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Career Corner

Organize Your Work Life in 3 Simple Steps

Sunday, November 14, 2010

One of the best ways to stay calm in stressful situations is to stay organized. By knowing where everything is and where everything should be, you can put your mind at ease and make sure nothing slips through the cracks. Here are 3 simple steps to getting organized in your work life.

1. Organize yourself

Do you ever have mornings where you're scrambling to find something? It could be your car keys, your phone, your wallet, you name it. Organize yourself before you organize anything else! Try and keep your necessities together such as your wallet, car keys, phone and anything else you might need for work. If you can, put all these things in your briefcase or purse so you only need to reach for one area if you need to find a number of things. There are also holster belts that you can wear which can carry your phone on you.

2. Organize your stuff

Having a few pieces of paper and some pencils don't cut it anymore. Nowadays, workers are carrying multiple things are once: cell phones, business cards, organizer, note pads, pens, calculators, etc. While it's good to have a purse or a briefcase to carry these items, what the chances that you will take your purse or briefcase with you into an internal meeting? Not very likely. In that case, it's good to know what are the necessary things are. Most phones these days are equipped with the ability to have calendars, memo pads, and calculators and even sync email directly to the phone. This could be a great way for you to take what's necessary into a meeting. Not comfortable carrying that much information on your phone? Have everything organized and in eye's view so that you can quickly grab whatever you need for an impromptu meeting.

3. Organize your schedule

Having a busy schedule can make things seem more hectic. However, with a well organized schedule, you can reduce your stress and concentrate on what you need to accomplish for each task. When organizing your schedule, make sure to add some free time between each meeting for travel time. This is also a good way for you to have flexibility in your schedule in case a meeting goes over the allotted time that you give it. You don't want to cut a successful meeting short just because you're running late to another one! Don't forget to schedule in some free time for yourself such as time for lunch or dinner, or even a few hours to catch up on errands and relax. Always look at your schedule as a weekly or monthly whole. Don't just focus on the day itself. Does one day look overbooked? Can you afford to move one meeting to a lighter day? Learning how to manage your schedule will give you more time to concentrate on each task and less time on scrambling to get from one place to another.

By staying organized, you can give yourself a good head start into a successful work life.