Getting More Organized: Tips & Tools
10Pearls University held an interactive and engaging webinar with Director Engineering, Ubaid ur Rehman Baig, where he shared valuable tips on ‘Getting More Organized’, decluttering your schedule and goal-setting.
As someone who is remarkably organized himself, Ubaid shared his personal experiences with using software, systems and schedules that help in keeping him on track with all his tasks and daily to-dos.
Why Orgnaize?
The fact is unavoidable: a cluttered space (whether that’s physical or digital) leads to a cluttered mind.
When you’re disorganized, you’re constantly losing out on precious time that could be utilized on completing tasks. You’re late to work because you can’t find your car keys; you walk into meetings feeling unprepared because you didn’t get time to read the agenda; you’re prone to burn out because instead of being on track, you’re always busy trying to catch up.
Sound familiar?
Digital Disorganization
Maybe the example above is now redundant. You’re not late to work because you can’t find your car keys; you’re late to work because you can’t find your laptop charger.
Since the outbreak of COVID19 pandemic, much of life has shifted online. We’re not just working online, we’re also conducting meetings, paying bills and buying groceries!
With everything happening online, we have become digitally disorganized.
In order to become more digitally organized, we need to take a step back from our screens and reevaluate how we spend our time, both online and offline.
The Benefits of Knowing Your Organization Style
When you think of someone who’s highly organized, does a teacher, colleague, or family member pop up in your head? There’s a high chance that they’re aware of their organizational style, because once you do, staying on track of everything becomes much easier.
There are many benefits to being organized; perhaps the most obvious benefit is also the most invisible: less stress.
Since you’re not wasting any time trying to remember where you put your mouse, or realizing at the last minute that the work you thought was due next week is actually due the next day, you’re getting everything done on time! You have more time to do the things you actually want to do.
You’re more relaxed, you have more time for rest, and your health and wellbeing improves day by day.
Useful Tools for Organization
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Calendar:
With the hybrid model that many organizations are now employing, calendars are a useful way to keep track of everyone’s schedules, plan out meeting times, and know whether a co-worker is busy or free for a call.
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- Block Short Slots: If you need to have a meeting with someone, ask them to give you a specific time between either an hour or two hours, and book those slots beforehand. This way, even if they haven’t given you a specific time, you know that you’re booked between that period of time.
- Add Recurrence: For weekly meetings, daily follow-ups or anything that needs to happen on a fairly regular basis, make your life easier by adding recurrence in your calendar. Just make sure not to slip over into your weekend!
- Agenda: Make sure to set an agenda and share it before every meeting, including any pre-requisites or readings that your co-workers need to do. This way, everyone comes in prepared.
- Mobile Apps: For every tool you use, whether it’s a calendar, email or a messaging app for your office work, or required apps for different projects, keep its mobile app on your phone. This helps with reminders and notifications any time you’re away from your laptop or desktop.
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To do List:
With such a vast number of apps available, you can pick and choose whatever works for you best. Your requirements may be different from your coworkers, so stick to what works for you!
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- Reminders: For any task that you put in your list, add a reminder and due date along with it.
- Bitesize Lists: Don’t keep more than 3-5 things on your daily to-do list. Make a list that’s manageable, not overwhelming, and that you can easily get done in a day.
- Clear Out: Try to clear out your to-do list by the end of the day. If you feel that a task might require more than one day, break it up into chunks so that you are accomplishing a part of it each day.
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Desktop and Mobile:
If you’re working on different projects, make sure you’ve downloaded apps, bookmarked websites and added widgets on your phone and desktop.
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Combined Interface:
In order to maintain an organized lifestyle, you might find yourself making use of a lot of different tools. This can get a bit overwhelming, so use tools that support combined interfaces. For example, Franz lets you add 3 different apps which are then combined into a single interface, while Identiti allows you to have a singular command space where all your apps and websites are in one place.
To find out more tips on how to be organized, watch the full webinar here.