Organize and Energize: 5 reasons you need to get organized at work
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
It’s never too late to get organized. Get out of your comfort zone and be open to change. Stop saying you are too busy to get organized. You are wasting time by not being organized. There are so many great opportunities out there that you may be missing out on, but because you are disorganized, they have slipped by you. Make that change, get organized and reap the benefits.
Here are 5 reasons you need to get organized at work:
1. Save money. Have you been so disorganized that you are paying your bills late or paying them late because you can’t find them? You are wasting money in late fees. Your credit score drops when you pay bills late and your interest rates will increase. Keep paying your bills late and you will eventually have to deal with collection agencies which will also cost you money.
Do you store your supplies in one area? If not, you will be wasting money purchasing duplicate items you already own. Keep all office supplies itemized and categorized in one area in your office.
If you have piles of papers on your desk and thrown into drawers, I will guarantee that there are cash, checks, and gift cards mixed in those drawers and piles.
Set up working organized systems to handle the paper and money that arrives into your office and never lose money again. If you are disorganized, you are wasting and losing money!
2. Reduce Stress. We all have stressful situations that arise in our workday. When you are organized and have systems in place, it is much easier to handle a stressful situation. If you are disorganized, you are more prone to stress on a daily basis.
Organized people recover quicker than disorganized people when a stressful situation occurs. The disorganized person will waste time and energy searching for files, phone numbers, or that important email and it will take them longer to recover from the situation. The organized knows where everything is in their office and they handle the stress and go about their day. Isn’t reducing stress a good reason to get organized?
3. Enjoy more free time. Time management and organization go hand in hand. Utilize a calendar and keep a running to-do list every day. On Friday, take a look at the upcoming week to get an idea of what you have scheduled and make a to-do list from that. Every night before you leave work be sure you have a to-do list for the next day. To-do lists will keep you on track.
Streamline your workflow. There is always a more efficient and productive way to complete a task. Re-evaluate how you are functioning and streamline your procedures.
If you spend countless hours in the week searching for files, documents or emails, you are losing precious time that could be spent doing more productive work. If you plan ahead and prepare, you will have more free time to enjoy with your family, exercising or spending it on the things you enjoy most.
4. More energy. When you are organized, you will have more energy! When you consume yourself with clutter and disorganization, your mind will be cluttered too, which will weigh on you mentally.
We have enough going on in our personal lives. When you try to keep everything in your mind without writing it down, it will cause mental clutter. Organize your thoughts and release the mental clutter.
5. Your clients and co-workers will have more confidence in you. How your clients perceive you is very important. We all know the saying, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Picture this scenario: You have a potential client visiting your office for the first time. You have paperwork, business cards, files, etc. all over your desk. Your bulletin board is full of clutter. You are working off piles on the floor and even worse, you struggle to search for something when your potential client is in your office. Your clients are going to ask themselves the following questions, especially if they are organized:
*Will they misplace my personal information? If you are handling confidential information, your clients do not want to see papers all over your desk.
*Will my information get mixed in with another client’s information? Again, if you don’t have a system to process your paper, clients will get very nervous about where there information will end up on your desk.
*Will they take care of my business as efficiently as I would like them to? Visual clutter causes mental clutter which in turn causes you to lose focus. What happens when we lose focus? We get distracted and we don’t function as efficiently as we could.
*Do they seem distracted by their disorganization? If your clients see that you are working in disarray and are distracted, they are going to question how efficient and productive you really are. They want to know that they are your top priority and if you aren’t functioning at your best, they will notice.
Once you get organized, you will be more efficient, more productive, and your time management skills will improve. You will be able to spend more time on the things you enjoy. Serenity. Sanity. Finally.
Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, the founder and owner of Organizing in RI, has always enjoyed finding creative ways to streamline the environment around her. She has appeared on air on Patricia Raskin's Positive Business Radio and her articles have been published in the Rhode Island Small Business Journal and New England Home Life. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to start. She is also available for organizing workshops. Tune in to her radio show, Organize, Energize! on http://www.talkstreamradio.com.
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