Tips on Office Organization.

Now this is fact that I think would not raise any arguments. If you are better organized you have a better chance of managing your time effectively. So what is this art of getting organized? There have been enough and more books written about the art of getting organized. And I do not want to give my modest contribution to this much hyped about topic.
Instead of working on somebody else’s definition let me ask you, how organized do you want to be? When we talk about getting organized people generally get an impression of a spick and span office with not a paper out of place. But my experience has taught me that a neat office does not necessarily have to be a very organized office. If you throw away every single piece of paper that comes to your office, certainly your office will be neat but not organized. I believe that organizing is a relative term. It is all a matter of convenience.

• In an organized office there will be a place for every thing and everything will be in its place. But at the same time you should be able to lay your hands on the object you need the moment you need it. And in this respect a little bit of clutter is ok.

• And it is not enough that you know where every thing is, somebody else should know it too. In case you are not able to come in person and get something, somebody else should be able to do the job for you. It is here that labels and tags can prove to be vital. Every single file should have a name tag and every thing should be filed properly. It is not enough that you name things according to your convenience. The names should be intelligible to others as well.

Often we tend to use codes like ARCS, CRBER,WHOSH which might make sense to us but may sound like double Dutch to every one else. Now that’s enough about office organization.
Let’s now move on to getting yourself organized.

Tips on self organization

The best way to get organized is to find out the loop holes where we usually end up in a mess and see whether we can get around them.

For every working man or woman, the following are often pitfalls:
 Forgetting Appointments
 Forgetting Deadlines
 Being Unable to meet deadlines
 Being late for meetings and Appointments
 Forgetting Names
 Forgetting Telephone Numbers
 Forgetting to take important documents ad things along
 Misplacing Objects and so on

I have used the following tips in my life and they have proved to be quite effective. Maybe you too could try them out and see whether they work for you.

Nine hints to become a more organized person

• Accept the fact that we cannot rely too much on our memories.
The human mind is exposed to a hurricane of information every day. As a result the mind does a very nice filtering process and very little of what we see and hear is retained in our minds. So instead of depending on our very selective memory why not depend on a piece of paper.

• Carry a tiny scribbling pad and a pen with you all the time.
The moment you fix an appointment or are asked to attend a meeting, jot it down in the scribbling pad. Do not bother about others laughing at you. You will have the last laugh in the end.

• It is a good idea to write it down orders in your book.
Each time you tell somebody to do something or when somebody like your boss asks you to do something write it down in your book along with the date and the time. Do not be afraid of being thought about as a person with a very poor memory. It won’t be long before people start thinking of you as a highly organized person.

• If you have an electronic pocket organizer be sure to use it.
Each time someone gives you his or her telephone number, immediately enter it into your pocket organizer, along with the person’s name of course.

• Use the backside of business cards to help your memory.
Usually we get a lot of business cards as we go about our daily business of life. The business card of course contains the name of the person, his or her telephone number and probably the name of the firm for which the person works. But the problem is, the next time we meet the person, the face may seem familiar but we won’t have the foggiest idea as to where we met the person. The best thing to do would be to jot down a few points about the person and probably the reason for meeting him or her and the place as well. This will certainly lessen the load on your memory centre. But take never to do it in front of the person.

• Keep away the business cards properly
As soon as you get back to your office take care to keep away the business cards you collected properly. Don’t just stuff them into your card folder. Take care to read them properly and perhaps keep the cards of important clients separately. If you do not find much use for a person’s card, toss it.

• Prepare a to-do list everyday.
I cannot over-emphasize the importance of to-do lists in getting yourself organized. It is probably the most sensible thing that a busy person should do. In fact I thought of devoting an entire chapter for to-do lists and I think that is just what I will do.

• Plan what you have to do well in advance.
It is a good idea to have daily, weekly and monthly plans. No this is not about expanding your business and things like that. I am not referring to a strategy plan that involves takeovers and mergers. Those things are beyond the scope of this book. I was referring to having plans about the daily, weekly and monthly activities of your business and yourself as well.

• Have a fixed timetable.
It may seem kind of mechanical but it would be wonderful if you could have a fixed time for everything and try to stick religiously to the time table. Believe me it really helps because in that way you will have time for everything and everything can be done in the time for it.

And so you are now moving towards becoming a more organized person.

But there are still miles to go before mastering the art of time management. And that brings us to our next chapter.

Scott VanHoogstraat, COO of vanPALOS Marketing Group, LLC
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