Top 10 steps to organizing your office/workspace

Are you late for meetings, misplace keys, files, important documents or other items, miss deadlines or forget appointments? If so, you are not alone. Americans waste/lose nine (9) million hours per day searching for lost items, according to the Demographic Society of America. If this is a challenging area for you, follow the 10 simple steps below and get your work environment organized once and for all.

1. Think helicopter level and identify the main categories of items that need to be kept in your office/work area. Limit the number of categories to a maximum of 7-8. For example: 1) operational items: phone numbers, expense reports, instructions and procedures, 2) customer files, 3) product samples, 4) tax and legal : contracts and receipts. , 5) reading, 6) tools – assessments and articles, and 7) future projects.

2. Sort every item, every sheet of paper, every file in your office/work area into the piles that represent the major categories identified in Step #1. Start with all visible items, then move to stored items in drawers, filing cabinets and overhead compartments. If you have an extraordinary amount of material to categorize, you may want to get a large box for each category so your stacks don’t get mixed up.

3. Pull out each category. Be determined to eliminate all but the absolute necessities. Dispose of old and unwanted items by throwing them away, giving them to someone else, selling or donating them, or sending them to a warehouse.

4. Organize the balance of articles in each category. Put articles in date order, alphabetical order, number order, or subject order. If you organize by topic, consider placing each topic in a separate file folder.

5. Make a short cheat sheet or summary of the main categories you are using and the types of materials and subcategories each contains. This will serve as future reference as to where you have stored items.

6. Add a place to store each category. Consider the size of each category, how often you will access each category, and where in your workspace you will use each category.

7. Draw a picture of your office/work area and mark where you intend to put each category of item. Is there convenient and sufficient storage space available for each category?

8. Purchase of containers, shelves, etc. for those who currently have no storage space. Once again, consider the size of the container needed based on the space available and the volume of materials that will be stored in it.

9. Replace or place each item category in its new space or container.

10. Spend 10 minutes at the end of each day putting everything away. This way, you will walk into an organized and welcoming office/workspace every morning. Re-evaluate your agreement at least twice a year or when new allotments are purchased.