Staying organized is one of those never-ending tasks… one I admittedly struggle with. Having a daily, weekly, and monthly organization plan helps.
I’m good at organizing my thoughts. I’m decent at organizing my workflow. But documents and physical things… that’s another story.
Even though I’m not where I want to be on that front, I’m a far cry ahead of where I was a decade ago. So, I thought today I’d share a couple of things I’ve learned about staying organized. (Not about getting organized — that’s a different process altogether!)
Once you’ve achieved some degree of organization, it’s important to recognize that regular maintenance is necessary if you want to stay at that level of organization.
There are two things to embrace about that.
First, you’ll need to develop a maintenance habit if you want to reap the full benefits of your early effort. Knowing maintenance is required is one thing. Doing the maintenance is another, and that’s where habits come in.
And second, you don’t want to let your maintenance habits take up too much of your time — otherwise you won’t do them. So, you need to be efficient.
I’ve had some success with a daily, weekly, monthly approach… as I mentioned above.
Get into the habit of closing out documents and tabs when you finish working on a project. And then at the end of each day, close out your documents (making sure everything is saved), and close your browser tabs. (l leave tabs open for the things I use every day like email and my calendar.)
At the end of each day, look at your desk. Are there any scraps of paper you can throw out? Anything you need to add to your calendar? Anything you need to file? Five minutes a day can keep your desk on the cleaner side.
Daily commitment: 5 to 10 minutes
Once a week, clean your desk. Find a place for everything you need to keep and throw out anything you don’t. Likewise for your computer desktop and downloads folder. File and delete. Take a little extra time on Friday to zero out your email inbox, too.
Weekly commitment: 30 to 60 minutes
Once a month, do a document purge, removing anything you don’t need from the last quarter. Organize your photos and any stray files. Declutter your desk. You don’t have to throw things out if you think you might need them in the future. But consider moving them to an external hard drive (or a file box in the garage for physical documents). That way you can access them quickly if you need to, but they aren’t bogging down your computer or getting in the way when you’re trying to find other things.
Monthly Commitment: 2 to 3 hours
These daily, weekly, and monthly blocks might seem like they take more time than they save, but in truth, they save you countless seconds and minutes every day. Those will add up to a smoother workflow, fewer moments of stress and frustration, and better overall productivity.
Give this process a try and see how it works for you!
New on the Site
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If you want to be a successful writer (and a good writer!), having a daily writing practice will help get you there. But few things trigger writer’s block faster than sitting down to write without any idea of what you’re going to write about. Michele Peterson shares 31 writing prompts to help smooth your way to a daily writing habit.
Mark Your Calendar
April 7: Our next Monthly Member Update is scheduled for April 7. This month we’ll be looking at the value of change, both personally and professionally. We’ll explore how to approach change with a flexible mindset and how to embrace opportunities… even when they’re scary. I do hope you’ll join me!
Around the Web
If you’re writing for an audience, you can make quick connections by being vulnerable. But you want to steer clear of being self-indulgent. Copyblogger explores how to stay on the right side of the line between the two.
Thinking about advertising your blog or your professional freelance website? You might appreciate some ideas from Problogger that explore the most effective methods, even if you have a small budget.
With the advice in this post from Content Marketing Institute, you can help your clients plan an evergreen content strategy.
Working remotely? Check out this list of tools to help you shine!
That’s all for now. Make it a great week!
