You look at your office and wonder if someone has trashed it! The you realize it’s just that you have let stuff pile up for weeks and not taken the time to do your due diligence maintenance. You have riffled through stacks of papers looking for that one you know you printed out a couple of weeks ago – then you give up, dig back through your emails (which also need cleaning up) and find the form again and reprint it. While looking through stacks of folders, you have put some of them in a stack on the floor. Your clipboard is under the bench. Your shoes that you kicked off last night are under your desk – wait – make that 2 pairs of shoes.
Just imagine what your kitchen would look like if you went weeks without any clean up! Like any other area in your home or business, your office needs regular maintenance.
I have found that checklists help. Below is one that I have developed for my office:
Daily
Clear desk
File papers
Update calendar
Lay out first project for tomorrow
Weekly
Check over projects – update timeline
Move forward on calendar uncompleted tasks
Set up basic calendar for upcoming week
Check all action files
Enter information into QuickBooks
Monthly
Reconcile bank statement
Print out monthly goal sheet and contact sheet
Tally work completed and align with goals
Check budget
Yearly
Revisit vision for office
Clear out all files
Deep cleaning of all areas
Reconfigure office to meet new vision
Now the final step is scheduling these tasks onto my calendar.
Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer