When I moved to Arizona, we chose the room for my home-office mostly because we had to plan where the elliptical trainer would go, since my office would share space with my workout room.
It was a great plan! I now have a separate location for my office and am able to close off the space when speaking with clients. I can even work with my Coaching Gym clients who want to improve their exercise form, since I have Skype set up so we can see each other.
If you work in clutter and disorganization, it’s going to impact your business success. If you are struggling with organization right now, I challenge you to do just ONE THING to work towards putting things in order. Here are several tips:
1. FOCUS. Pick one area you would like to work on right now. Something that won’t take a lot of time. Perhaps there is a pile of papers on your work area that has been bugging you. Set a timer for 5, 10, 30 minutes – however much time you have – and JUST work on that pile! Or let’s say your email inbox is out of control. Again set the timer and JUST focus on that one project. The key? Focus. Don’t allow anything to distract you – family, friends, phone, twitter noises, etc. Make that commitment to yourself.
2. SPACE. Do you have a dedicated work space? It doesn’t have to be a lot, but it DOES need to be JUST for your work! This will help you feel you can walk away from time to time, and if you end the day in the middle of a project, you won’t have to stop to pack it up and then spend time the next day re-organizing. This is a lot of added-up lost time.
3. PLAN. You need to be clear what you wish to accomplish in your day in order to feel productive by the end of it! Success isn’t random; it’s planned. So, plan what you need to do the day before. Put your list of projects down on paper. Don’t make a HUGE list, though, or you’ll feel overwhelmed. Perhaps ON that list is “30 minutes cleaning out emails”.
These are very simple tips, but seem to be the areas people are struggling most with. We are all extremely busy, but when you’re working on growing a business, you have to enjoy an organized space, be focused, and have a plan. Otherwise, your success will just be luck.
Do you have YOUR chair of success in place?
Margie
