In addition to working smarter next year (if you missed last week’s blog, be sure to check it out for strategies 14-20), make plans to Be More Organized:
13: Identify personal boundaries at work. Do you find yourself checking your personal phone every five minutes? Do you slip personal business in between professional tasks? It’s a tempting habit to get into, but brings with it risks, including reprimand and dismissal.
Sometimes you can’t ignore personal needs—particularly when your child’s school calls or when personal issues can be addressed during business hours only. But poorly time use of paid company time for personal benefit can result in decreased productivity, poor customer service, poor morale among team members, and missed deadlines.
Most organizations know that personal business goes on during the workday and will tolerate such activity—as long as you’re working hard, getting your job done, and keeping those non-work activities in check. Planning when you’ll accomplish personal tasks, not just throwing them in throughout the day, will help keep your day more organized and your attention more focused.
12: De-clutter your workspace. You may not think you have time to sort through and distribute that stack of paperwork on your desk, but you’re likely wasting valuable time every day looking for items buried inside of it. Even the simple act of moving those papers into appropriate folders can increase your productivity, give you more room to work and help keep you on task.
Not convinced?
According to Larry Alton, in his 2017 article, “The Negative Relationship Between a Messy Desk and Productivity,” the average person wastes 4.3 hours per week searching for paper. No wonder you’re stressed and have trouble concentrating.
11: Be more realistic with your daily goals. Let’s face it. There will probably never be a day that you get everything done that you’d like to. Instead of setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment by keeping all of your tasks listed on today’s agenda, prioritize them and add only the jobs that you can reasonably get done to your to-do list for the day. Small goals mean small victories, and that’s a win, no matter what year it is.
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