If you want to achieve high productivity levels, you have to be organised. You need to have a system which enables you to stay on top of each item that comes your way; from the time it arrives, to the time that you move it on. Getting organised is not as difficult as it first seems. It merely involves the creation of a system which works for you. It is important to remember that you must regularly review your productivity system so that you might find any leak i.e. places where tasks are being allowed to slip through the cracks and go undone.
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How organisation achieves high productivity levels
There is a great deal of talk about personal organisation and personal productivity. It is not always made clear why they are so important. The following list demonstrates some of the most important benefits of maintaining high productivity levels via personal organisation.
1. You save energy
When you are not properly organised, you are constantly being robbed of vital mental energy. Think about the number of times during the day when a thought, which does not belong in that moment, pops into your head e.g. you, may be sitting in a meeting when you remember that you forgot to send an important email. Your brain will usually remember that you have a task to do; it is good at that. Unfortunately, your brain is not so good at remembering that task at a time when you can actually do something about the task. That is why relying on your memory is a highly ineffective way to organise your work.
2. Everything has its place
When you are properly organised, every item has its place. Whether it is a physical item, or a piece of information, you know where it can be found at a moment’s notice. This sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. As an example, if you file all reference material in alphabetical order, it should be pretty easy to find your phone contract, right? The difficult part is designing the system in a manner which works for you. When you have designed the system it is a matter of putting the system into practice and implementing some checks (e.g. a weekly review) to ensure that you are keeping the system up to date.
If you cannot find an important item, either you do not have a system, or your system is broken.
3. It is easier to spot a problem
As outlined in the previous point, when you are organised, everything has its place. When something is not in its place or, when something is missing, you spot the problem a lot earlier. This allows you to solve the problem earlier, thus saving you precious time.
4. You benefit from the power of habit
Positive habits are incredibly powerful. You may not realise it but the majority of actions you take and, decisions you make, are a result of habits that you have developed. Habits are so powerful because they save you having to think. If you had to think about every single action or decision that you take, you would be placing a great deal of unnecessary stress on your brain. You would struggle to cope and you would be so overwhelmed that it would be an amazing achievement if you got anything done.
Just think about the amount of actions e.g. muscle movements that you make, from the time that you wake to the time that you leave your home, in the morning. Thankfully, you will have developed morning rituals over the years which save you from having to think of any of those things.
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5. You know when to chase others
One of the great skills of those who achieve high productivity levels is that they know when they need to chase others. No matter what project you are trying to complete, you are likely to need the help of others to get the job done. There will always be some tasks which you cannot do or, you are better off allowing somebody else to do. When this happens, the other person will usually complete the task on time. However, there will be times when they do not. In these instances, you need to know when to follow up. Someone with high productivity levels will maintain a record of when tasks are due to be completed. This allows them to know when a project is in danger of falling behind schedule so that they can follow up with the individual concerned and arrange for the task to be completed promptly.
6. A balanced life
People with high productivity levels know that they need to make time in their life for all of the important things; not just work. They have a clear idea of how much time they would like to commit to each area of their life. Just as importantly, they know that they will never be able to do everything that they would like to be able to do in life.
Using a productivity and personal organisation system, they know that they must identify their priorities and focus on completing them. By focusing on their priorities, they are able to achieve the maximum possible with the time they are prepared to spend on each area of their life. An effective productivity system helps you to understand that the best way to enjoy life is to focus on what’s important and allow things that do not really matter to slip away.
7. Less stress
Because they focus on what is important and live a balanced life; those with high productivity levels, tend to experience less stress. This is not because they are getting more done; it is because they have a better understanding of how to get the most enjoyment from life.
When you remove the unimportant items from your life, you remove a large amount of unnecessary stress. You develop a realistic perspective of what is possible; allowing you to better manage your expectations and, the expectations of others. The end result is less stress and more success.
For effective strategies to improve your organisation and focus, check out The Modern Professional’s Guide to Organisation and Focus.
Being organised is not a ‘nice to have’ skill. It is absolutely essential for a healthy and effective life. As you get better at personal organisation and productivity (you will never be perfect) you begin to get more of the important things done. This leads to high productivity levels and an improved quality of life. Many people think that having high productivity levels means getting a large quantity of work done. If you take this approach, you are heading down the wrong road. High productivity levels do not mean that you get more done than everybody else; it means that you get more of the important stuff done. Don’t waste days, weeks or months doing work that has no real value; get yourself organised, aim to achieve high productivity levels and reap the rewards that you really want from life.