There are really essentially two kinds of people.  Those who are genetically organized, and those who are not.  Do you feel you are in the second category?  It’s okay!  You can still keep your small business organized. 

There are a lot of great reasons to stay organized.  A person who is organized can complete their work much more efficiently.  They remember important events and meetings.  They don’t have anxious moments or feel as though they have lost control as often as someone who is disorganized.  This article will give you some realistic techniques to stay organized even if you feel you are a hopeless cause:

Don’t Let The Sun Set on a Mess

Never leave your workspace at night until you have taken a few minutes to clean up your desk.  Put office supplies such as stapler and pens in a central location so you are ready to go in the morning.  Look for anything that doesn’t belong and move it, such as used coffee cups or an overflowing trash can. 

A key component to this step is to “organize” your paperwork generally into the order you want to handle it in the morning.  This is also the perfect opportunity to jot down a to-do list for tomorrow, and rank each item as to importance. 

The ten minutes these simple tasks take each night will be rewarded by your ability to jump in and start the day running each morning. 

Group Your Working Product in 3s

There are those people with organization stamped on their forehead who never waste time looking for what they need to complete a task.  Then, there are the rest of us.  One trick I have found helpful in organizing work papers so I can actually find them is to group them according to the rule of 3. 

The idea is simple.  Maintain only three stacks of paperwork at any one time.  Stack number 1 contains your most pressing things – those you want to accomplish today.  The second stack should hold those that need to be handled within the week, and finally those within the month.  This can be a painful upfront process, but by taking the time to create these three stacks, you will save time in the long run from digging through piles when you are in a hurry and need some critical paper fast. 

Don’t Wait

Ultimately, the longer you wait to find an organization system that works for you and your small business, the more opportunities you miss for your small business.  Being organized allows you to spend more of your day focused on your small business and making it a success.  And remember, one person’s organization is another person’s nightmare.  So find the system that works for you and make sure you can commit to using it every day.     

Get more small business success strategies and claim your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year”  to learn about an online accounting program that makes it simple to organize your accounting and finance.

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