Do you work in organized chaos?
You know, having piles of paper on your desk or in your office space that to the naked eye looks messy, yet you know exactly where everything is located? Even if your office and desk are neat, can you say the same thing about your computer files, or does it take you a good 15 minutes to find one file because it’s not labeled properly?
Clutter leads to distraction, which leads to poor productivity.
Practitioners of Feng Shui believe that clutter disturbs the positive energy in the room or home, thereby complicating your life, disturbing the interior view of your home, stealing precious time from you and your family, and draining your vital energy. No wonder it’s difficult to work in clutter!
How to clear the clutter? There are three steps that will move you in the right direction, and will quickly improve your productivity.
Step One: Identify the Clutter and Find a Place for Everything
Do you still have a toolbox in your office from 3 months ago when you were hanging up new curtains? Move it to your garage or basement. If you don’t need it for work, it doesn’t belong in your office.
Do you still have documents on your hard drive that you haven’t read in 10 years? Delete those files or, at the very least, move them to an external hard drive so you can review them later. If you’re having a difficult time letting them go (because, you know, they might be helpful in the future) then ask your teenager to delete all the files earlier than a certain date, or in a certain folder, etc.
Step Two: Learn to Love Automation and Outsourcing
Do you get lost in Facebook or Pinterest, even if you promised yourself only 15 minutes? Use a social media scheduler like HootSuite or Meet Edgar which allow you to schedule your social media posts in advance. This is an easy task for a Social Media Manager or Virtual Assistant to take over.
Does your email inbox have 100+ messages from people who all want answers now? Hire a Virtual Assistant to manage your inbox, thereby taking over that time consuming clutter so you can focus on creating your passive income and working with your clients.
Step Three: Use Checklists for Repeat Business Tasks
Do you forget each month the different fonts or colors you use in formatting your blog posts? Write the whole process down in a file and keep it handy on your computer. Hand it off to a virtual assistant or, at the very least, use the checklist yourself and save yourself from reinventing the wheel or forgetting a particular step of the process.
Checklists are great for any task you drover and over again. By having a system in place to organize and spiffy those tasks, you not only clear the clutter, but your productivity will skyrocket.
Pro Tip: Don’t just clear things up once. Get in the habit of keeping clutter clear. If you find this difficult, you may need to work on how you create good habits (and remove bad ones). For that, I highly recommend James Clear’s book Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results.
Please share is fun this helpful: