Help with being organised at work

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I've got so much to do at work. I will be in the middle of one thing, the phone will ring with an urgent request and I'll have to deal with that, then I'll get staff coming in the office with really important stuff. I'm managing all the important stuff but the small things are beginning to slip.

I do have a lot to do but I know I will be fine if I can just organise myself better. I use reminders on Outlook, sticky notes and a to do/tick list. I prioritise what I can but work in a fast paced place that is naturally chaotic due to the industry.

AIBU to ask you for your best tried and tested tips?

Following for empathy and tips (clutching a cup of coffee-my only go to).

Trello has been my saviour or Wunderlist.

Only opening my emails for 10 mins every hour as well. Nothing sent by email is important enough to need an immediate response.

This term (I'm a teacher) I have started to do things that will only take a minute as soon as they need doing e.g. filling in a pupil information questionnaire, writing out detention cards, logging merits on the computer system. This keeps my to do list looking more manageable and means I don't forget.
I only check emails once first thing in the morning and again in the evening and fire off replies to any that just need a quick response. Anything that needs a more in depth response is obviously added to the to do list.
I am also trying to deal with home things straight away e.g. school things for dd, party invites etc.
Just doing quick jobs straight away is making me feel a lit less stressed and better organised and means I can focus properly on tasks that take longer.

I agree with snuggly, do the small things ASAP. I was a great one for leaving the last bit of a job undone as I had other more important things to do. Ie, I'd do a flu jab (v specific example I know) but wouldn't just take the extra 90 seconds to do the GP notification at the same time. So at the end of the week, I'd need an hour to do 40 of them and then it was urgent... Whereas if I do them at the time I barely notice the time.

I also use checklists to ensure that the smaller jobs don't get forgotten, a to do list requires me to remember the job and put it on there, a checklist is already written and is a useful way of getting to the end of the day/week/month and highlighting anything that needs to be included on a to do list (ie, date checking of stock, not critical when it gets done, but definitely needs to be done)

Sounds pretty similar to my work. Most tips I’ve read online are about becoming more “proactive” instead of “reactive” but that’s basically impossible in the environment I work in. Most days feel fairly chaotic, but stuff does get done. I am going to hang around for the other suggestions but my tips are:

• Have a list of things that need to be done over the course of the month, the week, and each day, so you have a bit of an overview of what’s coming up on the horizon.
• Write down literally everything on your daily list. Don’t rely on your memory because that leads to situations where stuff falls through the net and you’re left with a nagging feeling that there was something you were meant to be doing.
• I re-write my daily list in priority order if I feel like I’m losing a grip on things. I think that the busier you are, the more you need to be sure you’re working on the most important things, so the more you need to stop and take stock of the situation.
• This isn’t workable for everyone but I always try to get to work an hour or so early, just so I can have some time to work uninterrupted and prepare for the day.
• Often the “urgent requests” aren’t actually quite as urgent as people think they are, so if what I’m working on is more important, the request goes on the daily list and I carry on with what I was doing and carry out the urgent request later.
• If all else fails I hide in the loo for 5 minutes and do some breathing exercises/cry but you can’t do this one too often or people start to notice

I also work on a fast paced environment but all I can suggest is
Don't always drop everything to answer phone are there others to answer phone too ?
Emails - check them in the morning deal with urgent , then only check emails when finished what you are doing .
Finish 1 task at a time don't drift between the phone , emails etc . If someone asks you to look into something just say I will be 5 / 10 minutes when I've finished .
I've seen it myself the ones who are not getting anything finished are the ones trying to do everything at once .
Lists are good so if you say I'm going to do 3 tasks today make sure they are done again don't drift .
It's all about managing your time efficiently.

I have to block time out for big jobs (I am allowed to ignore emails & phone when I do this).

Try to get in an hour early (go home an hour early too) but in that quiet hour get thru lots of small jobs that would niggle & distract me.

A couple of books that really helped me get organised at work were:

1. How to be a productivity ninja - Graham Allcott
2. Getting Things Done - David Allen

I also bullet journal and that has revolutionised how I organise myself.

It will sound old fashioned, but I find nothing beats a paper diary - the page a day kind that's marked out in hours. I put all my deadlines/meetings in there as soon as I know about them and then plan in non-urgent tasks around them. If a non-urgent task gets displaced by something unexpected, it can be replanned for the following day.

Trello boards

Also, only answer emails, etc at certain times of the day

I definitely think it's worth considering how urgent the urgent things really are. If they can wait until you've finished the other thing you were doing they should. Put them on your list, then carry on as you were.

I'm wondering how I might use Trello, work are trying to get the managers to use it. I have regular reports to produce, fine, but there are lots of little ad hoc jobs, and then there's aspects of contributing text to rewriting contracts or clarifying what a page in a report says (more ad hoc tasks). I can't figure out if something like Trello would help me be organised.

Sounds like OP just has constant 2 minute queries all day long. Can't see how that would fit with Trello.

I agree with a lot of the above:

• lists, especially in priority order, and force yourself to do things in that order.

• do small things right now (but don’t interrupt another task to do so)

• focus on one thing at a time

• enforce stronger boundaries. “I’m in the middle of something right now, but I will come and find you/call you back when I’m done”. And also “This [whatever you’re working on] needs to be done by 1pm and then I have promised Sue in accounts has asked me to do blah blah blah. Do I need to ask Sue if her task can wait?” Put the onus on to them. Get them to explain why it’s so urgent that you drop everything. And no, they left it until the last minute is not a good reason.

I keep a todo list (in different sections) on my laptop so I can access it from my phone too

Bigger tasks also get a slot (meeting) in my diary / calendar. And I get the task done in that slot if I possibly can or back it goes on to the todo list.

Use that online calendar for regular tasks (a made up example would be stock take every first Friday in the month goes in as a recurring event in my diary

Check the to do list and calendar regularly.

Limit the times I check for emails (really important things will come in by IM

You're firefighting and that just leads to burn out. Are the really urgent things actually urgent or do some of them just seem urgent? You need to carve out time in your day to deal with the 'other' items and also really important is making time for planning. In the short term keep a record of everything you do and how long it takes. This will give you some data to help resolve the problem. Get yourself booked on a time management course, it will be invaluable. Make time to identify everything you need to do, timescales and prioritise. Practice saying no. Learn to delegate and what you can delegate. The email tip is a great one. I would set an hour to deal with the face to face queries. If people can't come then they need to email and you will get back to them at the end of the day.

Todoist (because it came free on my phone) or Trello or Wunderlist. Turn emails that can be actionable into tasks and put them into your online calendar. I use the Pomodoro technique to focus on tasks and get them done in 25 minute bursts.

I'm with Screamng
Paper page a day diary. Write in any 'must be done by' task deadline and go back and write when you need to start that task to complete by the deadline.
When on the phone write in your diary any important stuff that needs actioning from the call, - and cross off when you've done it. At the end of the day work through your list of stuff on the page, and write in any future actions on the appropriate date as you cross them off today. Then tomorrow you have part of your day already tasked in your diary.

I work in a fast moving place and sometimes the phones go like billy-ho and if I didn't have paper and pen I'd be lost.

Decide what tasks are important. And which ones are urgent. All tasks might be important. But some might not be urgent.

Manage expectations. If someone rings and says “can I have X”, say yes, be positive but say, I can have this to you this afternoon/by tomorrow morning as I’m currently in the middle of doing something else at the moment.

Emails. Check in the morning. Before lunch. 3pm. File it after reading, action it immediately if it will take you less than two minutes, or flag it for task action and decide where it sits in your priority list for the day. Close outlook the rest of the time. Don’t be reactive to emails as they come in, this way they can’t distract you from task.

Block time in your diary for specific tasks “end of month reports” “prepare x” etc. Stick to it. Put you phone on divert to answerphone or on silent.

Keep a list of stuff as you think of it. It’ll help when you suddenly go “oh shit what was I meant to be doing”

Eisenhower Matrix yourself.

www.eisenhower.me/eisenhower-matrix/

Score stuff 1-5 on Urgency & Importance then throw these onto the scale, deal with the U&I first, then the U or I depending on their priority, and ignore the stuff that's neither U or I.

After a while, you'll automatically assign a score to new items, drop them in to your list.

...and the best advice I ever had...remove Outlook new email notifications. The pop ups make you click on them and then you read them which wastes time when you're focused on another task. Don't let it suck you in!

At the end of each day I write a list for the next day with what I am aiming to or must get done. I also review what didn’t get done that day and add it to the list for the next day. It means I come in knowing exactly what I need to tackle first.
I work in a busy environment where I’m expected to deal with countless queries and problems on top of my regular workload. If I can’t sort something out on the spot I add it to the list and I refer back to it frequently.
I tend to group similar tasks together ie responding to emails, making phone calls, printing reports, reviewing policies/similar, physically going to other offices to speak to other colleagues or pass things on etc.
I check the list through the day to see what I need to prioritise. It depends on the job but this is what works for me!

This has been so helpful, thank you all so much. I can't actually not check my emails regularly as I work with many agencies and am always waiting for stuff to come through, the urgent stuff is getting people out of hospital and getting the care coordinated, so it's all really time critical with massive pressures as you can imagine. The Trello boards was something I wanted to try but forgot (😂😂) so will try that for reports and project stuff. I also manage a huge team so have loads of staff stuff going on too and have their line managers queuing up at the door before I get in.

I really resonated with some of the stuff you talked about, especially leaving the 10 minute stuff to build up to a 2 hour job, I'll have to stop doing this as I take things like this home and I really shouldn't have to if I can organise myself better. Delegation, now that really is a skill I need to learn, I really do, I have had to start doing this lately but not half as much as I should within my team.

@FinallyHere, what do you mean by a to do list in different sections? My current list is quickly scribbled stuff on a page ripped out of my notebook, I add to it as things come in and i tick them off as i do it. I like lists of things so am intrigued.

Stronger boundaries, another yes, i do need to get better at this too.

I do have jobs on my calendar that carry on through the weeks, they are life savers.

I would try coming in early but it's a 24 hour service so the queries by my staff (always starts before my coat is off) would just start earlier too 😂😂

Thank you all so much, it has really helped me. I'll let you know how I get on.....

Oh and I'm going to buy a large diary too on my way in tomorrow, I did have one but didn't use it so will try again.

Outlook pop-ups, absolute concentration killers!

I did hide in another office once, was bliss but then I was found.

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My ToDo list is in sections, one for each project at work, for home household things and personal things, also for my elderly mother.

I sort by priority within each section.

Occasionally I get overwhelmed especially at work and run a piece of paper for really really urgent things until I get back organised with the online list.

Typically my task are things that will take hours rather than minutes so they tend to persist over day and weeks.

I have a to do list in sections and use a paper diary too. It definitely helps.

I find sectioning a to do list into am/pm or must do today/try to do today can help. That way I am constantly prioritising what is on my to do list throughout the day. Works well in a busy environment and at the end of the day allows you to know what you have has to push until tomorrow. It can also help with delegating as you can overview priorities and potentially delegate where appropriate with a clear timeline of when it needs done