Top 5 advantages of being successfully organised

Do you have all the right qualifications, experience, networks and still find yourself stuck on the same rung of the career ladder? Are you inadvertently harming your career prospects by projecting an incompetent image? Singapore’s first Professional Organiser divulges the unspoken secret of maintaining an organised office to clinch that next promotion.

Why not emulate the success of billionaires such as Richard Branson, Donald Trump and Bill Gates, who are famously tidy and organised? Singapore is a thrilling international business hub. But it’s frenetic pace means a lack of organisation can be costly, energy-sapping and time-consuming.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the average U.S. executive wastes six weeks per year retrieving misplaced information from messy desks and files. For an executive earning US$75,000 a year, that translates to a loss of US$9,221 – 12.3 percent of total earnings. For a company with one hundred executives, it translates to nearly US$1 million in lost productivity.

Consider the top 5 advantages of getting organised:

1. You'll have more time for yourself
By being more efficient, such as completing projects before deadline and making quicker decisions, you'll spend less time on routine work and more on projects that earmark you as a go-getter. You’ll increase personal productivity once you have an orderly and efficient schedule to keep you on track.

If you’re the head honcho, a good organisational practise so everyone can enjoy access to the boss whilst other times are sacred, is to allocate set times in the work week for impromptu brainstorming.

2. You'll feel good about your environment
Being disorganised means you feel unprepared when a client or your superior unexpectedly stops by and sees a messy office. Get organised and you'll always feel positive about your workplace.

Your organised desk will present a professional image to clients, superiors and peers. A clutter-free environment (and computer desktop) frees up space and is also easier to manage. When you can find what you need and are on top of your to-do list, you’ll be less stressed and have greater confidence.

3. You'll be healthier
Get organised and you'll have time to exercise regularly around your office hours and plan healthy lunches for yourself instead of grabbing another chocolate or caffeine fix.

4. You’ll save more money
When you're organised, you'll avoid misplacing things, having to make duplicates and paying overdue fines. No more peak hour taxi fares because you’re running late for meetings! Instead you’ll maximise previously neglected space and stretch the corporate budget, making you shine in the boss’s or investor’s eyes.

The National Association of Professional Organisers reported that unnecessary expenditures related to disorganisation (last minute expenditure at premium prices, buying duplicates of misplaced items, rush charges, courier fees and finance charges) can cost as much as 15% to 20% of your annual budget.

5. You'll achieve more
Professional organising is similar to the creation of a sculpture. The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination ~ Elbert Hubbard.

When you're organised, you eliminate unnecessary and streamline the least productive tasks. If you’re in a chaotic business environment, it’s difficult to see the trees from the wood and set clear business priorities.

With these benefits in mind, give yourself a advantage with the 8 SIMPLE STEPS TO GETTING YOUR DESK ORGANISED:
1) Paper remains the bane of all offices. According to Forbes ASAP, the typical executive today wastes 150 hours a year, almost one month, searching for lost information. For someone earning $50,000 a year, that translates to a loss of $3,842. Adopt the F.A.S.T. system to keep information (digital or physical) under control.

Forward or delegate to someone else.
Action it now – and move to S.
Store or file for reference.
Trash it when it’s completed, if it’s junk mail or has not been used for 6 months.

2) Telephone – to achieve more, place the telephone handset on the left side of your desk to free up your right hand for note-taking.

3) Your desk space is prime real estate, do as developers do and go vertical with stacked trays (IN, OUT, PENDING & TO ACTION). Use magazines boxes to store paperwork upright and a cork/magnetic whiteboard to keep notes visible.

4) The deep drawer in the under-desk cabinet should be store current projects/paperwork in hanging files for fast retrieval. When the project is completed, punch holes and file in A4 ring binders on another shelf or the corporate filing system.

5) Store only one of any stationery (pen, stapler, ruler, eraser, calculator etc), the minimum number of business cards in your desk and assign a place for everything. Make it a habit to always return to the same spot after use to avoid misplacing.

6) If you or employees bring personal belongings to the office, provide hooks on the back of door, handbag hook or narrow shelf under the desk to minimise distraction and encroachment of work space.

7) Have one junk drawer for odds and ends, but remember to clear out unused items after 6 months or make a new home for those you’ve used.

8) Corporate information can be softcopy as well as hardcopies these days, especially with Singapore’s rate of connectivity and need for international travel Formulate a corporate filing system that’s easy to access from anywhere (no file should be more than four clicks away from the desktop) and grow with the business.

By maximising your personal efficiency and minimising distractions, you can set your sights on reaching the top of your organisational chart.