How to Work Harder and Saner: Professional Organizer Speaks Out

How can we preserve time, money and sanity during the workday? Suzy Wilkoff, owner of Tasks Unlimited and Founding President, National Association of Professional Organizers-South Florida Chapter, offers this guest post:


Tips to Eliminate and Minimize Interruptions at Work

• To feel less overwhelmed by e-mail, handle it only twice throughout the day.
• So callers are alerted that you will be out for an extended period, change voice mail greeting daily.
• Focus on one aspect of a project at a time and one project at a time (i.e., don’t multi-task, if you are not good at it!)
• Avoid conducting personal business at work. If you must, do so during your lunch hour.
  

Skills to Increase Effectiveness

• Be persistent with others regarding deadlines
• Return calls the same day and your reputation with colleagues and friends will improve.
• By allotting fifteen minutes a day to organize your desktop before leaving the office, you will prevent filing from getting out of hand.
• Handle business and personal postal mail daily.

Improving Scheduling Abilities

• Draft a list of (long, mid and short term) goals and to stay on target, refer to them regularly.
• Prepare daily “To Do” lists. Cross off your accomplishments and move items that weren’t completed to the next day’s list. If you see that an item is getting moved day after day, it will alert you that it’s time to accomplish that task!
• Delegate (Don’t take on responsibilities for others.)
• Reconfirm appointments the day before, to prevent no shows.
• For emotional well being, incorporate personal time for exercise, volunteerism and social activities.

When asked to participate in a project or attend a function, we often hear ourselves saying “I don’t have time.” Have you ever thought it’s because you choose not to make time. We all have the same twenty-four hours in a day. It is how we schedule our time that is critical to our happiness and well being! " --Suzy Wilkoff
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