Why do you need to organize your office? Decluttering and organizing your workspace will not only save you time but also reduce your stress and help you be more productive. Shelby is sharing her top tips to completely organize your office step-by-step without getting overwhelmed. From her 4-Box Method to life-changing storage system solutions, you’ll finish this episode motivated to tackle your biggest clutter. 

How can you make office organization happen? Shelby recommends scheduling it to ensure it actually gets done. Next, prioritize the most critical areas that need attention. Then tackle your office in small chunks. The decluttering and organizing of your workspace will likely flow over into other aspects of your home and life. Clutter leads to distractions and stress, even when you’re not actively thinking about it. Thankfully, Shelby’s got this, and she’ll teach you how to do it too!

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Contact Shelby Joines | Joines Administration: 

• Website: JoinesAdministration.ca
• LinkedIn: Joines Administration
• Instagram: @JoinesAdministration
• Facebook: @JoinesAdministration

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Transcript

Shelby  0:01  

Welcome everyone to She's Got This: a Journey to Success. I'm your host Shelby Joines. And I'm so excited to have you listening into this extremely crucial topic that we are going to be discussing today, which is relating to organization and having a well-organized office space and how it can increase your general productivity when it comes to getting your work done. So, buckle in, this is going to be one that you will not want to miss.

Shelby  0:41  

It is so important to keep an organized office space. Now whether that office space is your kitchen table, your spare bedroom or a designated office in your home, or co-working space outside the home. It is crucial to declutter and have that well-organized space, so, that you are not negatively impacting your productivity for the day. In a survey conducted by the Canadian payroll association, 31% of respondents reported that they spent over an hour each week searching for misplaced items, which could have been avoided with a well-organized workspace. I'm sure many of us can relate to a time when we were excited to start our day, get checking off all the things on our to-do list, only to find ourselves spending countless amounts of time 20 minutes up to an hour of searching for that contact card, that one piece from a document that you're missing, an email, or anything else that relates to your business. And it can be beyond frustrating to know that you have wasted X amount of time and now you need to work X amount of time more in your day, just to catch up from that lost bit of time, all because you were not organized. So, today we're going to talk about how clutter can affect your ability to focus on a task, and how it can create that unnecessary stress and anxiety. I'm sure all of us can relate to a moment where we just had one of those days, where it just felt like one thing was coming down after the other. But having a clean, organized decluttered workspace can take all of that away. Business wise anyways. So, what you want to do before you dive into your decluttering, is to create a plan of attack. Decide which area of your office needs the most attention and prioritize those sections accordingly. Make a list of tasks that you need to accomplish in that area and break them down into small, more manageable steps that will not overwhelm you and will not eat up any more time. By making this plan, you are committing yourself to being well organized, to being a better person in your business. And just having that overwhelming stress just wash away. Having this plan can help you stay focused and motivated throughout the process. Now, I'm not saying to necessarily drop everything in your day and start doing this. Do it strategically, book time out in your schedule, in your calendar, whether that's an hour, hour and a half, two hours, whatever works best for you. But really block that time off. Whether it's at the end of your day, you spend 30 minutes doing a little bit here and there. Or if it's before you start your day. Whatever works best for you, but make sure you are actually taking the time to schedule in this decluttering that needs to occur in order for you to boost your productivity. You will thank me later. Once you come up with that plan and you've broken down your areas of attention into the small bite-sized manageable steps that you can take. You can also apply the four-box method. Now, what's the four-box method? I'm so glad you asked. So, the four-box method is a simple and effective way for you to sort through your clutter. You want to go ahead and label four boxes, four bins, four bags, even, whatever you have, whatever is available, but you need four storage area sections. One of those is going to be labelled as a keep, a donate and sell, a trash, and relocate. And as you're going through each item in your office, in the area that you are looking to tackle first, place it in one of those four boxes. This method helps you make quick decisions about what to do with each item and ensures that you're not holding on to things that you no longer need. Now, in my case, I get super excited and hyped up when I have to do my office supply shopping. And sometimes I end up ordering way more things than I actually need because I get excited and I'm caught in the heat of the moment. And it might have been an impulse buy. If you find that you have extra things floating around on your office desk, for example, whether that be a paper tray holder, pen holders, business card holders, any kind of file management, little trays and things that you can get, take a moment and think, you can do a little bit of research and see if there are any organizations in your local area that help and support people in business who are just starting out, women in business, where you can donate these items to and know that they are going to a good home. This is what I have done lately and as I'm doing this podcast, I am looking to my left, and I am seeing that I have four staplers. Now, nobody needs four staplers, maybe two and that might even be pushing it. But, I don't need all four of those staplers, I truly only need one stapler and a pack of staples, and I'm good. So, I am definitely going to take those and donate them to somebody either in our community or at an organization here in Calgary that can put them to better use, and have them go on to somebody who will use them and appreciate them. Now, another tip that I can give you and this kind of ties into this four-box method is to really invest in storage solutions. Now, I feel like this is something that is extremely underrated and a lot of small businesses and entrepreneurs don't take into account, in investing in their storage. Whether that is some clear bins that can support hanging file folders, a filing cabinet, anything like that, but truly take the time and look into getting some sort of storage management done. The benefit of having clear boxes for me that can support the hanging file folders and then I just pop my folders and my paperwork inside, is that I can take them, stack them in the closet in my office, but still be able to see what is in those bins. So, if anything comes up later on that I need to grab from one of them. It is a quick, pick it from the stack, open it up, take out what I need, deal with what I need, put it back, restack it, restore it. You can also take this one step further with clear bins by popping into Microsoft Word and doing a quick list of all of the items that are in that bin. Putting that at the front, so, that is easily accessible and you can read a list of what is in the bin.

Shelby  8:46  

It has been life-changing, life-saving and honestly highly recommend that then you don't have to be constantly opening bins, rummaging through them, trying to figure out oh, I think it's in this bin, spent five minutes looking in that bin, no it's not there, go the next bin. This is also great too if you do have any sort of Rubbermaid bins that aren't clear see-through bins. Just type out a little list about the contents, tape it on the outside and make sure that that list is visible from wherever you are storing it, for quick, easy access to recall what is in that bin. Then use the solutions to categorize and store your items that you frequently use and keep them within easy reach. So, if you know you have a specific bin or storage system, bins are going to be the topic of this discussion today. And you're constantly working out of documents in that bin. Keep it close by, you don't have to store it on the opposite side of your office or in the closet or somewhere else. But keep the ones that you are using most frequently close by and having them all labelled clearly will help you to avoid any confusion later on about what the contents are in that box. Now, having an organized space can also help lead to better time management. Having a well-organized office space can save you time by making it easier to find things and track your deadlines, or appointments that may be coming up, or any sort of work that may be time sensitive. This will help you to save time. Obviously, this is a Time Management topic. So, we're all about saving time. Having a cluttered workspace can waste your valuable time. And as a small business owner and entrepreneur, time is precious. Time is what we're constantly fighting in our day to gain more of. By decluttering and organizing your workspace you can create a more effective system that will allow you to quickly find what you need, when you need it. Thus saving you time and helping you stay on track with your tasks and deadlines. I have been in situations where even though it's not insanely cluttered, having that bit of clutter, will cause my mind to jump from task to task because I'm like, Oh, I can't find this item, so, I'm gonna start working on this project. Or I can't find something for this project, so, I'm gonna start working on this task. An intern only completing things up to 40%. Who can relate? I, having an organized office space can also help you reduce the distractions, which will lead you to just being not as productive, not accomplishing the things you want to completely and having several tasks sitting at 40% when you could have had two tasks completely finished. By removing unnecessary items and organizing your workspace, you can reduce those distractions and create a more conductive environment for your work. This will help you stay focused and productive and ultimately saving you time in the long run. And having that clear space, I'm sure you can relate to when you walk into an office or your workspace that when it is clean and organized, you just feel better about being there. When it's cluttered, it's messy, it's unorganized, you dread having to go into that space. Because your mind may wander to oh, I've got to clean this, I've got to update this, I’ve got to do this and that and the list just goes on and on. But having this clear workspace and a place where you just feel at peace going into, can also boost your creativity. A clutter-free workspace can inspire your creativity and provide you with a better environment for brainstorming and problem-solving any tasks and ideas that you may have on your plate for the day. Who doesn't want a spark of inspiration? A cluttered workspace can be overwhelming and inhibit your creativity. And even though we feel that we are not in a creative position, we're not maybe graphic designers or artists or people who build things like trades workers and things. Doing your work and creating that amazing output is creative. It is so creative, I cannot count the amount of times where I have had a task and I have been excited to do it, because I get to be a little bit creative with it. Whether it's creating an Excel spreadsheet, creating some content for a client for their social medias, whatever it may be, having that clutter will just sink down and I will not have any motivation or desire to be creative with my work at all. But by decluttering and organizing your workspace, you can create a more inspiring environment that sparks your creativity. Having a clean and organized workspace can make it easier for you to generate ideas and help you feel more motivated to tackle any type of creative projects. And creativity may even come from joining a meeting and saying, I have this amazing idea on how I can save us from X, Y and Z. Sharing that with other people that's creativity. It doesn't all have to be about art. And I feel like creativity is one of those words where it is said and people automatically start thinking about art, media, all those things. A clutter-free workspace can also enhance your mental clarity. Cluttered workspaces can be distracting and overwhelming, which in turn could lead you into a mental fatigue and have a lack of focus. Which, again, as a small business owner and entrepreneur, we do not need that. With decluttering your workspace, you can free up your mental space as well and enhance your mental clarity. This can help you approach your work with a fresh perspective, and generate new ideas leading to greater creativity. Now, the final little bit of why it is so important to declutter and keep an organized workspace for you, is again tying into the last bit where it will improve your mental health. An example that I have is, I need to do the dishes and clean up my kitchen before going to bed. I find I sleep much better knowing I've accomplished it and I wake up a lot happier. And when I go into the kitchen first thing in the morning, that is the first room in my house that I enter, mostly just to make my coffee and my quick breakfast. But I just have a sense of peace. And I am grateful that I took that time, the 12-14 hours before to really clean that up. So, it isn't one of those things where I wake up, I go in the kitchen, and the sink is full of dirty dishes and the counter has more dirty dishes, and the dishwasher has clean dishes, but they need to be taken out. And as I say this, it's getting me all worked up. So, having that clear space can help you in reducing your overall stress and benefit your overall mental health and well-being. Cluttered and disorganized spaces, as I've mentioned before, can cause so much stress and anxiety that is unnecessary, and in turn, making you feel overwhelmed and you're out of control. Decluttering can help reduce stress and promote a sense of calm by creating a more organized and manageable space. This in turn can help you feel like you are in more control of your environment, and reduce that feeling of overwhelm and anxiety. And just visual stress. Having a clear workspace also helps you enhance your focus. I'm sure you can relate too, where just you get into a space or you're doing your home cleaning/spring cleaning. The floors need to be dusted, dishes need to be done, counters wash, things dusted, on and on. And it can lead to mental fatigue and your focus just goes all over the place. You start cleaning out the microwave, and you see a stain on your counter from the coffee. You’ve stopped cleaning the microwave and you go and deal with that stain. Then from that stain, you look over and you're like, oh my pantry is disorganized. And then you start going over there and tackling that, then you realize, oh, I'm out of X, Y and Z, groceries, I should start a list, jump over to that. It can be so exhausting, and so overwhelming. But decluttering your space, reorganizing your space can enhance your focus and create a more streamlined and overall peaceful space for you to conduct your daily work in. This can help you concentrate better on the work and improve your overall productivity.

Shelby  18:42  

Boost moods, I am sure that you can also relate to that a clean and organized workspace will boost your mood. You don't have the dread of going into absolute chaos in the morning, everything is in its place and it overall gives you a sense of well-being. Having something cluttered and disorganized can make you feel stressed, overwhelmed. Whereas, a clean tidy space can make you feel more positive and energized. So, by decluttering that workspace, you can give yourself that little boost of energy, that boost of productivity, and just that overall sense of pride that your environment you are working in is set up for you and is going to be beneficial to your mental health and well-being. And I hope that all of these tips are something that you can resonate with. I hope that you all had a moment where it was like, yeah, I always thought I was alone in thinking that, because you're not. I am sure that there are countless people out there who struggle with keeping their office space clean, organized, and decluttered. But at the same time, it can be one of those things that you do once and it can get out of hand. So, it has been said that it takes 21 days on average to create a new habit. So, what I am challenging you to do, is to take the time out of your day, not asking you to spend an entire day. Take this into small, manageable bite-sized pieces, and one by one work on organizing the space where you do your daily work. This is going to help you in the long run. And then make sure that you are every day doing little things to keep yourself organized, whether that is refiling things. When you're done at the end of your shift or the day or your working hours, take five minutes to scan what is on your desk, remove and organize what does not need to be there or what is not needed for the following day. Put the important things for the next day in a nice neat little pile on your keyboard or somewhere where you are first going to see them when you come in, in the morning. And just keep it going, momentum and practice makes perfect and this organization does take practice. I know that it has been a battle for me over the years trying to keep myself organized. But in the last, while I have officially found what works for me, which is just taking those little tiny steps every day to get yourself into a better place. So, I'm encouraging you to apply some of these steps and tips and tricks that we discussed today to help you increase your productivity and improve your mental health in your workspace. 

I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. Be sure to follow She's Got This: a Journey to Success on Apple and Spotify, so that you don't miss a single podcast episode.