Whether we realize it or not, the actions we take daily either support our office organization or contribute to work space chaos. In this post, discover “do this, not that” ideas to keep your office organized!
Do This, Not That: Ways to Keep Your Office Organized
Habits are hard to break.
But when our habits create chaos in our homes offices and keep us from using our business building time productively, it’s crucial to invest the effort to break those bad habits and replace them with ones that support our office organization!
In today’s post, I’m sharing a few ways to keep your office organized through “do this, not that” actions.
Read on to discover how your habits are contributing to work space chaos and learn how to replace them with habits that will keep your office organized and a haven for productive work!
Why Supportive Habits are So Important
Before we jump into the “do this, not that” specifics, let’s talk about why establishing the right habits is so important!
Here are 3 BIG things you gain by establishing supportive office organization habits:
- More time – habits help you to be more efficient which equals more time for rocking your business building time.
- Less internal resistance – habits make it easier to do what must be done; they decrease the internal struggle that creates added stress and frustration and leads to wasted time and energy (see the bullet point above).
- Decrease decision fatigue – when you’re tired your ability to make good decisions falters, and you often choose the easiest option (ie, leaving a mess on your desk at the end of the day instead of cleaning up after yourself); having established habits cuts out a large portion of your daily decision making and automates activity; that means you suffer from less decision fatigue and make better choices (and get AND stay organized so you can make the most of your limited business building time)!
Knowing a few of the benefits of creating supportive habits will hopefully help you to commit to investing the time and energy required to establish new, supportive habits.
Now that you understand more about the positive benefits of supportive office organization habits, let’s jump in to the “do this, not that” actions so you can keep your office organized!
Do This, Not That: Ways to Keep Your Office Organized
Follow these “do this, not that” tips to improve your organization and KEEP your office organized!
#1 NOT THAT: Leave a Mess on Your Desk at the End of the Day
There’s nothing worse than starting your day wading through piles and projects from previous days’ work…
Plus, you’re probably working your business in the margins of your life, around your family’s needs, other commitments, and maybe even around another job.
Your valuable business building time is limited, and you can’t squander it wading through the clutter of previous days’ tasks and projects!
*Do This Instead: Create a Daily Desk Clearing Habit
By clearing your desk at the end of each workday, you won’t have to sort through piles and projects from previous work days. Instead, you’ll be able to get right to work and make the most of your business building time!
All it takes is a few minutes each day to complete this task, and you’ll keep your work space organized, make your desk an insanely productive area, and rock your business building time!
Learn more about clearing your desk each day and how to establish it as a habit: The #1 Habit You Need to Make Office Organization Successful.
#2 NOT THAT: Toss Items in Random Places with No Consistency
One of the reasons we struggle to get and stay organized is because we don’t assign homes to every item in our office.
In order to pick up after yourself, you have to know where items belong, right?!
Not putting items away or randomly tossing them in different places after each use wastes time and energy and contributes to work space chaos.
*Do This Instead: Assign Homes to Every Item in Your Office
When every item has a home, picking up after yourself is a breeze! It’s easy to put items away and clear your desk in preparation for a new day of productive work (see #1 above).
Assigning a home may be as simple as tossing a writing utensil in a caddy or slightly more complex like filing paper. But either way, you know exactly where items belong and where to find them when you need them again!
*Do This Instead: Label Everything
You can take this “do this instead” activity a step further by adding labels to storage bins in your home office.
Adding labels to the bins, baskets, and organizers in your home office is important because labeling:
- Makes it easy to find the items you’re looking for
- Allows you to quickly pick up after yourself and return items to their assigned “homes”
- Helps family and team members find the items they’re looking for AND to put them away where they belong
- Keeps things looking neat and tidy (Is there anything more beautiful than a row of neatly labeled bins?!) 😉
Adding labels to your bins, baskets, and organizers takes a little extra time, but you make up that time by finding things easily, quickly picking up after yourself, and maintaining your organization!
Learn more and snag a few free printable labels in this post: How to Use Labels to Organize Everything in You Home Office.
#3 NOT THAT: Complete a Marathon Decluttering Session When You Hit Your Breaking Point
Clutter is sneaky…
It slinks in when we’re absorbed with the activities of our daily lives, sets up camp in our busiest areas, and before we know what’s happening, clutter is EVERYWHERE!
If you’re like me, you become overwhelmed with the clutter, hit your breaking point, break down (aka throw a tantrum), complete an exhausting marathon decluttering session, then call it good!
You don’t think about clutter again until the process repeats….
Again. And again. And again….
Not good.
But don’t despair! There’s a better way to deal with clutter, and it comes in the form of a supportive office organization habit that stops clutter in its sneaky, thieving tracks.
*Do This Instead: Regularly Declutter Your Work Space
It’s not enough to declutter once or even occasionally. In order to truly keep clutter at bay, we have to make regular office (and home) decluttering a habit.
Regular decluttering helps you to:
- Manage the Ebb and Flow of Stuff: Items come into your life because you need them, but when they’ve outlived their usefulness, they don’t leave. You have to kick them out! Regular decluttering clears out items that are no longer needed or useful.
- Maintain Open Space: There’s something very calming about open space. Regular decluttering helps clear a little space so you can enjoy the resulting calm.
- Pay More Attention: Clutter is constantly competing for your attention. By clearing the clutter through a decluttering habit, you’ll have fewer distractions and less decision fatigue, so you’ll be better able to focus on the important stuff.
- Increase Your Energy: A little open space + fewer distractions + less decision fatigue = more energy for the important stuff!
- Make the Most of Your Time: No more wasting time rooting through piles or shuffling stacks to make room to work, because those piles and stacks are GONE, baby!
Start by spending 5-10 minutes each day clearing clutter: file a few papers, return items to where they belong, start a donation box for items no longer needed, clear your desk at the end of your workday (see #1 above).
Those 5 to 10-minute blocks will add up and help you beat clutter at its game!
If you’d like to learn more about a regular decluttering habit, check out this post: Why You Need to Make Office Decluttering a Habit.
#4 NOT THAT: “Get” Organized Then Forget All About It
There’s no such thing as “getting organized.”
Before you click away from this post, write Calyx and Corolla off, and call me a quack, think about this:
How many times have you “gotten organized?”
I’ve gotten organized hundreds of times…
I certainly never stayed organized.
How about you? Did you “get organized,” forget all about organization, and STAY organized?
No?
I didn’t think so.
You can’t just “get organized,” then never think about organization again.
If you do (like I have many times), you’ll quickly find yourself and your surroundings in disarray. Again.
*Do This Instead: Create Habits to Help You MAINTAIN Your Organization
This is the apex of everything we’ve talked about in today’s post. It all comes together here, my peeps!
Getting organized isn’t a destination. It’s an ongoing process that requires regular maintenance through organization supporting routines.
But your routine doesn’t have to be difficult, complicated, time-intensive, or trying!
There are 3 things I do each day to maintain my home office organization:
- spend a small block of time processing my to-do items (via action files)
- empty my inbox (open mail, file, add tasks to my to-do list and items to my action files, etc.)
- and clear my desk at the end of the day (see #1 above)
Learn more about maintaining your office organization through routines: What No One Tells You About Getting Organized.
Do This, Not That: Ways to Keep Your Office Organized
Your habits either create chaos in your home office or make it simple to keep your office organized and make the most of your valuable (and limited) business building time.
It’s crucial to invest the effort to break those bad habits and replace them with ones that support your office organization!
Today, we talked about “do this, not that” actions you can take to keep your office organized:
- clear your desk at the end of the workday
- assign homes and label storage bins
- regularly declutter your work space
- establish habits to support your office organization
I hope you found today’s post helpful and that you’ll start taking these “do this, not that” actions and establish them as habits to create a more organized and productive work space!
Related Posts
If you enjoyed today’s post, you might find these related posts helpful:
- How to Get Started Organizing a Messy Office
- 5 Habits of Organized People You Can Adopt Today
- The Ultimate End of the Work Day Routine
- 6 Things To Do on Sunday for the Best Work Week Ever
What habits have you established that help you keep an organized home or work space?
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Thanks for being here today and good luck with your office organizing!
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