HELP!!! I need tips on how to be organised at work

[Luredbyapomegranate]

Please can share what simple systems you use to hold back the chaos. ESPECIALLY if you lean to being naturally disorganised/ADHD and have somehow cracked it. (You genius you.)

I have a professional job managing people and projects, so I’m not a total muppet, I just would get a lot more done/feel less stressed/have more time off if my shit was more together.

Thanks to anyone who answers this call..

I can relate to this.
Checklists every morning.
Keep an updated to do list so you never miss anything
Flag any important emails or move them into another folder and check these every morning. Remove when actioned.
Do everything methodically. Don’t think ‘I’ll leave this bit for later’ just get it done. If you really can’t, add to checklist.
Always check everything before deeming it complete.

To do list.
Every day write it out and tick off what needs doing.
Deal with everything ONCE. Don't "I'll just put this here" with any pieces of paper. Respond or bin. Same for emails. Reply or delete/archive.
Maintain a clear desk and have a specific place for active files/documents.

I have recently realised a to do list doesn't work for me. I inevitably put more on it than I can feasibly do in the time available.

I spend an hour at the start of the week going through my tasks and deciding which are critical this week. Then I block time in my calendar for each of them. Not just on Monday I will do a, b and c, but 11-12 on Monday I will do a, 2-3 I will do b and 3-4 I will do c. I still overestimate how much I will get done but it helps. And don't put things back to back - leave some free space in between for firefighting and also to breathe.

I use categories and flags on every single one of my emails too. It's not possible to deal with them all when they come in, so I flag them for later and religiously go through them at the end of the week.

Use the "just do it" method, where you look at an email, memo or document, etc., and decide there and then whether to bin it or deal with it immediately (inc delegate it to someone else). Don't let things pile up, as you'll just waste time looking at things a second, third, fourth, time, until you finally either deal with it or bin it.

Also, have a clean desk policy. File all documents you've dealt with, and deal with all documents. Don't have random (or organised) piles of things dotted around, again, you'll just waste time, so, bin, deal or delegate, so that tomorrow really is "another day" with a clean start.

Trouble with "to-do" lists is the productive time you waste whilst creating and organising them. You could almost certainly actually "do" a few tasks in the time it takes you to write the list and plan when to do them!

I use my mailbox as my to do list. If I can read and delete straight away I do. If I think I might need it I put it in a folder (I have a lot of folders but it keeps me right, easy to do on outlook). Then I just work through what's on there.

For ad-hoc things I use a specific to do list which I tick off and then refresh weekly. Creating a new one on last thing on Friday is a nice way for getting ready for Monday and it's a nice easy Friday task.

I also use my inbox as a to do list and use the snooze function a lot. Any email that is asking me to do something the next day, or next week, or that I know I can’t do until a certain date etc, I snooze until 8am the morning it will need doing. That gets it out of my inbox for now, and puts it back in when I need to look at it. So the only things in my inbox at any one time are things I know I need to do something on. Other emails get filed or deleted.

Use your calendar. I have recurring time in every week for updating the team via email, setting out weekly priorities, approving timesheets, holiday approvals etc. I also have regular fortnightly catch-ups with each team member and a monthly team meeting where I cascade information from the business, and I book quarterly check ins and annual reviews as soon as I can.

Also block out time for you to actually do your own work and guard it fiercely.

Build or borrow templates - team feedback, content review, briefing forms, whatever your role entails - so it's standardised, you don't miss anything, and you can compare like with like

Have a single location online/intranet for processes so everyone is following the same, you included, and you can point them to it.

Be rigorous in your email filing - set up a file system and use it

If you are an Audible member there is a free course called 'Get Organized - Do More in less Time' by Ciara Conlon - I've been listening to it recently and there there lots of useful strategies for getting organised and being more time-efficient.

Hello op are you in Facebook
Great group called adhd for smart ass women or something really helpful

Also I have a day book that I have a to do list of what needs to be done (right hand page) and a ta da 🎉 list of what I have done (left hand page)
Because often things crop up that weren't on the list that you do and so when you haven't ticked things off you think where the fuck did today go? But you realised that you did x y z instead

I keep a spiral notebook for a to/do list. I add things as they pop up during the day and check things off as they are completed. I rewrite the list with any outstanding items every morning.

Do stuff before it needs doing. That way, it never needs doing.

At the end of the day review what needs to be down and write the next day’s to do list.

Have set times to check and reply to emails and stay off your email in between those times.

For me:
Use your calendar to death. Block out time to do what's needed. Make sure you tell others to look at your calendar before requesting meetings. Build in the repeated times you need even if it's time just to get your head together over the next thing.
Use only one task list. Preferably electronic. So you can see where you're at and what needs doing for EVERYTHING!
Respond and act on emails when you read it, the process of flagging is doubling your workload!

Do everything electronically as otherwise you're wasting time recopying lists etc

Try to touch everything once, don’t come to it later look at it and engage with it once even if it’s to read enough to know you cannot deal with it then and there and you need to schedule time in your calender to properly engage with it.
Use one note for recording of to do lists or notes as the search function allows you to find them easily

Thank you all very much for all these great replies - I am making a list (!) of all suggestions, and will get to it - much appreciated. @tobypercy - I think this is it - you've got to schedule it. And @breakdown19 I will join that group - thanks

Spreadsheets to keep you organised, set up email rules for key words on emails that you get frequently but either don't need to read asap, at all or can delete so they go straight into other email boxes (not your inbox)

I love the ta da list idea!

Calender reminders
Write a 'to do' list - I did mine last thing for the following day
Go through emails first things...diarise anything you can, add anything to the to-do list you can. Pun emails to the top of your inbox if you need to refer back to them
Phone people with queries rather than emailing as much as possible, that way you get an instant answer and don't leave a job hanging.

I have recently come to suspect I may have ADD traits...my mum has always described me as hyper and thinks I couldn't I organise a piss up in a brewery which is not entirely accurate. I can manage individual projects but I find day to day things that have to be kept on top of really overwhelming.

Despite all this most of my colleagues have frequently commented on how efficient I am !

@MoonOnaStick69

Spreadsheets to keep you organised, set up email rules for key words on emails that you get frequently but either don't need to read asap, at all or can delete so they go straight into other email boxes (not your inbox)

Can you tell me how that works please? Had no idea this was a function but sounds like it could be useful...thanks

1. First thing "eat the frog", do the thing you don't want to do /keep putting off first.
2. Answer emails immediately if you can solve it then and there.
3. File any emails you don't have an action in but it's FYI
4. I put actions I can complete that day on post it notes in front of me and longer term on my to do list. I use 'To Do'
5. At the end of the day write up and then review all your tasks.

Also I've always played a dangerous game where if the person who is doing something is competent then I don't even keep the email / follow up, I just forget and trust them to do their job.

I'm a digital project manager for 15 years.

I have a set routine - certain tasks get done every day at the same time - emails get read and replied to only within specific windows of the day. I close the email app otherwise. Teams I have open when email is closed, then swap round. No voicemail on my work phone so that I don't have too many ways of receiving work.
Strict with my deadlines, if I get a month to do a task I will work on it all month and it will be to the level of detail the deadline allows. If I'm given 1 day, less detail, less time etc I won't push everything out for that one task and sink 10 hours in to it.

great thread thanks