7 Simple Tips To Getting Organized

Does your office look like the home of an angry poltergeist? Do you have to moil through vast piles to locate the things you need? Have you ever missed for an appointment because you weren't able to find a material document? You're exactly unique, buddy. We all need to put up with lapses like this.

In high school we were taught that there is no such thing as "cold"; that the condition we call "cold" is just an absence of heat. Well… disorganization is just a lack of organization. It takes time to clean up the chaos you have.

I like making accounting websites for a living. Time spent organizing can feel like it's taking away from your work, but this really isn't true. Organizing allows you to get more done in less time in the long run, and that's good.

I suppose you could hire an assistant, but you don't need to. All you need to do is adopt a few simple work habits.

• Use a good, old-fashioned inbox. If you make it a point not to leave for the weekend until it's empty you'll never miss a task suffer a loose piece of paper again. You may need to use multiple inboxes. You might want one for home and one for work, or have separate boxes for sales, product development, and employee issues.
• Constantly forgetting and resetting passwords and login information can become a vicious time sink. Keep your password and login information in a single text document, a wiki, some other type of system.
• Remember when your mom used to tell you to wash the dishes as you use them? Apply this discipline to your office, too. Whenever you are done with something, put it away, clean it out, and wash it, whatever it is, put it where you found it, so things don't keep piling up.
• Missing or being late for appointments can REALLY hurt your professional relationships. Use a calendar to keep track of events. Google has a great calendar app. My calendar allows me post schedules and availability online. This comes in really handy. It also reminds me of upcoming events by email and with on-screen pop-ups. This keeps all your scheduling in one place and makes it much easier to keep your tasks straight.
• In order for everything to have a place, everything NEEDS a place. Make sure you have enough shelf and file space for all your stuff. Not having enough storage makes organization impossible, and but buying office furniture doesn't usually make it to the top of the priority list. Take some time to buy the stuff you need, and while you're at it, get a place for temporary storage. Do you have a tray near the front door of your home where you can hang house keys and place outgoing mail? Most of us do. It just makes it easier to gather our stuff before leaving the house. This can also be done with paperwork. If you're going to have a meeting or important task that day go ahead and pull the stuff you'll need and put it on this desk!
• Don't try to organize everything at once. Your job will be much easier if you tackle one thing at a time. Get it cleaned up and organized, then try to keep it clean.
• In order to put everything in it's place, everything has to HAVE a place to be put. Designate a place for everything in your office. You can label those places, so it's easier for you to remember. Whenever you use something, you'll know exactly where they belong because of the labels. You won't need the labels for long. Over time it will all become second nature.

There are loads of ways to get and stay organized. The best trick I've offered is to put things back in their designated places whenever you finish using them.

Guest Poster
Brian O'Connell is the owner and founder of CPA Site Solutions, one of the country's leading edge website companies dedicated solely to accounting websites.