15 Office Organizing Tasks that take 15 Minutes

 

Office life tends to be very messy. We have so much going on all the time! We have so much paper and stuff.  It all becomes disorganized very quickly. When do we have time to get organized? 

In his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey tells the story of a woodcutter. 

A man was walking in a forest one day, and he met a woodcutter hard at work sawing down a tree. It was a hot day, and he stopped and engaged in some friendly banter with the woodcutter about the weather and such.  The man continued on his way and a couple of hours later as he came back through the forest he came upon the woodcutter again who was still hard at and sweating profusely from the heat and his efforts. He asked, “Mr. Woodcutter, how long have you been sawing that tree? You haven’t made much progress. Perhaps your saw is too blunt. Why don’t you sharpen it?”  “I could” the woodcutter sighed. “The saw has not been sharpened for a long while.  But I don’t really have the time.”  We have to sharpen our ax too!  With organizing we are more efficient, effective and productive! 

What can we do in 15 minutes?

•  Eliminate unnecessary paper from a completed project.
•   Set up a file for the current project.    
• Get papers back into their files.
• Organize your top right drawer where your office supplies are. Is it overcrowded with unused items? Return them, donate them, or share them with co-workers.
• Make a group of all the items that need returning to others in the office and take them to them.
• Gather your daily resources, such as company phone directories, directions for using products, or other work related items together and place them on an easy to access shelf. 
• Gather all your personal memorabilia and assess the quantity. Are there too many family photos, small wind up toys, or other items taking space on your desk?
•  Delete emails from your “Sent” folder.
•  Delete subfolders in your Inbox.
•  Return a phone call or make personal appointments for hair, nails or doctors.
• Review your calendar for upcoming appointments.
• Enter upcoming dates into your calendar.
• Add to your master list.
•  Review and prioritize your master list.
• End your day with 15 minutes of organizing, getting things back into order.

What are you doing with your 15 minutes of office organizing?

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