My calendar allows me post schedules and availability online. This comes in really handy. It also reminds me of upcoming events by email and with on-screen pop-ups. Of course it's easy to use, and it allows me to shuffle my schedule and change event times by dragging and dropping. It really helps me keep my tasks straight.

There are various ways to get and stay organized. The best tip I've offered is to put things back in their designated places when you use something.