Luck Favors the Prepared: Five Ways to Get, and Stay, Organized at Work
“Chance favors the prepared mind” - Louis Pasteur
We have all heard the expression "luck favors the bold.” While there is certainly something to be said for fervently pursuing one’s dreams, a little bit of preparation and organization can greatly improve our chances of success. From increased focus, to clearly-outlined and achievable action items, to saving valuable time, getting and staying organized can greatly benefit our corporate experience. In this Article, we provide five ways to improve your organizational skills and provide tools and tips to get you started.
Develop self-awareness
There are an endless number of organizational tools, apps, and resources available for busy professionals. However, all the resources in the world will not help you if your workstyle does not match the way the tool operates.
The first thing you need to decide is what you actually need from an organizational perspective.
Do you need a way to track your ongoing tasks?
Do you need a dashboard that lays out all aspects of your work at a glance?
Do you need a tool that will actively remind you to do certain things at certain times?
Then, decide how your workstyle and personality is best served by these tools.
If you work heads down, maybe you need a tool that will interject into your consciousness with reminders or time management
If you tend to procrastinate, maybe you need a resource that will incentivize you to commit a manageable amount of time to a task and then allow for a break.
Make a list
Taking the first 15 to 20 minutes of the workday to write down your daily objectives will help prioritize and outline your time. Lists can also help aid your memory and ensure nothing falls through the cracks of a busy workweek. Examples of some helpful lists could include:
Daily tasks
Weekly priorities
Emergent action items
Ongoing items not currently on your plate or requiring additional input from others
Questions, comments, and concerns
Pipeline projects
Get Your Email Under Control
We understand that one of the most stressful pieces of corporate life can be your inbox. For those constantly inundated with email requests, “hey can you take a look at this real quick”s, and digests of at-a-glance articles that you just can’t find time to read, streamlining your inbox can be extremely satisfying.
One easy way to do this is flagging and auto-sorting emails of a certain type.
Can all your digests go into a sub-folder that skips your inbox entirely?
Does correspondence from a certain team need to be Starred as first priority?
When sending your emails, are you adequately categorizing the Importance of each message?
Leverage Your Calendar
The work calendar is not only an essential tool for scheduling meetings, but also for blocking and/or recording time spent on projects (billable or not) or holding space for breaks.
Other ways to use the calendar include setting “deadlines” for your tasks, which can also act as reminder to actually ask for such deadlines when receiving action items; setting your time as Do Not Disturb, which mitigates distractions; or batch your tasks to clear multiple of the same type of to-dos.
Your Physical Environment Informs Your Mental Environment
While we do love a little organized chaos, too much clutter in our physical space can lead to a cluttered mental space. Consider what needs to be immediately in front of you: can you file some of those papers into folders? Can you save and close some of those Word documents? Perhaps you can save recurring worksheets to your Desktop for easier access, without needing to have the file in front of you at al times? Should those two-day old coffee mugs join your other dirty dishes?
While organization may not be the sexiest topic in our professional spheres, it is vital to long-term development. The keys to sustainable organization are finding tactics and habits that work for you. Let us know your favorite organizational tools, apps, or habits in the Comments!
Citations
8 Tips to Help You Get Organized at Work, Employee Assistance Network, www.eannc.com/employees/eight-tips-to-help-you-get-organized-at-work. Accessed 24 Feb. 2024.
Team, Upwork. “13 Ways To Stay Organized and Maximize Your Productivity in 2024.” Upwork, 28 Aug. 2023, www.upwork.com/resources/how-to-stay-organized-at-work.
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