Let’s Get Organized: Getting Organized at Work

July 17th 2019

Quick tips for getting your life together and your butt in gear~

If you’re like me, you’re the kind of person who has a main project, a side project, and about 3 other fall back projects running at once. At times, I find it difficult to keep my head on straight as I try to balance working remotely, preparing for my new full-time endeavor starting next week, and my blog and yoga life. However, I have been making it my mission to turn over a new leaf and upping my organization and efficiency game.

It has been a while since my last Let’s Get Organized, but I figured that, with so much happening in my life right now, organization is key and I always try to share my learning process with my readers in the hopes that you either:

1. Learn something or gain ideas for yourself
2. Offer me some ideas so that I can improve my own work organization and efficiency

So I am currently in the process of preparing myself to start a new job next week and that means getting my current part-time job in order so I can be as efficient and effective as I can at both jobs and make sure that not only does everything get done, but it gets done well.

My part-time job is with a performing arts center I have been working for for the past nearly 3.5 years. That being said, I already have a good groove going in terms of getting done what I need done and doing it well. However, less hours and working in an entirely different state away from the office has definitely opened me up to a new set of obstacles that I am still working through.

My new full-time job, however, is in an industry I am far less familiar with and there is a whole learning curve I need to account for when working, so that means another new set of obstacles to work through. That is why I am trying to develop systems to keep up with the ever-changing expectations and needs of both jobs.

The main way I plan to keep organized may sound a bit old-fashioned to some, considering all of the online organization resources out there, but I genuinely prefer keeping most of my notes and to-do lists written in notebooks. I think that notebooks are a great way to keep organized because they are portable and customizable and you can go back and look at past information without digging through a hard drive full of files until you find the thing you’re looking for. Here are a few ways I utilize a notebook in my work organization strategy:

1. To-Do Lists- I like to keep a running to-do list in my notebook because it is just the easiest way for me to keep track of what I have going on during a given time. I like to put them in the form of check lists so that I can always be on top of when things get done. Sometimes I will make sub lists under main points on my to-do list so I can be sure that each individual part of a task is being taken care of.
2. Login Information- Working in social media, I have a lot of logins to remember, especially when I have 2 jobs to worry about. Keeping a page of logins ensures that, no matter where I am, I always have the information to sign in from anywhere.
3. Notes- This is a pretty general use, but I like to keep anything that would benefit long term in a notebook. This could be questions, contacts, takeaways, or just general things to remember. For example, I just started a new notes page for my part-time job and my first note is the 2019-2020 time zone dates and time codes for event pages. It is something I am going to need to remember long term and now I have access to it whenever I need it.

However, sometimes a notebook just won’t do and that is where desktop sticky notes come into play. I LOVE digital sticky notes and they are something I didn’t start using until really recently, however, they are honestly so helpful. I like to make digital sticky notes for my most important upcoming projects or reminders, or even use them to manage a to-do list. Here are a few ways I like to use sticky notes for my work:

1. “To-Do, In Progress, Done” Notes- During really busy times at my part-time job, I found this tactic to be incredibly useful. Whenever I would get a new task emailed to me, I would put it straight on a To-Do sticky note, then once a project was started I would put it on In Progress with notes about what still needed to be done, then when all was finished, I would add it to a Done note where it would stay until a reasonable amount of time has passed and I know I don’t need to revisit it for any reason.
2. Quick Notes- My “Quick Notes” sticky note usually has little things written on them, like is someone tells me a phone number I need to call or a HEX code or just any little thing someone says in passing. Quick Notes usually stay on my desktop until I either write them down in a notebook or no longer need the info.
3. Reminder Notes- I use “Reminder Notes” for things that are upcoming that I just wanna make sure I don’t forget about. If something is going out on a certain date, at a certain time during the week, I throw it up in reminders right in the beginning of the week so I don’t lose site of it.

Lastly, I like to stay organized with word documents, shared documents, spreadsheets and Dropbox. Word Documents are great because I can use them to keep drafts of posts I want to write, information from emails I want to save, and just about anything else I could imagine. They are great for personal use, but when working collaboratively with others, I love using Google Docs because then multiple people can view and edit in real time.

Spreadsheets are always a huge lifesaver. I love to use spreadsheets to keep track of posts by recording the date they need to go up, when they are scheduled, and their title and links so that everything is in one secure place. Using Google Sheets is also great because then my whole team has access to the information I am recording. I also use spreadsheets to track growth of social media followings.

Dropbox is my last organization helper because it allows me to create shareable folders that can hold anythings from images to videos to GIFS and word documents. One example of how I am using Dropbox is that I am creating folders for all upcoming social media campaigns at my part-time job so that everyone on my team has access to my work even when I am not available. That way everyone has the same assets as I do and all of my copy just in case something happens.

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Overall, how you organize is entirely up to you and your job. However, I have found that using my resources in this way has really helped me stay on top of everything I need to do. I still have a long way to go in terms of organizing my work (and personal) endeavors, but I think I am in a pretty good spot if I can keep up what I am currently doing!

How do you like to stay organized at work?

Jess~