To ask for your productivity and organisation tips you use at work?

[productivity]

I'm a recent graduate in my first office-based job (I work in marketing). I always thought I was quite an organised, type A kind of person but I'm still struggling to keep on top of everything.

I do multiple projects for multiple clients. Projects are all at different stages with different things I need to remember to add, change, etc.

I've been feeling really stressed and have broken down in tears at my desk (working from home thankfully) because I feel so much pressure coming at me from a million different directions and I can't do everything at once. I work late and work over lunch just to keep up, but everytime I work crazy hours to meet a deadline I end up then feeling really down the next day because there's no relief or sense of accomplishment because it's just a never-ending bombardment of new tasks to do. At least at university when I stayed up late working on an assignment I could sit back afterwards and relax knowing it was done or I'd have the reward of a good grade. This just feels relentless.

When I look back on tasks I've done that day or week I realise that actually it was an ok amount, I'm not over-worked and it's a good, busy but manageable amount of work yet when i'm in the moment it feels chaotic and overwhelming. But at the same time I have so many silly little admin tasks that have been on my to-do task for weeks that I never get to.

Sorry, I've just off-loaded. What I meant to write on this thread was does anyone have any pearls of wisdom or advice on how to organise workloads and keep track of different tasks as well as just general productivity tips for work.

Thank you.

I have a busy and stressful head of department role. I find using Trello boards massively helpful. It means I can easily see all of the different things I need to do and when, and i can then guagr whether it’s realistic, if not I know I need to reprioritise or delegate.
I also map out activity into a roadmap looking forward 12 months so I can easily see where the peaks of activity are coming and plan for them in advance.

Are you using any project management software/tools. If your job is quite project based then you would probably benefit in understanding the basic principles of project management and the systems that you can use (e.g. MS Project)

GANTT charts for every project. It's the only way! And email remainders copied and pasted into my calendar

Oh, and saying, "what's the priority" and "no"

I work in marketing too.

I find Trello a useful tool for keeping track of my current and upcoming priorities. I also have a traditional ‘to-do list’ pad which I use to note things down as they come into my head.

I know you say your workload actually is manageable, but if it’s making you feel like this then it might be quite high. Is your manager or someone in your HR department approachable? Could you start to set boundaries around how much work you’re able to take on?

If you’re able to, try to block out a couple of hours in your calendar every week for ‘focus time’ or ‘admin’ or whatever you need time to concentrate on. I do this and it helps so much as it stops people booking meetings with me on say, one morning or one afternoon a week, so that I know I have some uninterrupted time to get things done.

I assume that if you’re working on multiple projects for multiple clients, you’re agency side? I did find working in an agency very hectic, I’ve since moved in-house and the workload is much more manageable - long hours and late nights are a rarity.

Lower your price expectations of what good enough means and delegate! As a new graduate I very quickly realised that the perfectionism I’d become used to during university and school just isn’t possible in the real world. Also, acceptable work to me would be praised by others, people have very different standards!

I bulk buy to do pads from poundland.
I write out a page for each day of the week then naturally as tasks come up i then add them to that page.
I use one note for a project and write as much info as i can. I also dont know if you have microsoft teams? They have a planner tool in teams which is really good.
I also set aside time where i actually close my outlook and tick off two to three tasks on my to do list. Then 30 mins of emails (i have a productivity timer)
We also use a excel to do board which maps out my work for the week and i add larger tasks to this board that will take me 1 hour plus (anything less than a hour goes on the to do list pad)

I also book mark and favourite everything. There is nothing more time draining than having to look for a file. Everything gets book marked in my world.

Find your 'To Do' list tool, it has to be something that works for you, I love a good spreadsheet, I hate MS planner, MS project, Asana and Trello, they all have some good bits but something is always missing or just so annoying I stop using them.

Next step is to really be brutal and decide what on your To Do list YOU actually need to do, and what needs to be done by someone else and you just track/chase completion. Look up RACI if you don't use that matrix already.

Most important is figure out what method of communication is most effective. I have people at work who are firmly attached to email updates, but I find that often it's best to just get people on a call. It eliminates all the back and forth and waiting for responses.

@Royalbloo

Oh, and saying, "what's the priority" and "no"

Agree. My first question whenever anyone asks me to do anything is "when do you need that by?" And I'm not afraid to say no if it's outside my job description/area of responsibility - that saves me masses of time!

If you're working on multiple projects, can you structure the work so that you focus on one task for all your projects for a set amount of time, rather than focusing on one project at a time?

Also, stop working late and through your lunch. You need regular breaks to be at your best. Working non-stop is counterproductive as your productivity will decline.

I think as pp said, learn to live with not being perfect. That comes with time and can be an uncomfortable place to be. Also asking your boss what is essential and what is just desirable can be helpful with prioritisation.
Getting some control over your own diary also helps - like blocking out time for tasks so people won't just dump appointments in. Just shut down outlook and teams etc too so you aren't distracted by notifications.
Personally - when it gets to your stage I tend to take a good couple of hours to clear my in box and write master to-do list. I then just prioritise each day by highlighting a couple of things that I must do. Another trick is to write 3 things on a post it for that day and stick on the side of your screen.
Although I deliver project-type activities I've never got on with Gantt charts and endless spreadsheets - great if they suit you but otherwise as long as that's not expected by anyone else then don't feel like this is the only way.

Good luck - I've been there and it's not much fun

Have a look at the Getting Things Done personal productivity system, I found it really helpful

Honestly I've learnt to focus on what will make the biggest difference and prioritise that. To do lists of 30+ things just stress me out. On the way to work each week I ask myself what I'd feel happiest about having kicked down the road by the end of my working week, not in terms of most enjoyable, but in terms of what needs to move quicker than other things.

I use Productivity Planner to help me set weekly then daily goals, it then uses the pomodoro technique to break time into 25 min bursts. At the end of the week I assess what went well and carry over unfinished tasks to next week. I'm experimenting with other planners as you only get a few priorities and sometimes I can't do number 1, the most important, first as I'm waiting on something that comes in later in the day. But it does help with overwhelm and also give a sense of satisfaction as you score yourself each day and do just focus on your top priorities.

I also have a word to do list in a table format, which I check in with weekly, that helps me keep track of all next steps on my various projects. Only the next step for each one. There's about 40+ things on there.

I think three things will help you

• a to do list
• asking when things are needed by so you can prioritise
• accept that there are some jobs, office admin type ones, that will always be at the bottom of your list and won’t get done for months till you finally hit a quiet patch

I would make two other comments

• You are brand new to the job. At the moment everything will take you longer and seem more daunting. As you get more experienced week by week things will take you less time. You’ll also feel more confident about saying you can’t take on new tasks or won’t get to it till next week, etc.
• It’s just possible that there is genuinely too much work for one person to do and you are being overloaded. But you can’t really assess that just yet. If you still feel like this in 6 months then this may be the case

I use ms. Planner it's Ben a game changer for me. Its a board based to do list.
The other thing that helps is setting aside 10 minutes in your diary 3 times a day to let you review emails and catch up on anything else admin based that you need to. Block out your lunch break in your diary too. Make sure you follow your diary, don't ignore reminders.

Learn to ask when things need doing by and say no if you genuinely do not have enough time.

Finally have a look and see if there are any time management courses you can do, when you can manage your time better, I think you will feel less chaotic.

I have a nice A4 notebook. At the start of each week i list what I need to have done and add to it with urgent things that come in. I then highlight things as I do them. I find it so much better to visually see that I may feel like I'm constantly buried in jobs but that I am actually achieving what I needed too.

I never ever get an all pink page at the end of a week and those jobs role forward but I still get a sense of achievement from it.

Our marketing team use asana and I have just started to use it and have found it vv helpful ( I am a head of dept)

I'm not very high tech, I use a day-per-page diary and write everything onto the day I plan to do it. I have a system of colour coding with highlighters (only 2 colours, one for meetings/other direct contact and one for important things I haven't done yet) and if something doesn't get done I add it onto another day later in the week. I sometimes use my commute to or from work to go through my diary, check I haven't missed anything and decide what to prioritise over the next few days.

I use Trello and so does my husband and my brother, allows us to track work projects, it is free, so worth a go. I also find that having a few slots in the day to do certain things always helps, because I work in research certain things must be done on certain timeframes, from daily to monthly, I make sure there is time blocked out in my calendar to do this, but I know my husband and brother do the same and both work in high pressure environments in running companies.

Also, make sure you give yourself a break, get up, make a drink, stretch your legs for ten minutes. Productivity scales downwards the longer you keep working, taking a five minute break every hour, half an hour every few hours will actually keep you more productive over the day than working solidly and having lunch at your desk.

Following with interest

You need to use a planning/project tool as mentioned by others, as trying to keep track by memory, or endless notebooks etc heaps on the stress unnecessarily.

Also look at time management and prioritisation ideas. The old important/urgent grid can be helpful.

Also make sure you are saying no to things people are just dumping on you. Newbies can get taken advantage of. Check your appropriate boundaries with your manager if not sure.

If you have many meetings schedule them for odd lengths, not round hours or half hours. So 25 mins, or 50 mins, 45 mins - it moves them along and sets you up with a breather.

When feeling overwhelmed, take a short break. During the break try to clear your mind of everything but one 'next step' task on one project, then come back and focus just on that. The more you jump from task to task, the less you will get done. Pomodoro is great for this.

Following

I have a weekly to do list and then write a daily one for each day the previous evening.
Both have top 3 on which I prioritise before getting sucked into emails / admin.
Taking your lunch break is really important and make sure you get away from your screen.
Its better to focus on one thing at a time, so turn off your email notifications so you aren't distracted every time a new email arrives.

For projects I have a master to do list and then use one per project, amended as needed as there are many tasks that occur on every project.

As well as prioritising using an important/urgent matrix you can also use impact/effort obviously with low effort & max impact tasks being where you start.

I'm a head of department and the way I work is to have a big team planning document which we all use and check once a week.

Then i have a to do list for myself which I jot everything down on. Any task which is quick, I do there and then.

Then for each team member I have a list for them so anytime I ask them to do something I note it down for next time we catch up. That could also work as a gant chart or list for every project.

I'm another fan of Getting Things Done - David Allen.

If you are not used to delegating, it can be hard to do this at first. When in crisis mode, I used to write a list headed "Things that won't get done if I don't do them". It helped me separate what was truly down to me, and what I could reasonably expect someone else to deal with - occasionally this may be your manager, if something is really beyond your job description / pay grade.

For day-to-day, you've had a lot of good advice. It can be easy to get side tracked by incoming new demands, so I used a system of deciding, every morning, what were the 3 key tasks for that day. As long as I kept them in sight, I felt in control. This works best if you have a clear definition of the task in the first place - see David Allen again for that.

For tools, I liked productivity tools developed by a quirky guy called David Seah.

Oh and I eventually realised that my lunch break walk allowed my brain to subconsciously solve issues for me, in a way that never happened if I stayed at my desk