by Clare Reynolds, Marketing Executive, Sigmar Recruitment
A new year is a time for new beginnings and fresh starts. Are you back in work with the best of intentions to start on the right foot, but you’re finding it hard to get started? We have made a list of things to help you start your new year by being more organised and help you to have a very productive 2020.
Start Your Day Right
If you’re overrun with many different tasks at the one time and find it difficult to know how to structure your day in the most productive way possible, don’t worry, you’re not alone. A simple solution is to try coming into work 10 – 15 minutes before you are due to start and use that time to make sure your desk is tidy and you lay out all the tasks you need done on that day and during the week in a notebook or use an online tool such as Google Tasks or Google Calendar. Write a list of what you need to do today and a list of the deadlines you have for the week.
Taking the time to do this in the morning before emails start flying in and your phone is going off will start you off on a productive path and it should help to keep you on that path throughout the day.
Prioritise
Once you know what you want or need done in your day/week, the next step is to learn what tasks are the most important. One of the key elements to being organised is being able to prioritise the important stuff and know what needs your time first.
A handy way to decide this is by using the below table. For every task you need to complete, you should evaluate each one by placing it in the below table.
You should never have more than two priorities that fall in the box of ‘urgent and important’. The rest fall under the other categories of ‘important and not urgent’, ‘urgent but not important’ and ‘not urgent and not important’. Always structure your time around the urgent and important things.
This short film about prioritising might inspire you…
Ask For Help
Most days you will handle your workload just fine on your own, but every now and then when you see your to-do list is particularly long, sometimes the best (and only) way to get things done is to ask a colleague for help.
If you have too many urgent and important items on your to-do list, you should go to your boss to look at delegating some of your workload or see if some deadlines can be adjusted. Missing a deadline is much worse than letting someone know in advance that you need some help to get something done. Being organised doesn’t mean you must manage everything yourself, it’s being able to look at your workload and know how it will be done and when it will be done.
Being organised is a skill, but it is one we can all learn very easily. Setting aside time every day to get organised is half the battle. Why not start this year by setting your new years resolution to give yourself time every day to get organised and prioritise? You’ll see it makes all the difference to your day!
