Increase Productivity - Efficient Time & Workplace Organisation

Who has never spent half an hour looking for something, when that would only have taken one minute to find. The biggest time wasting are usually unexpected (and many times unimportant) tasks.

Humans are notoriously poor multitaskers, so managing your workflow is critical to improving productivity.In today’s professional environment organization skills play a big role in how competent we are at executing our work. It’s a known fact that people who are organized at work are more interested, focused and positive. By opposition, disorganization can be an extra source of stress and pressure.

The Benefits of Being Organised at Work

By now, it’s clear that the environment that surrounds you affects the way you work. So, if you are working in a cluttered and messy workplace, your productivity will surely be affected in a negative way.

Disorganization in collaborative work desks (or even your personal desk) can be damaging your time management, your professional abilities as well as causing you unnecessary stress and pressure.In contrast, an organized environment can help you meet easily your true potential as an employee. Starting your workday or finishing it, taking some time to schedule your daily tasks and organising your desk and its immediate area could be a great way to always stay on track and have all the information and tools you need handy.Nevertheless here are some of the benefits of having your workplace organised, just in case you need encouragement to take this organization at work subject seriously:

1. When you’re in a collaborative workspace, you can have a better control of your work and reduce unnecessary mistakes, assuring a higher level of productivity, thus making you feel more proficient and capable.
2. If your workplace is organized, you will have fewer distractions and a more clear knowledge of what you have to do, and in what you need to focus in.
3. You may think that organization is a waste of time, but it will, in fact, save you time and help you optimize your work.

Tips to Get Organized and Focused at work

If organization doesn’t come easy for you and you are looking for some guidance in this matter, we are going to give you some tips on how you can organise your work efficiently. These tips focus mainly in organisation techniques that act on your work time, space and mind-set.We all have felt that urge to read the email that just came in or to peek at the latest notification to pop up. The psychologist Daniel Levitan, author of The Organized Mind, calls it the novelty bias. But unintentional task-switching eats up more time than you might think. That is why we need to clear and plan our time, space and mind to avoid unexpected interruptions. Being prepared and focused helps you have some control in uncontrollable or stressful situations.

There are many types of advice and tools you can explore nowadays to walk towards a more organized life. But we have selected a few for you to give a try:

• Make daily to-do lists of important tasks;
• Create a checklist for different tasks; particularly for repetitive tasks, in order to reduce errors.
• Start the day by structuring your line of work;
• Go through email and updates that have piled up overnight and triage the backlog. Knock out quick responses and referrals, so other people can start working on tasks.
• Clean and organize your workplace frequently (or at least once a week);
• Focus on a task at a time;
• Have breaks between big tasks; Block off time in your calendar and take breaks. Making these breaks a routine increases predictability, creating a regular schedule to keep your mind organized.
• Have relevant information in just one space (or device); Consolidate the number of places you need to go for information, if possible;
• A little more direct conversation, less emails. Pick up the phone, walk down the hall or use chat for geographically remote folks and talk directly to colleagues. You can give precise direction and clear up misunderstandings quickly.
• Use commute time to winnow out time-intensive tasks. do a roundup on external consultants or project managers to get an update on open projects and finding out if they need assistance.
• Reduce meeting times down to 45 min tops. You will get the same amount of work done, because so much time is wasted dealing with conference call setup and useless banter. If you can afford it,
• Work 'offsite' when it makes sense
• Switch off popup notifications on mobile devices and on desktop
• Adopt Agile techniques for managing big problems. Born in the software development world, Agile’s big contribution to task management is breaking big jobs down into short sprints. Having a solution in hand throughout the process reduces any associated anxiety.
• Develop the habit of using a planner or organizer, as well as other visual communication tools at work. Whiteboards and chalkboards have been used in schools for a long time. But learning and explaining are not only happening inside a school. These are excellent tools to brainstorm, capture ideas, explain a complex topic or even plan your weekly tasks in a simple format. And sometimes even for capturing creative simple art.  Write down all your commitments. Structure meetings, review activities, plan tasks and track projects stages and deliverables. This way you will not forget any important task and will assure that you achieve targets within the desired time frame.

Humans are notoriously poor multitaskers, so managing your time, space and mind-set is critical for improving productivity. Organisation can do much more for your productivity than you imagine.

When your work environment, flow and mind-set are organized, your brain can focus on truly important issues, execute easier and better the tasks you have ahead, and help you keep your creativity flowing. With time, this effort can turn into a system or a habit, allowing you to be efficient, like you have never been.If you’re ready to start being more organized, give the tips above a try. You’ll see that they will transform the way you work.