I love organizational hacks!
I know I have shared time and time again that I love ALL things organization. Organization has had such a positive effect on my businesses. I truly believe that by having organizational processes for your business, you will become more successful.
Today I am going to walk you through some organizational hacks that will get you and your business functioning at your full potential.
Organizational Hack 1: Organize your physical space
A cluttered work environment leads to increased chaos and stress.
My first organizational hack is to focus on making sure that everything has its own place, starting with your desk. The only things that should be out in the open are the items that you use often. Everything else should be in it’s permanent drawer, shelf, or file.
Along with your desk, you want to make sure that you are keeping documents tidy. As a business owner, keeping important documents is part of the job, but having tons of paperwork can get cluttered quickly. If this is something you struggle with, a must-have item is a filing cabinet with appropriate labels.
Once you have that, it’s time to put together a system of when and how to file. I like to keep a “to process” folder at my desk to keep mail, notes, and things that accumulate throughout the day. Then every Friday I process those notes and put them in the appropriate file.
Lastly, you are going to want to make sure that you keep things that you use together in the same area, but in an organized fashion, to make it easier when you need to get everything out and put it away. So if when you are organizing your office or workspace, try to think about what items you use together before giving that item a designated spot.
Organizational Hack 2: Set up your calendar to prioritize efficiency
Just like your physical work space, a cluttered calendar will just cause more stress. You want to be able to look at your calendar and immediately see what is going on for the day. The calendar strategy that I like to use is time blocking.
Instead of just creating a to-do list for the day, I set aside a certain amount of time for each task and only work on that thing during the allotted time slot. Doing this prevents distractions and allows me to batch work.
When you are creating your calendar, make sure to set aside a time for everything including lunch, creative time, and workouts. These things add up and often lead to distractions if they aren’t well planned.
A couple extra organizational hacks that I like are to color code and clearly label everything on my calendar. When your calendar is booked solid every day, it probably means that there is a lot going on… so you want to make it as easy as you can to clearly read it.
The last thing that I do that has made a huge difference for my workflow has been to set aside a time in the morning to set alarms for the day. I set alarms for 10 minutes prior to each appointment I have. This way, I don’t have to keep checking the clock and I know that when my alarm goes off that I need to wrap up what I am doing. Plus, I can easily hit the snooze button, so I will get a reminder 9 minutes later that my time is up and I have one more minute until my next task.
Organizational Hack 3: Keep track of your passwords
There are few things more annoying than having to reset your password, especially when you run a business and have so many of them. To stay organized, try using a password management software. We use 1password for our business, but there are many softwares like this that you can try.
Using a password management software allows me to keep all passwords organized and encrypted so that they are protected. Plus, I can share passwords with team members without them actually getting to see it. I can even create groups so only a select group of people can access certain passwords.
Organizational Hack 4: Communicate effectively with your team
Instead of having to constantly respond to texts, emails, and other notifications all day, set guidelines for communication, and provide an easy way to do so by using a project management software like Monday.com.
Because things come up during the day and sometimes fires need to be put out, it is also important to set a standard practice for reaching out. For example, my team is to tag me on Monday.com about projects. If they need something sooner, Voxer is the next step, and I make sure to check that throughout the day. If something is important, I can receive a text, but that is typically not appropriate.
Organizational Hack 5: Communicate effectively with clients and customers
One thing that you should always be thinking about is the customer experience. You want to make sure that you are providing top-notch customer service. One thing that can be very impactful would be to create automated systems to streamline your processes.
We have automation when new Foot Traffic Formula members enroll, and this has taken hours away from multiple employees having to repeat steps. When you add automation to your business, you just want to make sure that you aren’t taking away from the client experience.
Organizational Hack 6: Have documented processes and systems
Lastly, and possibly most importantly, you need to have systems in place to make sure that you aren’t wasting time and resources each time you are completing a task. It also helps to ensure that you aren’t missing anything.
For any task that you or your team complete (think of all daily, weekly, monthly tasks), document each part of the process until it is complete. When all steps are documented, you want to be able to have someone else read the process and be able to complete it themselves from start to finish. As processes are streamlined, make sure to update these documents.
I hope that these organizational hacks have inspired you to find new ways to stay organized in your business.
By having an organized space and streamlined processes, you will have more time to put back into your business and focus on the activities that really move the needle. If you’re ready to go one step further and start implementing, be sure to check out my newest book, The Implementation Code, where I share even more actionable steps to get things done.
Which one of these organizational hacks is your favorite? Which ones do you use?
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