I hear something like this almost every day:

“I have so much stuff to do, can you help me get it together?”

Every time I receive an e-mail like this, my first response is, “Look around your office or workspace. Is everything put away, are your supplies stocked and handy? Or are there piles on piles of stuff and you don’t even know where your stapler is?”

Nine times out of 10 the answer includes “piles of stuff”. My advice to these folks is always the same, and I will share it with you here. (Bookmark this page for future reference!)

How to organize your workspace, once and for all

Get up from your desk, go get a big trashcan and a box of manila folders. Then close your door (if you have one, put up some tape if you don’t) and ask someone to cover your phone for an hour. It’s time to get to work. It’s time for you to invest some time in preparing yourself for success.

1. Look at your desktop, your shelves, in your desk drawers and file cabinets. Is there anything there that you do not need to get your work done? Of course there is. Toss it in the trash or take it home. A couple of pictures or decorative items are okay, even good for you, but your desk shouldn’t look like grandma’s mantle. Use the manila folders! Every piece of paper gets it’s own folder. Label the folder, and make a new stack on the floor, we’ll come back to it shortly.
2. Collect all of the sticky-notes, memos and reminders that you have plastered all around. You leave these things out so that you don’t forget – well, sorry to tell you but, you stopped “seeing” those things quite a while ago. Create a text file with Notepad on your computer and type the essential information into it. Save it as “Reminders” and place the icon in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. Now all of your reminders are in one place and out of the way.
3. Go through the files in your filing cabinets. Apply the principles from Step 1 above: if you don’t need it to perform your job, get rid of it or archive it.
   NOTE: Everything that goes into an archive box must be tracked. Make a list of the items/files/documents that you put in that box. Number and date the box. Then create another text file and enter the list of contents. Save the text file as “Box # date”, and put it in a new computer desktop folder called “Archives”. Now whenever you need to find something in an archive box, you can use Google desktop search.
4. Tear down those piles of stuff. Steps 1-3 should have cleared up some storage space in and on your desk, and in your filing cabinet. Now you have some room to put away the stuff in those piles, and that stack of file folders on the floor. This is where it gets a little more personal, and I am going to describe the simplest, most stripped-down organizational system ever.
   All of the stuff in those piles is going to get sorted into 4 stacks:
   1. “Today”
   2. “Tomorrow” NOTE: this does not mean tomorrow in a literal sense, it means soon
   3. “Later”
   4. “Delegate”

   Look at each item/document/folder in the pile and decide which stack it should go in.

   • Is it urgent? Yes – Put it in the “Today” stack. No – put it in the “Later” stack with a due date on it.
   • Is it just important? Put it in the “Tomorrow” stack, with a due date written on it.
   • Is it neither urgent nor important? Well, it should go in the trash can unless it needs to be archived.
   • Is it something that someone else can or should handle? Put it in the “Delegate” stack, with a note of who it is assigned to and when it is due.
   • Not sure what to do with it? Archive it.

   Take some time to consider each item in the pile, but not too much time. Also, you may begin to feel your excitement build as you clean up your workspace & organize your tasks. Be careful. Resist the urge to actually start doing these tasks. Yes, you will get flashes of inspiration about some of these items. Write it down and attach it to the item.

You are almost there!

After your desk and file drawers have been purged and organized, all of your piles have been conquered, it’s time to make something happen.

1. Put the “Later” stack in your file cabinet. You will not need to look at it until the end of the day tomorrow.
2. Put the “Tomorrow” stack in the file cabinet too. You will look at this stuff in the morning.
3. Put the “Today” stack on top of your desk, you are going to address these items in a few minutes.
4. Pick up the “Delegate” stack and go find the people that you are assigning these items to. They deserve to get these assignments as early as possible. When you hand off these assignments be sure to communicate clearly what is to be done and when it is due.
5. Take a break! You’ve earned it. Congratulations on overcoming your mess and getting your tasks organized!

Hooray! I’m organized…now what?

Now it is simply a matter of doing and of ongoing maintenance. When you are done with your break, sit down at your desk and do the things in the “Today” stack. You may not be able to get them all done today, and that is okay. They have likely been building up for a while.

While you are working, more inputs (tasks and other “stuff”) may be coming your way. You need to handle each incoming item the way you just handled your piles:

• Is it urgent? Yes – Put it in the “Today” stack. No – put it in the “Later” file with a due date on it.
• Is it just important? Put it in the “Tomorrow” file, with a due date written on it.
• Is it neither urgent nor important? Well, it should go in the trash can unless it needs to be archived.
• Is it something that someone else can or should handle? Put it in a new “Delegate” file, with a note of who it will be assigned to and when it is due.
• Not sure what to do with it? Archive it.

At the end of the day, take your remaining “Today” items and put them in the “Tomorrow” file. Then go home, you are done.

When you get to work tomorrow morning, you will find that you are still caught up and organized. Now you have a simple routine in place to handle all of your tasks:

1. Pull out the contents of the “Tomorrow” files, this becomes your “Today” list of activities. Do them.
2. Follow up on any delegated items that are due today.
3. Process all incoming tasks and “stuff” into your filing system.
4. At the end of the day, put any remaining items in the “Tomorrow” file and look at the “Later” file – review the due dates and choose one or more items to work on tomorrow.

Good luck, and keep on working. Here’s to being done!

For more helpful tips and discussions of practices like this, visit the Work.Life.Creativity forum.

Now that I am working from home again, it is even more important to maintain my system, and to keep it as stripped-down as possible. In this way I can get more done in less time and get done. Because it really is about being done, not working all the time.