Everyone has areas of life where there’s a lack of organization. Whether it’s at home or the office, we misplace things and we can’t find things when we need them because we’re not organized.
But getting organized is a big help with time management. Declutter your home and office before you attempt to tackle staying organized and managing your time better.
Forget the elaborate systems 📇
Any system you use for organizing your life that takes a lot of time to keep up with is actually a waste of time. An organizational system should enhance your life, not detract from it.
You can use simple means such as an expandable folder or a filing cabinet with hanging folders to keep track of bills that need to be paid or projects that need to be completed.
You may also choose to go digital and get rid of paper all together. The Digital Business Filing System is a hub where you can store branding details, tax documentation, receipts, course information, passwords and more. Don’t overcomplicate your organization system. Invest in simple solutions and watch how it transforms the way you manage your time and act in a more productive manner.
Don’t procrastinate ⌛
This is a big problem for a lot of people in all walks of life. We don’t like to do the things we don’t like to do. It’s as simple as that. No one wants to do the hard jobs that seem boring.
When you get the most difficult tasks over with, they’re done and you have that sense of satisfaction that it’s now behind you. One of the biggest time management problems is with paperwork. When you get important paperwork, take care of it immediately.
If you haven’t switched to electronic file keeping, then it can be easy to get overwhelmed and disorganized just by the volume of documents. Since you don’t want certain sensitive information stored online, you’ll want to keep that at home.
Group similar transactions together at home in order to save time 🏠
For example, when it comes to better home time management, if you have to run errands, group all of the errands that are within the same area together. Try to work it out so that you only have to deal with one errand day a month.
Do the banking, post office needs and any medication pickups on the same day. Driving can be a big leak in your time management success – and since you need to pay attention to driving, you can’t do much else except maybe listen to a podcast or something else you need to listen to.
Do the same at the office 🏢
You can do the same when it comes to work tasks. Things that have to be done every week can be grouped by days and according to difficulty and length of tasks. “Batching” also helps with productivity, as well as efficiency.
If you know that you need to drop something off at someone’s office and you have a meeting, you can drop the item off while you head to the meeting. This also helps prevent time wasted chatting when you have to be somewhere.
Have a calendar for both home and office 📅
Keep it where you can see it every day. You can put it on the wall or on your desk. The ones with the large blocks that enable you to write appointments in them work best.
This way, you can see your day at a glance and your week and month as well. These larger calendars often work better for time management than the smaller ones you can keep tucked away.
Again, you may also go digital and use any of the online calendar tools if you want to reduce clutter.
