Being Organised

One key to being an effective manager is your own personal organisational skills. Not only the ability to organise other peoples, tasks, schedules, priorities and goals but to be able to organise your own!

Being an organised person gives you credibility to those around you, being seen as a prompt, well organised person gives the impression that you’re a confident person that is capable of getting things done right and on time, people will value your opinion and listen to your thoughts…
All this just because you’re organised.

So what does being organised mean?

Being organised allows you to focus your thoughts and tasks so you can be more effective in your time management by scheduling your tasks according to priority.

When you feel overwhelmed by your workload, creating a list will help you focus on addressing the critical items first. By clearly developing a list of tasks and prioritising them gives you focus and a clear plan of action. Having a plan relives you of the stress of an overwhelming workload by breaking your workload down into manageable tasks.

Here’s a tips on how to develop your “to-do” list.

Write a list every morning of the tasks you wish to accomplish that day, then sort them according to priority. Write down everything, from the simplest task such as replying to a specific email or phone call to the most complex, throughout the day add items to my list and change priorities if need be.

Tackle the most challenging tasks first, addressing the most challenging tasks first gives you a sense of satisfaction, even just starting a task or an action gives you a since of relief and puts you in a positive frame of mind for the rest of the day.

Break down your tasks into long term and short term, keep notes by your list items on the status and only cross off the item once completed or transfer the item to a current list.

I have two lists, I have a large “Tasks and Goals” book where I keep track of the big picture items, my long term tasks, goals and ideas are all kept in one place. I also have a secondary smaller “Daily Tasks” book where I write down my daily or weekly tasks as well as items I need to address later in the week or for when I’m in a meeting or in a specific office. This is part of my preparation for the week ahead, allowing me to start planning ahead.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed take a break and pick one of the easy items on your list, by ticking off completed items on your list will add to your feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Don’t feel guilty about spending time getting yourself organised in the morning, spending time getting your thoughts together and how you plan on tackling the day ahead. This will put you in a good frame of mind for the rest of the day an prevent you spinning your wheels on items that will side track you from what you really want to accomplish that day.

Put your list in a prominent place on your desk, in plain sight so you can refer to it often allowing you to maintain your focus.

Finally: Feel the sense of satisfaction at the end of a hard day’s work as you review your completed list! There’s nothing better at the work day to go over you list with a sense of accomplishment as you mark off the tasks you have addressed throughout the day. Any unfinished items will be a good start to the next day’s list.

Great… now I can check “write article on lists” off my to-do list. ;-)