Seven Simple Techniques To Staying Organized

Do you misplace things? You aren't entirelyout of the ordinary, my friend. We all need to endure lapses like that.

Disorganization is the crude state of order. Organization takes time.

I like making accounting websites for a living. Time spent organizing can feel like it's taking away from your work, but this really isn't true. Organizing allows you to get more done in less time in the long run, and that's good.

Hiring an assistant is, I suppose, the standard solution. If your business is like most, however, hiring someone just to keep you organized is a waste of money. There are a number of basic changes you can make to your work day that will help you keep everything in it's place.

• Constantly forgetting and resetting passwords and login information can become a vicious time sink. In some cases login recovery is impossible and you need to set up all new accounts at a cost of time AND money. Information like this can easily be consolidated into a single text document.
• Don't let your stuff out pace your available storage. Not having enough storage makes organization impossible, and but buying office furniture doesn't usually make it to the top of the priority list. Take some time to buy the stuff you need, and while you're at it, get a place for temporary storage. Usually people have a tray or a hanger near their front door of their home, which they hang all their things there when entering, so when leaving they know where their belongings are. This can also be done with paperwork. If you're going to have a meeting or important task that day go ahead and pull the stuff you'll need and put it on this desk!
• Remember when your mom used to tell you to wash the dishes as you use them? Apply this discipline to your office, too. Whenever you are done with something, put it away, clean it out, and wash it, whatever it is, put it where you found it, so things don't keep piling up.
• Don't try to organize everything at once. Your job will be much easier if you tackle one thing at a time. Get it cleaned up and organized, then try to keep it clean.
• For everything that you own, designate a place for it. Use labels. This will make it easier to remember where stuff goes when you're done with it. Down the road you'll grow accustomed to it, and soon you won't need the labels anymore.
• Use a good, old-fashioned inbox. If you make it a point not to leave for the weekend until it's empty you'll never miss a task suffer a loose piece of paper again. Use the inbox for different things, one for your home papers and one for your office papers, for example.
• Get a calendar and use it. I use the Google Calendar Application, but there a a score of online or desktop calendar apps that do the same things. It provides many features and anyone you allow can view it, it keeps track of personal events, and it reminds you of upcoming events by email and with on-screen pop-ups. Of course it's easy to use, and it allows me to shuffle my schedule and change event times by dragging and dropping. It really helps me keep my tasks straight.

There are various ways to get and stay organized. The best pointer I've suggested is to put things back in their designated places as soon as you finish using them.

Guest Poster
Brian O'Connell is the owner and founder of CPA Site Solutions, one of the United States' most successful web firms dedicated entirely to accounting websites.