Messy Systems? Clean Up Your Act

If you work from home, or you have an office, and you aren’t keeping on top of necessary cleaning and tidying, then you are treating yourself and your staff poorly. The working conditions that we are in have an impact on our productivity and in some cases, the performance of your products. It doesn’t take long before a messy desk starts overspilling into messy working processes and then messy work. 

So there are a few simple things you can do to stop the mess, check your systems, and stay neat and productive. 

Photo by Thomas Jensen on Unsplash

Emails

If your emails are starting to look more like 1000+ that you’d like it is time to get them sorted. Start unsubscribing to what you aren’t reading or using. If you don’t love the idea of going through them yourself, then you can get a tool to do it for you. Unroll.me is a very popular option, but it doesn’t work in all countries. Unlistr is another excellent option, but it is $20 for a yearly sub, but it is fast and efficient. Unsubscriber is a nifty tool that you simply drag emails into, and you’ll never see anything from that sender again – not in your primary inbox anyway. 

Cables

Proper cable management is the stuff of dreams. Even more so if you have a lot of servers or you just need your network appropriately done. It isn’t just about looks either (although it does look fantastic), having everything set up correctly will mean that it runs better. Call in the experts like ONX IT Solutions. 

Tasks

If you think you can remember everything you need to do, then great – but you probably can’t. Putting a system in place that you can fill with tasks every morning with your coffee or once a week is going to keep you on track more than you might want to believe. The ability to tick tasks off is also important. The sense of satisfaction will only come from the manual action. Trello and Asana are great for handling colo projects or team ones. Evernote is great for making notes and managing things on the go. 

Cleaning

Many people claim that they work better in a mess. Cool. But, studies show that a clean and neat environment is better to work in. When your desk is littered with stray papers, pen lids, and old coffee cups – you will always have the half thought about cleaning up and moving things. Which means you won’t be entirely focused on your work. 

Focus

If you find your mind drifting off and you can make a task last all day, then you are an embodiment of Parkinson’s Law. This is basically when a task with no deadline will take much longer than if you had added a deadline to it. You can use a Pomodoro timer to give slots to each task and stay on track. 

Communication

If you have a mishmash of communication systems – some Slack, some WhatsApp, some emails – there are going to be pieces of information missed along to way. Streamline the way you communicate. Alternatively, you can label each group an only use it for that top. 

Cleaning up the processes of your work will save you time. The time saved can go back into your working day, and you’ll see a bump in your output. 

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