Get Organized To Get Ahead

Like most people, I often find myself searching for critical items in a rush. I know the general location of what I want, but can’t put my finger on it exactly and wind up wasting valuable time trying to find it. This is especially evident on my desk. I’m in the middle of working on one project and someone comes in with something else that needs immediate attention. I put aside what I am working on to deal with the second matter and sometimes a third matter comes along. Before you know it, my desk is buried with numerous pieces of paper all needing to be handled as soon as possible. I get frustrated and don’t know where to start.

Organization is the key. I spent one evening putting all the papers into piles. If a project had more than one paper, it went into a folder that I named. Then I added stacking trays on my desk. The bottom tray holds reference material that I want kept close at hand. The second tray holds long term projects, the third tray holds short term projects and the top holds projects that need to be handled ‘yesterday’. Every morning I review what is in every tray and determine the priority of what to work on that day. I check to see what deadlines some items have to make sure I don’t let any pass by.

This may not be the answer to everyone’s organizational needs, but it really helped mine. What other organizational ideas do you have to share? If we were able to save 5 minutes a day by being more organized, we would gain over an hour and a half each month to get more done!

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading packaging machinery manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at http://www.neminc.com/.