Save Time by Organizing Your Work Environment

In some ways, time management is all about organization. Something that is sometimes overlooked is the value of physical organization to managing time. You must learn how to organize your work area as well as your schedule. If your work area is a mess, you are handicapped before you even reach the starting line. It can be overwhelming trying to start a new project when your desk is cluttered with papers and junk, and trying to find necessary items in that mess just slows you down even more.
 

Take a look at your work area and answer the following questions honestly:

• Does your desk seem to “grow” paper?
• Is your desk a clean working surface that helps you focus your energy on the task at hand?
• Do you get a positive feeling when you approach your desk?
• Is your desk such a mess that you invent ways to avoid it altogether?
• Is your file cabinet a black hole that sucks in paper, notes, articles, documents, and other items you can’t part with?
• Is your filing system a streamlined, orderly one that supports you in getting your job done?
• Is the physical appearance of your workspace uncluttered, cheerful, and light?
• Is your workspace conducive to clear, creative thinking?

Organizing Your Desk or Workstation

Since most of your business activity emanates from your desk, it is the perfect place to start organizing. Why do desks get so disorganized in the first place?  You may have so many important things to do that you are afraid that if you put them out of sight you might forget them. Trying to work under chaotic conditions can be exhausting and stressful.  It takes a great deal of energy to ignore chaos and clutter when you are trying to focus on the task at hand.

• Scoop everything off your desk. Take a look at it: does it feel good? Is it refreshing to see it this way?

• Place your most recent project on your desk. The project might include a few file folders, a couple of books, and some forms. These few items do not make a messy desk, as long as they are all related to your project.  The point is to take out and work on one thing at a time. This helps you to concentrate and think more clearly.

• Begin a “dump” drawer. Designate one of the lower drawers of your desk as the dump drawer. Put all low-priority, low-payoff items, such as brochures, newspapers, and other mail that isn’t time-critical, into the dump drawer. Go through your dump drawer once a month and handle what has been accumulated.  Scan the items quickly and decide whether to toss them.  You will find that about 90% of what goes in this drawer can be thrown out.

• Develop a parking system for everything that comes into your office, including personal items. Immediately put things in their respective places upon arrival, so you can find them easily when you need them again. 

• File it in the wastebasket. As much as 80 % of all paper files are never needed. In fact, if you were to throw away most of your files, no one would ever know or care. Naturally, you will want to keep legal documents and resource materials to which you frequently refer. But the motto for everything else is “THROW IT OUT!” Ask yourself: “If I should need that information again, is there somewhere I can get it with a reasonable amount of effort?”

• Dump it, delay it, or delegate it. What you can’t dump, delay.  More than likely, work frequently comes into your office that does not require immediate attention or a prompt answer. Handle this kind of work when you have free time. What you can’t dump or delay, delegate. Break yourself of the habit of doing things others were hired to do.

• Set up a filing system. Everything you keep costs you time. Storing papers requires filling time, maintenance time and retrieval time. Important items can get lost in the clutter. You may look at a worthless piece of paper dozens of times while searching for something else. Your goal is to set up a filing system with an emphasis on retrieving information easily, rather than on simply storing paper. This approach will increase your effectiveness and eliminate stress.

Because you spend so many hours each day in your work environment, it pays to keep it clear of clutter and distractions. When your work area is clean and organized, you concentrate better, work faster, and remember longer. A clean work area also lowers stress, allowing you to be more creative and increase productivity, as well as improving your problem-solving skills. Taking some time now to organize your work environment can lead to long-term time management gains. And anyway, isn’t it nice to have a clean desk?

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