As I prepare to for next week, it got me to thinking the REAL essentials to preparing to Fashion Week or Toy Fair.
Coming up with an effective system to organize your work or even your personal life is not simple. It takes observation and strategy to incorporate your newly formed "habit".
At previous places I’ve worked, there have been numerous attempts to getting organized. We had folders, we had a label maker, boards to write our to do lists, chalk board paint behind our work stations… every job had a lot. But do they all effectively help meet tasks? You never know till you try.
First Task:
Look at what is working and what is not.
Sticking with our original due dates is difficult for us. If we say we want to finish a proposal by Friday, and even post it on our calendar; by Friday that proposal should be done. Instead sometimes we tend to simply push it to the next week… and the week after and the week after that.
To eliminate this, making something permanent in your mind may help if its physically permanent as well. So possibly a chalk board or dry erase board won't work for large tasks that MUST be done. In that case, pen and paper may be better to meet that need. Many of us organizers love the feeling of crossing out a task off the to do list. Why? Because we know that's the only reason why it is crossed out; that task is finally done.
Advice:
Invest in a paper planner or large office calendar. This can be where you write major office task for your staff. Everyone will see it and keep motivated to accomplish them.
In a small business or a "One man/woman show" aka you work on your own, it is very easy for us to not work as diligently as we did for someone else. Since things aren't as formal, we tend to treat things informally as well. This is a bad habit that should be broken with care and thought. You do not want to discourage yourself into believing you have failed either. Instead be happy you recognized the problem.
At previous places I’ve worked, there have been numerous attempts to getting organized. We had folders, we had a label maker, boards to write our to do lists, chalk board paint behind our work stations… every job had a lot. But do they all effectively help meet tasks? You never know till you try.
First Task:
Look at what is working and what is not.
Sticking with our original due dates is difficult for us. If we say we want to finish a proposal by Friday, and even post it on our calendar; by Friday that proposal should be done. Instead sometimes we tend to simply push it to the next week… and the week after and the week after that.
To eliminate this, making something permanent in your mind may help if its physically permanent as well. So possibly a chalk board or dry erase board won't work for large tasks that MUST be done. In that case, pen and paper may be better to meet that need. Many of us organizers love the feeling of crossing out a task off the to do list. Why? Because we know that's the only reason why it is crossed out; that task is finally done.
Advice:
Invest in a paper planner or large office calendar. This can be where you write major office task for your staff. Everyone will see it and keep motivated to accomplish them.
In a small business or a "One man/woman show" aka you work on your own, it is very easy for us to not work as diligently as we did for someone else. Since things aren't as formal, we tend to treat things informally as well. This is a bad habit that should be broken with care and thought. You do not want to discourage yourself into believing you have failed either. Instead be happy you recognized the problem.
