And as the demands of a small business increase it is essential to be organized. Efficiency is one aspect of why this is important. But there is more. Clutter leads to chaotic challenges and difficulty.
January has been typically the month i work at getting everything organized….the calander, the work space, our desk, our files, our taxes, and yes, my house. March is house organizing month for me. From the yearly running start to reset everything, put everything in its place, clean thoroughly, and make life more organized by a place for everything i have learned that there are some good quick tips for accomplishing this:
- Keep your desk organized – A clean desk with easy access to everything you need will make for a much more efficient time spent there. If you are like me the desk becomes a collection of piles of things: invitations, articles, receipts, forms, and clutter. It is so difficult to work surrounded by clutter. Clutter is a drain on us, bringing distractions, and frustration. I spend a bit of time looking for great organizing supplies – boxes, files, and systems.
- Become a list maker – Plan what needs to be accomplished through a list. Make your list each day because it is a practical way of keeping track of the details of life, and gain a sense of accomplishment as you check off the list. Nothing better than checking off those easy tasks, and seeing the list dwindle down to nothing.
- Centralize your information – For us the calendar is a critical thing to keep track of future events, and deadlines, and plan production runs of our products. We determined to keep all of this information in one book, and that came from a moment when we each had a different calender with different schedules. Keep information in one place. This would include records, files and taxes too!
- Review the calendar– Plan and prepare for events ahead of time, staging everything… get those things that take time done well ahead of the event. I learned this from countless night before all nighters to get things done. I would rather be ahead of the curve, and have a little bit of time off before the event, than scramble. Planning is an efficient way of getting eveything done and organized well.
- Plan a year in advance – while you have the calendar out think and plan for events that repeat, and block known dates off for the following year.
- Set goals for the day, week, month and year – make them obtainable, bite size goals. If you have a goal to shoot for its easier than not having one to gauge your success, growth, trending.
- A place for everything and everything in its place – always hard to keep everything where it belongs, but rewarding to do this… easier to clean up again, and find things in the future when you have returned supplies or files to where they belong.