Simple Organization Strategies Help You Stay Focused On Your Business

There are two types of people in the world.  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. 

The advantages are great.  A person who can organized their business will find the work gets done in much less time.  They forget important events less.  They don’t have anxious moments or feel as though they have lost control as often as someone who is disorganized.  Below are some functional tips to keep your business organized for those of us that are organizationally challenged:

Don’t Turn Your Back on a Mess at Night

Make the last task before heading out for the evening a quick few minutes to straighten your workspace.  Gather your office supplies up and place them together on your desktop so they are ready to go when you return.  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.  At the same time, you can quickly prepare an action plan (also known as “to-do list”) for the next day, and rank each task in order of 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. 

Use the Rule of 3 to Group Work Product

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.  The rule of 3 is a helpful technique that has worked for me in finding work betters when I need them. 

It is a simple concept.  Never have more than three piles of paperwork going at any given time.  The first stack is your most pressing business that you hope to get through during the day.  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

The reality is that each day you avoid creating an organization system that you can live with you miss opportunities for your small business.  Being organized allows you to spend more of your day focused on your small business and making it a success.  But remember, one size does not fit all and what works for one would drive someone else crazy.  So take the time to find what works for you so that you can commit to 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.