First of all, I want to thank everyone who has visited my blog and also liked my Facebook page. Although this is a new thing for me, and I am learning so much, the feedback was overwhelming. And I am so grateful for the positive response.
Now, the topic for today – organization. This is probably one that comes the easiest for me to talk about :D. And if you know me a little bit you know why I’m saying this. And if you don’t, well, fun fact about me, a while ago my close friend Steph was telling people I am sometimes more “German” than her :).
Anyway…so, I thought I would cover today the tips and tricks I use to stay organized at work. Just to keep it short and readable. And will have another post later on regarding the tools I use for personal organization purposes.
PLANNING – take time to save time
As mentioned in one of my previous posts regarding My top 3 tips about working from home, planning is one of my secret weapons. And here I do 2 things.
- I take Sunday evening 1 hour to plan my upcoming week. First I work in large chunks. I figure out when I need to block time in my calendar for personal errands and what time slots are non-negotiables from a work priority perspective. I also look for intervals I can block for email, focus time and other key tasks. Then I check which meetings I still need to schedule, which I need to move and so on. While I am getting into Personal Assistants like Cortana and I am training my Assistant Bot to help with my calendar, I don’t feel comfortable yet delegating this.
- Every morning, I take 15min to plan my day. I review key meetings I need to participate in and I decide on the key tasks I aim to complete for the day. This gives me a good indication of achievement and effectiveness at the end of the day. For this I use a good old to-do list. And that is simply because I love the feeling of crossing items off the list. I tried OneNote to-do lists (here is a video tutorial in case you want to try it out), I tried Digital sticky notes, yet nothing is as satisfying as my hand written to-do list. Even if the millenials in my team keep telling me I am old fashioned 😀
CALENDAR – give your calendar the power to tell you what to do
I’d be dead without my Outlook calendar. I use it religiously for both work and personal reasons. And I have everything in it – work related meetings, tasks I need to focus on, personal approintments for me and my family – EVERYTHING. And I feel my brain does not need to spend any more effort and energy remembering what I need to do. I just do what it tells me to do. Basically Outlook is more my boss than my actual manager :D. If you are not using a digital calendar, I encourage you to. It is lifechanging, trust me. And of course, you don’t need to use Outlook, it is just my choice because it is straightforward and integrated with my email.
Moreover, it is available on all my devices. And trust me, that makes a huge difference. Because slowly but surely, my phone is becoming my main device for work as well. And having my calendar at hand on the go allows me to stay organized and manage my time all in one place.
INTENTION AND DISCIPLINE – it’s hard but I cannot recommend it enough
“We don’t have to be smarter than the rest, we have to be more disciplined than the rest.” – Warren Buffett
This last one is in fact a segway from the previous one. And that is the fact that I start my days with a clear intention to be productive, to start on time and end on time. Not only the day as a whole, but also each time block I have in my calendar for the day. And I know, this takes a lot of discipline and for many it requires effort at least at the beginning – like any other habit you want to develop. But trust me, once you do it, it works like magic. You will start being more productive and many times finishing earlier than planned. Which is a nice treat both for you and your work colleagues. Everybody appreciates time back.
I hope you found some inspiration here. I’d love to hear your feedback if you try any of these.
Until next time,
Laura