We have an exciting new program for you! Over the last few months I have been working closely with Grand & Toy and OfficeMax to put together a specialized pricing program that is exclusive to Simply Productive Members. This program entitles all Members to extended discounts on products from Grand & Toy and OfficeMax that fit your organizational needs.
It’s the time of year again when we begin moving outdoors, taking in the crisp fresh air, and feeling a real sense of renewal!
And having your home and workspace organized helps immensely to welcome that wonderful freshness back into your life.
Now is also the perfect time to assess where you’re standing with the commitments and goals you made to yourself in January.
Did you set out to be more active this year?
Be on time for meetings and stay ahead of deadlines?
Or maybe you set out to be better organized by finding great desk organization solutions?
Your answers to these key questions will give you the clues for where you should start with these desk organization tips for your spring cleaning.
Welcome in the fresh air and get a head start this year
with our free Ultimate Spring Cleaning Checklist!
With these tips below, I recommend tackling one or two per day as to not overwhelm yourself right off the bat. It may start to feel really easy and freeing but remember to ration your energy so you can keep motivated and get your organizing done all week!
Most people only use 20 percent of what they have, 80 percent of the time. So with that in mind, let’s get moving and clear up your workspace!
Period.
We can’t get to what we can’t even reach yet!
With our goal being to make a dramatic, visible result, we need to start with the visible things first.
The goal here is to clear Command Central and create dramatic, visible results immediately. Starting with the top of your desk first.
What most desk organization tips won’t say is that people usually start with hidden piles in boxes or drawers, then after 2 hours they find themselves having not accomplished anything.
So to avoid this, grab 2 boxes and put every single piece of paper on your desk into box #1. Use box #2 for other desk things like pens, office supplies, books, and whatever else you have on your desk.
Now pick up the top piece of paper from box #1 and use the F.A.S.T. Principle™ – File it, Act on it, Schedule it, Toss it.
Handle each piece of paper in less than 60 seconds. Get rid of any decor items that you no longer love or that clutter up your desk.
Try to imagine when you walk into your office the next day. How will it feel to have a clear desk?
Likely like you’ve lifted 100 pounds off your shoulders!
Now let’s continue this desk organization process by tackling the piles on the floor using the F.A.S.T. Principle™.
Remember our time constraint for pieces of paper. There’s no time for lengthy evaluating here. The object of the game is to get this done as fast as possible.
Getting organized is a clarifying, cleansing way of connecting to what’s really important to you. You should enjoy the process and reward yourself along the way for all of your hard work!
Think of your work area as having different activity zones. Consider how you move things across your desk, what items you use most frequently, and what relationships certain materials have with different desk activities.
Mismanaged incoming emails can become a significant drain on productivity. The more emails pile up, the less useful it is to the user and company.
On the other hand, an empty Inbox is a delight to look at!
It reminds us we are fully caught up.
Did you know that the real purpose of an Inbox is to serve as a temporary resting location for information and requested actions BEFORE they are read by you?
Our Inboxes are not a catch-all for everything we’ve ever received, and they’re also certainly not a replacement for our information filing systems.
Apply the F.A.S.T. Principle™ here with each email.
Congratulate yourself for taking action on these desk organization tips this week and for clearing off your desk!
You’ve made some serious changes and that is definitely something to be celebrated.
Do keep in mind though, that organizing is a continual process of re-evaluating. You still need to evaluate what your goals are, what activities you currently enjoy, and what you don’t enjoy anymore, then edit accordingly.
This is because when you batch tasks together and schedule blocks of time to do them, it actually takes you less time to complete them.
For example, checking your email throughout the day will waste your time far more than checking your Inbox during preset blocks. So will making phone calls throughout the day or week as opposed to scheduling regular times for follow-up calls.
Being intentional with your most productive hours is key to showing up as your best self at work, home, and in life.
This makes task batching the perfect first step to becoming the most organized person you know!
Lots of highly organized people still use paper planners for task batching. Some use solely digital, and a rapidly growing number are opting for a hybrid combo of paper and digital planning systems.
While all three essentially do the same thing, there are some main differences.
One very important point to think about is what types of visual and creative aspects you would like to have while task batching. Since this is a very personal preference, you will need to decide on this one for yourself!
But some other key things to consider when deciding which style of planner fits your needs are; accessibility, automations, data input, storage and backup, and customization.
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I use this amazing, all-in-one digital system both in my business and personal life. It has the capability to manage all of my client projects, work tasks, and keep my team up to date with everything in-between.
While it may look overwhelming at first, once you begin to catch on and understand the flow of the program it is very user-friendly. The best part is, 90% of the time I use it just on my phone!
Intended to be used alongside time blocking, task batching is when you group similar tasks together to complete in predetermined time slots.
Similar tasks can be similar in nature or just tasks from one project.
After you have figured out which tasks to batch together, you can begin scheduling them into your day using time blocks. A time block can be any length of time.
Once you’ve created an overview of everything you need to complete for the day, section your most productive hours into appropriately-sized time blocks for your batched task.