Ways,Increase,Productivity,You DIY 2 Ways To Increase Productivity In Your Home Office So You
When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in
1. Keep it tobare essentials. What I mean is that permanent contents on the top of yourdesk should be kept to bare essentials, so that your desk always has a clean andorganized look and feel. When I say bareessentials, I really mean it. Hereswhat my desk consists of: laptop,docking station, printer, fax, scanner, router, staple and tape dispensers,writing utensils, 2 pictures, 2 accessories, and some bragging items (moreabout that later). Thats it. And I have a decent size, U-shaped desk. Everything else has either been discarded,moved, or hidden. All reference bindersare inside cabinets. All customer andproject folders are inside file drawers. All samples and swatches are put away. Its ok to keep 2-3 feel-good things that make yousmile. For me, they are photographs ofmy wedding and of my baby. One accessoryis a small globe I received as a gift - its a reminder and an inspiration of theglobal vision for my business. The otheraccessory is a small plaque with my favorite quote: Love the moment. Everything else is behind closed doors. During the course of the day, the only other thingsthat belong on your desk are your calendar, to do list, and 1 folder on whichyoure working. Yes, you read it right,just 1 folder. Not several on which youare planning to work later. Just one,because you can effectively work on only 1 thing at a time (multitasking is oneof my least favorite words)So look around your office right now and see whatcan be taken away, cut down, and hidden. You will be amazed how cleaning your desk increases yourproductivity. Here are some examples ofthings to eliminate:a. Dry flowersb. Baskets of fillc. Mismatchedframes of random artd. Knick knackse. Multiple foldersthat you may or may not use on a daily basisf. In-basketg. Top-of-deskorganizers 2. Designate a home. Everything in your officeshould have a permanent home, which is a place on your desk, in your drawers,or inside filing cabinets where things always go. For example, if a designated home for your,say, envelopes is in the right-hand side back corner of the 2ndshelf in the top cabinet, than thats where they should always go. If a designated place for your, say,paperclips is a small bowl inside the top right-hand-side drawer, thats wherethey should always go too. No buts orifs about it. The homefor every piece of paperwork is a file just a simple manila folder. The home for vendor catalogs and price listsis a binder. You can easily store theseaway in a filing drawer and refer to them later. This way, you dont have to deal with pilesof paper, wondering what to do with them, while they irritate you on a dailybasis and drain your energy.When I workwith my clients 1-on-1 as part of my GET IT DONE Mentoring Program, this is oneof the areas where we spend some time. Ihelp designers organize their businesses and mindsets by starting as small asorganizing their desks, files, and physical environment, in which they operateevery day. This is so important because,if we are to operate at the top of our productivity, our surroundings need toenergize us, not bring us down; theyneed to support us in moving forward, not pull us back. Look ateverything that you use on a daily basis and decide on the home for thesethings. Having a home for everything youuse not only makes you feel more organized and saves you time, but it clears upour head and energy to work on whats really important to grow businesses. In my GET IT DONE MentoringProgram, my clients particularly like this rule, because its so simple andthey can easily implement it. Justremembering about it and catching yourself when youre tempted to put somethingaside until later, is all it takes to make it work. Just remember, all your tools, referencematerials, supplies, and files must go back full circle to where theirdesignated home is.
Ways,Increase,Productivity,You