This week's article offers advice on how to develop a higher level of personal organisation so that you can better handle the variety of tasks, problems, issues, professional and personal responsibilities, and the day to day challenges, you face in growing your business.
The keys to developing a high level of personal organisation include the following elements;
- Have a plan which outlines what you want to achieve and more importantly - why you want to achieve it.
- Set your priorities on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis.
- Be totally focused - concentrate on only one thing at a time.
- De-clutter, get organised, know where everything you need is, and make sure it is readily accessible.
- Don't allow any distractions into your work time.
- If you are no longer passionate about a particular role find someone else to do it.
- Have set routines for your regular activities.
- Organise your own work space to be as efficient as it possibly can be given your particular environment.
- Learn and practice how to say NO and then do it more frequently.
- Don't say YES to anything unless you mean it.
- Don't make commitments you can't guarantee you will be able to keep.
- Learn to respect and value your own time.
- There is a time to work and a time to play. Don't mix these two up.
- Use technology simply as a business tool not as a crutch to hide from the world.
- Create an environment in which you can work surrounded by the things which make you the most productive person you can be.
- Pack more into your day - Get up earlier and go to bed later.
- When you find yourself procrastinating ask yourself WHY?
- Before you venture out into the world have a list of everything you can possibly do whilst you are out, and which can be done along either the route to or from your destination.
- Have access to one or two trusted mentors to give you an injection of support when times are tough or the challenges appear too great.
The above is not an exhaustive list, but if you quickly and critically assess your own level of personal organisation against each element, you may discover one or two areas where, with a little effort, you can improve your own skills and help your business on its path to greater success.
