Freedom at work can be found by getting your organizational act together. An organized office makes any job easier. Disorganization creates barriers that keep you from being your best. Organization, however, can create freedom. When you’re organized, you, rather than your stuff, dictate how you spend your time in your space.Imagine what can be accomplished with an hour and a great idea. An organized person might take that idea and immediately begin to develop it. A disorganized person might spend the hour clearing off a spot on her desk, looking for a pen and searching for paper. When you’re organized, you are free to be creative immediately. But when you are disorganized, you’re inclined to spend time making room, making space and making excuses about why things aren’t happening in your business. Being organized becomes the obvious choice.
Many business owners think that they don’t have time to get organized or to put systems in place. But having the systems in place is precisely what brings freedom by having command of your work environment. A common trap entrepreneurs fall into is feeling the stress of not having enough time, filing papers for their current projects by putting them in a pile on the desk, just for now. Seems easy enough, until you change gears and work on something else. Eventually what’s on the top today will be in the middle next week. And the following week, the very thing you didn’t have time to put away is what you will spend an hour looking for.
Many of you likely have never calculated the stress that disorganization adds to your life. Take the time to figure out the areas of your life where you feel a lack of freedom, where you feel the roadblocks of disorganization are interfering with your success. Once you have your personal list of time and space roadblocks, systematically strategize ways to clear a path to success. Living up to your potential requires an investment on your part, and simply identifying areas you want to change is the first step to seamlessly implementing new strategies for success.
THE ORGANIZED ENTREPRENEUR WILL BENEFIT BY HAVING SYSTEMS IN PLACE AROUND:
- Planning time
- Interacting with clients and colleagues
- Finances
- Delegating
- A workspace where you can work and be creative without distractions.
Imagine not having to retrace your steps to figure things out. Study after study consistently demonstrates that multitasking simply does not work. Things in fact take longer when you multitask. Focus on doing, and completing one thing at a time. Take time to think things through and break projects into manageable tasks. Organization will allow you to keep taking steps forward, not backward.
ORGANIZED ENTREPRENEURS:
- Are more likely to show up for appointments on time.
- Have time to volunteer for high-profile projects.
- Feel less overwhelmed by new projects.
- Are able to delegate tasks and projects.
- Have less clutter and therefore are more willing to invite colleagues and guests into their office.
- Find the right tools easily and learn how to use the tools they own.
Find supplies when they need them.- Find receipts to do expense reports.
- Save money by not losing important business accounts due to disorganization.
- Avoid accruing penalties on taxes due to late filing.
- Pay their accountants to do taxes, not to organize paperwork.
- See the light at the end of the tunnel, or at the end of the business day.
- More quickly recover from disaster because they have a plan and can respond and rebound quickly in a crisis.
The bottom line is that the very things you think you are too busy to do may be the things that will buy you the freedom that was part of your inspiration to be an entrepreneur. Remember that “slow and steady” will win the organization race. Organized entrepreneurs are likely to have more time for vacations, hobbies, working with clients, collaborating with co-workers and more free time for family and friends.
By Standolyn Robertson
Tags: Business, business owners, disorganization, Entrepreneur, organization, Organize Office, Standolyn Robertson