8 Hacks to Help You Get — and Stay — Organized at Work

While you may have multiple projects needing your attention at the same time, some parts of different projects could overlap. Or, you may only have access to specific resources to complete a project at a particular time. Take a moment to assess your assignments. Are there actions you can take now to help you save time in the future? When you first get your tasks for the month, take a moment to write a brief plan that shows how you will tackle the work. This plan doesn't have to be super detailed; a quick, rough outline should be enough to give you clarity. 

The workload in your calendar might be an essential part of another project, and somebody in your team could be waiting for you to finish a task so that she can use your output to finish hers. Fortunately, not everything is due at the same time — for the most part. Figure out what needs your attention now versus what you can do later. Check your calendar every day because, in the business world, things can change from one day to the next, and you may need to readjust. Even better, before you leave the office, take 15 minutes to look at your schedule for the next day.

A spreadsheet. A digital calendar. Trello. There are several tools you can use to help you stay organized. They are all useful, provided you use them consistently to track your progress and update them continually as you achieve your milestones. There is a learning curve associated with using these productivity tools, but they're designed to get you working quickly. Invest the time to learn how to use them because being able to tell at a glance how your project is developing could be a potential gamechanger.

Your physical environment has more influence on your mental state than you realize; researchers found that a messy room is detrimental to short-term memory. Clutter also contributes to anxiety and distraction. Keeping your work environment tidy is vital to help you focus for a longer time and think clearly. Also, a clear desk helps you find things faster and lose things less often.

By law, you have to keep some paperwork archived for a particular period in specific cases. Most likely, if you're dealing with those kinds of documents, you already know for how long you need to keep them. But frequently, we accumulate papers, knick-knacks and items from the research we used as a reference for a project. If you are planning to keep some of this material, either find a permanent home for it or send it to a storage room if your office has one. Your desk should be the last place for you to collect "leftovers", even if you plan to use them for future reference.

What do Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton have in common? They are some of the most successful people who realized earlier in their careers that simplifying their work wardrobe choices gave them more freedom. This strategy is supposed to help minimize "decision fatigue" and increase focus. Luckily, organizing your wardrobe in this manner doesn’t mean your dress has to be dull or lackluster: assemble pieces that will work together regardless of how you combine them. Two examples of how to do this successfully are the late Karl Lagerfeld, creative director of Chanel, who was the master of the stylish work uniform, and Anna Wintour, Vogue's editor-in-chief, who people often recognize for her now-iconic bob haircut and black shades.

Habits are an effective way to help you save time because you don't have to stop and think about what to do and when. You already know. If you design a routine that enables you to care for the most critical parts of your work every day when you're at your best, you can feel confident knowing you achieved all the essential tasks of your job for the day. For example, know at what time you'll answer all your emails or prospect for new clients during the day. 

Maybe read your emails all at once at a particular time of the day. Or, set aside a different time of the day to answer said emails in batches as to not interrupt your flow when you're concentrating on other tasks. Executing similar jobs at once could significantly improve your time management.