Tips to Help You Get Organised at Work

Being highly organised is essential in all job roles, particularly if you’re working as part of a small business. If you’re an organised individual, the chances are that you will be focused, keep on top of your workload, meet deadlines and use your time productively. If you’re unorganised on the other hand, it could affect your work, motivation and result in a loss of time. So, if you’re struggling to meet deadlines in work then now is the time to get organised! Here are some useful tips to help you get started…

Declutter your desk space

It’s never too late to have a ‘spring clean’, in fact a summer sort out might be the best thing you do this month! Remove any unnecessary items that you don’t use and store away neatly in a draw. When it comes to personal clutter ask yourself if it is likely to distract you, if the answer is no it can stay, if not you will be more productive without it! Ensure that you have all of the essentials in your desk draw, for example a notebook, pen, highlighter, cork board, sticky notes and anything else that you frequently use.

Make lists and set deadlines

By making lists of schedules you will be able to determine which tasks are most time sensitive and therefore prioritise your workload accordingly. Lists are an excellent way to break down your assignments by providing you with a visual layout that displays all of your uncompleted tasks. Separate your daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly jobs so that you can keep track on your deadlines.

Colour coordinate

Ever heard of the phrase ‘it’s the little things that make a big difference’? Well colour coordinating is the little thing that will really make a difference to the management of your workload. Colour coordinating your lists and files might seem a little trivial however, when it comes to being organised in work it is a necessity! Use coloured pens to separate your assignments and documents and always highlight any important information.

Set reminders

Set reminders, whether on a website, app or the more traditional way – sticky notes! This will encourage you to meet your deadlines and avoid a build-up of work. Useful project management websites include: Basecamp, Trello and Wunderlist, such websites notify you with several reminders when your deadline is due and allows you to tick them off once they have been completed. 

Set realistic targets

Avoid making impractical targets by breaking down your jobs into bite size pieces; this useful trick will simplify your tasks and therefore encourage you to get started. Put the task as the heading and write underneath the smaller jobs that it includes, by ticking one off at a time you will feel like you’re getting more done and will be more motivated to move quickly onto the next assignment.

Filing

File away any important documents in relevant files and keep the files in either alphabetical order or sort by date. This allows you to easily access the information when you need to use it.