Time for a defrag

So. We had December, the excitement coming up to Christmas, and then the New Year. We partied too hard, ate too much, and settled halfway through January with some stout resolve to network more in 2009, get more high net worth clients, keep your office organised. And so on. It was all going so well too, until we got to mid February, and you started drowning in a sea of your own messy making again, just the same as last year.

Desk covered in bits of paper – post-it notes all over the wall – important bills and documents squirreled around the house in every corner – software updates that need installing on your machine (which also needs a disk cleanup, system update and defrag). Let’s not even mention your desktop, which has so many downloaded files on it you can’t even see your desktop background anymore.

If this sounds like you, then read on. If not – well, why not read on anyway, you made it this far – be a shame not to get to the punchline!

Clutter in your workspace – even if we’re just talking about your inbox or your desktop – can not only impair your productivity, it can also damage your health! According to the New York Times, “Getting organized is unquestionably good for both mind and body — reducing risks for falls, helping eliminate germs and making it easier to find things like medicine and exercise gear.” The article goes on to say that, at its most extreme, chronic disorganisation is called hoarding, a condition many experts believe is a mental illness in its own right. Eek!

Perhaps not so important in the office – but if you work from home, it’s worth bearing it in mind. Do you keep your office space tidy? A tidy office can actually increase productivity. If you need to find something, your seeking time will be faster. Keeping your office streamlined – like your processes – keeps your focused on the tasks at hand, rather than staring around the flotsam and jetsam that has amalgamated around your chair (“did I really eat all those bags of smarties?”) or on your desk (“I really must alphabetise those CDs…”).

To avoid falling back into last year’s bad habits, why not set aside some time now – doesn’t need to be long, perhaps just an extra half hour, and make yourself a checklist. It might look something like this:

• Organise that inbox – file away emails in appropriate folders, or perhaps delete them altogether
• If you don’t have one, start using a calendar. A visual aid – on your desktop or on your wall – can be a great way to keep you on track to meet those deadlines
• Give your computer some love. We spend an awful lot of time abusing our machines – put aside some time to do a disk cleanup, empty the trash, and defrag the system. It’ll be worth it, in the long run
• Organise your documents. Be they receipts, invoices, or work-related physical correspondence, you’ll feel better when you’re working if you know everything is filed away properly.

And to keep yourself organised, at the end of every day, spend five minutes doing some housekeeping: filing emails (or physical documents), making a list of things to do to tomorrow. It’ll make life easier for you in the long run.

This post was originally published by Helia on Mon, 02/23/2009