I had a friend who was a stock broker. He worked for several top firms. He knew stocks and bonds, options and commodities like the back of his hand. Verbally he was a Lion, but organizationally a pig. I hope the pigs who knew him aren't too insulted. When I would visit his office, I was astounded by the mess of papers on his desk and the piles stacked up on every free surface including the floor, chairs, shelves, whatever. When I expressed dismay, he assured me he knew where every piece of paper was. So, how come when I threw things away, he never noticed that they were missing? He was the butt of many jokes at his office and was not well respected.
The moral to this little story is the image you display is of utmost importance. Having an organized desk or office gives your boss a comfort level in your abilities. Be a mess and your boss will worry about your competence.
Organization is a huge topic in book stores and there are many that can help you in this area. Find a plan that works for you. Tweak it to make it totally right and then stick to it until you find something better. This will help you keep your stress levels down as well. Organizing your work is more than just a pretty desk. It encompasses many things. I am sure there were many times where looking for a single piece of paper would take hours? An appropriate filing system will eliminate that issue!
Organizing your work is also about getting things done. There are many ideas on the best way to approach your tasks. Some people swear by lists. They love writing them and crossing things off when they are done.
On the other hand I am a big believer in Stephen Covey ideas. He wrote the book "The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People." Mr. Covey is an advocate for doing the most important tasks first. What he defines as important is a task that is not necessarily urgent, but one that will bring you closer to accomplishing big goals. Let's say you are building a web site. You might have 4 things on your list to do to complete the web site. First step would be to hire a web designer,. Second to decide on content. Third to decide who will host it. Fourth who will manage it. You put these on your list and plan which day you will do each task. The day comes when you are to make a decision on who will be the web designer. Of course that day you get a million e-mails with 100s of nagging problems that all need your attention right now. What do you do? First make sure you handle your list of important tasks before you handle any crisis. If you are only handling crisis, you will never move forward or accomplish anything. Read the book to get more details on this whole concept. I guarantee that you will look at organization in a brand new way.
