× FreshBooks App Logo
FreshBooks
Official App
Free - Google Play
Get it
You're currently on our US site. Select your regional site here:
4 Min. Read

How to Stay Organized at Work: 5 Ways or Tips

How to Stay Organized at Work: 5 Ways or Tips

One of the best ways to keep an effective workflow is to stay organized. Some of the most prolific business owners attribute their success to their organizational skills. However, organization isn’t everyone’s strongest suit. If you or someone you know needs help staying organized at work, be sure to look through our 5 tips on organization!

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

What Are Organizational Skills?

1. Keep a To-Do List

2. Keep Your Space Clean

3. Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize

4. Organize Your Daily Time

5. Manage Your Notifications

Key Takeaways

What Are Organizational Skills?

Organizational skills are the habits or techniques that individuals can use to ensure efficiency. They can be general skills, or can be more specific to the workplace. Organizational skills help with problem-solving, learning, and task completion. Having a good set of organizational skills can help in every aspect of life, be it in personal lives or work lives.

1. Keep a To-Do List

This might be the simplest tip we have, but it’s the strongest as well. Keeping a well-manicured to-do list helps keep things in perspective. Knowing exactly what tasks need to be done allows for oversight of the day, and allows for prioritization.

A checklist or a to-do list also provides the satisfaction of crossing tasks off your list. It’s a simple but effective tool. Having a manageable task list that lists your individual tasks clearly can be a game-changer.

2. Keep Your Space Clean

A messy desk is just that; an unorganized mess. Keeping a clean workspace is one of the best ways to stay organized. Cleaning out messy drawers and organizing your file cabinets once can help ensure that the space stays clean. This tip also extends beyond that of physical space. Keeping a clean digital space works wonders as well. Delete emails and avoid endless email threads. These are as good as digital clutter. Management of your digital storage space should be as high priority as management of your physical storage space.

3. Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize

When making a to-do list, prioritizing your tasks is essential. Tasks can be prioritized in one of two ways. The first way is by the frequency of the task. Daily tasks, weekly tasks, and monthly tasks should be planned ahead of time. Knowing what needs to be done in a specific time frame can help you stay organized for longer periods of time.

Tasks can also be organized in a way that speaks to their difficulty. Easy tasks can be accomplished first, while more daunting tasks can be written out and planned for. Anticipating and organizing the difficulty of your workload is a strong technique that many can benefit from.

4. Organize Your Daily Time

Keeping time organized is as important as organizing physical aspects of the workplace. Some would say it’s more important. Using a calendar, manage your days using a time block method. Know exactly when you’ll be making your phone calls. Schedule time to handle your email inbox. Carve out blocks of time to take care of a larger project. Making sure your daily time is organized is key in organizing all of your time.

5. Manage Your Notifications

Cell phones are a part of daily life. With cell phones come constant communication and notifications. Some tablets and computers are similar, as they provide desktop notifications as well. One of the best ways to organize your workplace and work habits is by managing these notifications.

Cell Phone Notifications

Silencing notifications for apps or other services that aren’t necessary for work can help to streamline your workday. By organizing the media that you need to see, and blocking what you don’t, you’ll find that you have far more productive workdays.

Emails

If you see an email come through that contains no information relevant to you or your workday, you can unsubscribe from the email list. This allows you to organize your email inbox. When you only see the emails you need to see, you’re more likely to get more work done.

Desktop Notifications

Many websites allow you to enable desktop notifications. By managing these notifications, you can get only the alerts you need. Allowing calendar notifications and email notification can help you stay on top of things and organize your work.

Key Takeaways

Organization in the workplace is necessary for success. Organization isn’t just about where you put your things, though. It’s about the way you plan ahead and complete tasks. Managing your physical space and your digital space is a start. Going further and organizing your time and distractions can help you see far greater success at work.

Did this article help you? If so, take a look through our resource hub. We’ve got plenty of information on timekeeping strategies and organizational skills that you may find useful.


RELATED ARTICLES