Did you know that 89% of employees waste time while at work? The majority of them (60%) waste anywhere between 30 minutes to 1 hour every day, while 16% waste around 2 hours.
If you feel like you don’t have enough time at work to get things done, then your minutes are probably going to waste without you even realizing it.
Here are some ways you can develop some strong organization skills for the office to make better use of your time.
Clean up Your Desk
The state of your desk will affect the state of your mind. If it’s cluttered and messy, you won’t be able to concentrate, and your brain will mirror how your desk looks.
The first step to getting better organizational skills in the workplace is to fix up your desk. Clean up everything that doesn’t need to be out and get things like trays to keep your papers in.
Create certain areas of your desk that will facilitate your work process. Think about how your workflow goes and have things out that’ll help that along.
At the end of the day, clean up any mess you’ve made, no matter how tempting it is to just call it a day and go home. If you can start off your day with a clean desk, you’ll be surprised at just how much you can achieve.
Plan out Your Days
An important part of having excellent organizational skills is knowing how to organize your time at work. Many people get to work, sit down, and just tackle tasks at random based on how they’re feeling.
But if you go about your days on a whim, this is the worst thing to do.
Instead, you need to set aside a few minutes at the start of your day to figure out what you want to achieve. A to-do list is great for this.
Think about larger tasks that you need to break down over several days or even weeks. By breaking down these bigger things, it’ll be easier to get done; it won’t feel as overwhelming.
Sprinkle the rest of your time with the smaller tasks. In the end, you’ll be able to get both types of tasks done without neglecting one or the other.
Clear out Your Email
It’s tempting to just check your email every morning and not delete any of them. You never know when you’ll need to refer back to them, after all.
But do you really need to keep every email from Domino’s about their pizza specials? Yea, we didn’t think so. Not only do they take up precious space, but they’ll also make it harder for you to sift through your other emails if you need to look for a particular one.
Take a moment out of your busy day to sort through everything in your inbox. Delete everything you don’t need, archive those you do need, and keep the rest in your inbox. It’ll look a lot better once you’re done.
Also, by learning how to delete mail storage on Mac, not only will your computer be less cluttered, but it may also run faster, depending on how much space these attachments were taking up.
Create Labels for Your Emails
This is something you can do when you’re clearing out your emails. It’ll be a great way to multitask.
Create some labels for your emails to further organize them. Maybe you have a lot of emails from a certain coworker and/or team and you want to differentiate them from your clients. You can create labels like “Coworker Name,” “Team Name,” and “Clients.”
Attach these labels to the appropriate emails and in the future, you can click on them to automatically sort your emails to just that label. You can keep things nice and organized by labeling all future emails as soon as they come in.
Don’t Be Afraid of Tech
But don’t overuse it either.
Technology’s there for you to make your life easier. However, if you don’t find the right balance, then you might be working harder instead of smarter.
Take a look at what’s already installed on devices such as your smartphone, laptop, and desktop computer. See what’s lacking and hop online to find out what software’s available to fill these gaps.
For example, if you’re working with a team on a project, project management tools are great to have. Apps like Asana and Trello allow you and other team members to hold one another accountable. They also let you communicate, attach files, and clearly assign stakeholders so there’s no confusion.
Don’t get caught up in downloading and using every single piece of technology you encounter. Not every single one will be ideal for your situation, and it’s ok to pick and choose which ones will make up your workplace tech.
Don’t Be Afraid to Delegate Either
Whether you’re just a team member or the project manager, you should never be afraid to delegate tasks. You might be tempted to handle everything on your own, but the truth is, there aren’t enough hours in the day. You’ll just end up overworking yourself and wasting time.
People with good organizational skills understand the strengths and weaknesses of others. They know which certain tasks they can delegate to other team members and can trust that these will get done efficiently and with quality.
Have Strong Organization Skills for Work
Now that you have some great tips for developing strong organization skills, you’re well on your way to being a more productive employee. This can help you tackle even the toughest of challenges, which can make you an invaluable worker in your employer’s eyes.
So put these tips into practice and you’ll see a huge improvement in your planning and organizing skills. Instead of seeing those hours pass by with little to show for it, you’ll get so much more done in the same amount of time.
For more advice on your career, please browse our other blog articles now.