Organizing Tips
DON'T
waste your time getting angry with yourself for not being organized in the past. Put that energy into getting organized now.
SET up your workspace, so that you have the least number of reasons to get up from your desk. By having everything you need for your work close at hand, you will reduce the number of distractions built into any workday.
DATE your notes, your work, your drafts, your whatever. It is SO much easier later on when you are trying to identify a piece of work or the chronology of a piece when you know when and where the different pieces fit in.
BREAK big projects into smaller, more easily accomplished ones.
SET reasonable time units of limits for your work, allowing yourself enough time to complete a task before you run out of time or heart.
SCHEDULE your work to take advantage of your best times, scheduling the more challenging tasks for that time of day during which you are at your best.
CONSIDER setting up a template for work that is repetitive. It is easier to follow the same format time and again. It then becomes routine, automatic, faster.
CHOOSE one place for specific tasks or items: to work on project files, to keep your calendar, receipts, notes, keys. etc.
KEEP CURRENT! If possible, set an appointment with yourself once a week, a half an hour to an hour, to catch up and stay on top of your paperwork.
KEEP IT SIMPLE. Systems that are too complicated are cumbersome and will succeed only in adding to your workload.
REWARD yourself when you have accomplished what you set out to do.
CLEAR off a space in your workspace at the end of every day to make it easier to start the next day. A cluttered desk means sitting down to chaos. A desk with a clear space allows you to see what is at hand and to select what you want to work on next.
ANOTHER WAY to start off the day well is to have reviewed your calendar for that day at the end of the previous day. By doing this, you can avoid any surprises.
TRY to be flexible when things don't work out exactly as you have planned, or, sometimes, even if they do. At the end of it all, remember that no matter how well we plan or anticipate or think through our habits and routines, "stuff happens." So be flexible enough to realize when a change is warranted and be able to adapt.
