The Ultimate Guide to Stay Organized at Work

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Being organized at work not only helps you stay on top of your tasks but also boosts your productivity and efficiency. But we are caught in workplace chaos and find no ways to get organized. In fact, getting organized is a task that is always postponed because you don’t know where to start. So, in this post, I am sharing with you work organization ideas that will get you organized at work and improve your work productivity.
Let’s look at Ways to stay organized at work.

Tips to get organized at work

To get organized at work and stay consistent with it requires you to build systems that are sustainable and hence it requires a holistic approach. I have covered the organization at the office to help you organize your mind, organize your space and organize your workflow. Here are ways to stay organized at work.

Organize your mind

Tip 1: Perform brain dump

Performing brain dump brings all the chaos of the mind on paper and helps you organize your mind. At times there are many thoughts, and ideas related to projects that keep our minds busy. Also, remembering many tasks that you need to perform keeps bothering your brain and makes them unorganized.

Tip 2: Practice self-care at work

Self-care is often associated with a leisure activity you perform in your free time but it is more required during your work. In order to keep your mind organized and avoid feeling overwhelmed and feeling burnout you must take a few minutes during work to perform the simple things to have much-needed self-care at work to take care of your wellness and keep you organized.

To know simple things that you can do at your office or while working to take care of your self read 10 self-care at work tips for your wellness at the workplace.

Tip 3: Don’t multitask

Multi-tasking may seem to be more productive but it actually gives you an illusion of getting more done. When you multitask you spend more time and it reduces your efficiency and focus. Moreover, it makes you feel drained and create chaos in your mind. So avoid multi-tasking to organize.

Tip 4: Use a dedicated work planner

I highly recommend using a dedicated work planner to be organized at work. It is a must to stay on top of deadlines, meetings, and tasks. With a planner, you can easily track your progress and prioritize your workload. It also allows you to keep all your work-related information in one place, you can streamline your workflow and increase productivity. So, if you are looking for a way to manage your workload a work planner is a must.

You can make a work planner as per your work need, I have detailed in my post 10 ways to organize a notebook for work.

Tip 5: Organize your life

You will not be able to do well at work and stay organized if your life outside work is a mess. We think of work and life as separate entities but the fact is they impact each other.
If you have troubles in life you will not be effective at work. Similarly, if you face trouble at work it is difficult to avoid thinking about work at home. So to keep your mind organized at work, keep your life organized too. Keep things simple and easy.

To start organizing your life read my post How to organize your life and make it better.

P.S. Check the below spreadsheet-based organization system that I follow to organize my work in one place.

Tip 6: Build the Right Routines

In order to be organized and maintain it organized in routine life you should build routines that include all the things that are required to be organized. When you include activities that contribute to being organized as part of your routine that keep happening without realizing when the routine becomes part of your life.

Here are some most effective routine ideas for you to make your own routine

5 steps to build a morning routine before work that is best for you

Simple After work evening routine to keep you sane

50 Good morning routine ideas that suits everyone

Tip 7: Build habits of organized people

To be organized at work you need not organize things, tasks, and workflow. But to continue to be organized and stay organized you must build that that keeps you organized. Even if you build a few habits that help you be organized at work it will take you a long way to be organized at work and help you stay organized. It can be as simple as clearing your desk at the end of the work day by keeping files and papers back in the right place. Here are 31 Habits of organized people you need to know, you need not follow all of them just start with a few that will make organizing things easier for you.

Organize your physical and virtual space at work

Tip 8: Organize your Emails

We spend a lot of work hours over email. They also play a key role in our work life since much information related to projects, communication, and meeting are captured through emails and it will be unwise to spend time searching over things in email.
Moreover, if emails are not organized well you can miss important communication or revert to an important email.
Hence keeping email organized is very essential to be organized at work.

You may find these related posts useful.

How to declutter email quickly

Best tips to improve email productivity

Tip 9: Organize your files and documents

Make a filing system and keep all your documents organized in a systematic way such that it is easy to follow the sorting and filing activity at the same it is easier for you to retrieve the documents with ease.
Also, ensure your digital files are also well organized and stored in systematic folders and subfolders.
Make sure to follow a consistent system of storing files. To avoid spending a long time searching for them.

Tip 10: Use Google Drive and app

Store all your important documents on Google Drive or similar devices to keep a backup. It also lets you access them from any place when required.

There are many apps and tools like Trello, and Notion to help you organize your documents and notes. You can choose the one that suits your need.

You can also choose to stick to using a paper planner and excels lists if that makes things easier for you.

If your workplace uses google workspace, make sure to exploit the complete benefits of using the same. It can let you organize and share documents with others, maintain a task list, and plan your schedule too.

Tip 11: Declutter frequently

Maintaining an organized system at the workplace does not end with building a system for the organization you will need to actively keep things organized to sustain.
Clutter makes it difficult to make an organization sustainable. At the workplace, we may end up with clutter such as print of a draft version of the document, or notes of a completed project.
Keep a habit to declutter frequently it may be monthly or quarterly depending on your need to maintain organization.

Tip 12: Organize your workspace

Make sure all the things that you need frequently are within your reach. Leaving the workspace to look for things is a waste of time and breaks your focus from work.
A good rule to follow is the 360 rule which implies that the most frequent and essential items for your work are available within 360-degree reach of your workspace without you having to leave your work desk.
Keep bare minimum items on your work desk to avoid distractions and let the space be less cluttered.
You may wish to have some quirky things to make your workspace feel motivated and lively but they should not distract your daily work action at the work desk.

P.S. You must read my post 14 Tips to organize your work desk.

Tip 13: Clean your desk at the end of the day

Make a habit to clean your work desk at the end of the day. Keep the files, documents, and other things used throughout the day at their respective place to maintain things organized.
Weekly you can get your work desk cleaned and wiped down.
Getting in the habit to come to a clean work desk each day lets you start fresh and keep things organized.
A cluttered desk negatively affects your performance at work and adds to the stress.

Organize your workflow

Tip 14: Plan your workday

At the end of each day have a habit to reflect back on the day for the accomplishments and things that were missed. This makes you intentional with the way you spend your time.
Following reflection on the day, you must plan for the next day. This planning should include any meetings that you have to attend and a maximum of 3 key tasks that you would do.
Planning your day will help you organize your mind and time well and make you better organized at work. To know more about planning your day read my post How to have a productive day

Tip 15: Make Master lists

For every kind of work, there are some tasks that are repetitive in nature, some that may be required to be done every month, and others that may be required to be done every week. You should make a master list of these tasks so that you do not spend time making a To-Do list every time and can use the master list as a checklist to build a workflow for repeated tasks. Also, there are many records at work that one needs to refer to frequently, and searching for them distracts you, all data can be categorized and made into a master list for quick access and to keep your work organized. For details on the kind of master lists that you can make at work to refer my post 12 Master Lists you must make to be organized at work.

Tip 16: Make To-Do lists

One of the most common things observed at the workplace is forgetting about tasks or missing the deadline. With many things to do it is very easy for you to forget hence, always keep a habit of maintaining a running To-Do list and refer to it when planning your week and day.
Always note down even the simplest task on the To-Do list to avoid missing them.
Having a running To-Do list is key to being organized at work. Many times we do not maintain the To-Do list the right way.
If you are looking for tips on an effective To-Do list, read 10 Ways To Make An Effective To-Do List.

I love to use this automatic Excel tasks list that help me find pending, in-process, and daily task in 1 click. If you like to use Google spreadsheet you should check this task priority To- Do list it allows you to prioritize work too.

Tip 17: Use the calendar to be organized at work

Never rely on your memory to remember important things, always put them on the calendar. With your everyday things in life and unexpected events, it is common to forget tasks.
Put all your meetings, deadlines for projects, and follow-up on your calendar. You can also set up reminders on your calendar.
Make a habit to look at your calendar first thing in the morning, to make sure you don’t miss important things.

Tip 18: Make a weekly plan for work

To be organized at work plan your week at the end of each week, for the coming week.
This will help you plan work strategically, improve your productivity and let you track progress well.
Weekly planning at work helps you to be organized with all the tasks at work and allows you to plan well.
To start with weekly planning read Weekly planning secrets for work-life balance.

Tip 19: Use Time Blocking to organize your work

Timeboxing is a time management technique that is very effective in keeping workflow organized.
Based on the priority of work identify your critical tasks for the day and timebox the most productive time, to work on it with focus.
Timeboxing your schedule lets you organize your day and work effectively.
You may like to read: Manage Your Time Like a Pro with Time Blocking

Tip 20: Manage your time rightly

To be organized at work you must make the best of your time to be on top of the tasks at work and stay organized. Once you spend time on getting organized you have to make efforts to keep things organized to reap the benefits of an organized system. This becomes easy when you manage your time well as use your time strategically for the things that matter. To know more about managing y our time well at work, read 20 Time Management Tips to Boost Productivity.

Conclusion

So, these are some of the ways that can help you stay organized at work. Putting in practice even a few of them will make you organized and efficient at work. The things shared in this post are those that I have tried myself at work and have found to be useful and I can’t think of a reason it will not benefit you. Choose the one that suits best your work needs and work style and get started to be super organized at work.

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