Battling Disorganization

There's being busy and there's being surrounded by busywork. Busywork leads to disorganization. Disorganization will cost you time and cost the company money. If an organization is bled with endless unnecessary costs, it will suffer and begin to founder. This could impact your job in the long run. If you are running your own business, disorganization could be fatal for it.

Here are some basic steps to getting organized:

Set up a work schedule that you can actually use. You know when your best time of the day is. Plan your hardest work for this time. If you are a morning person, do your paperwork then. Save your low energy times for more mundane tasks.

Don't make the schedule too rigid. The important thing is to set up a schedule of any kind, just to get into the habit of having some structure in your workday.

Make a list of things that you must do every day. This depends on your job. For instance if you have a boss, the boss may decide what you do each day. Nevertheless, there are things that must be done every day. Put these on your list. If you have a boss, simply put on the list "Follow boss's orders."

Do similar items together. For instance, if you do photocopying every day, get a file folder and put all documents to be photocopied in this folder. Pick a time when the photocopier is not likely to be in big demand and do it all at once.

Group your phone calls and emailing into single slots of time. If you have to be on your email frequently because people need information fast, set aside five minutes every half-hour and do it all at once. Stopping what you are doing and checking your email is a great time waster.

If you cannot get yourself motivated to use an online contact management program, keep all your contact information in one spot. Business cards, little sticky notes with phone numbers, index cards, pieces of papers... gather them all up and put them in a big envelope or a file folder. You can waste an hour a day looking for a phone number.