How to achieve more by doing less? Part 2 – ORGANISATION

Author - Cerys Watts

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How to achieve more by doing less?

Part 2 – ORGANISATION

Now that you’ve started planning the way you work you need to ORGANISE the way you work too in order to maximise the effect. Working in an organised way allows you to PLAN you activities efficiently and coordinate all the tasks that have to be completed in an effective way.

Here are some simple ideas to help you become more organised:

ORGANISE YOUR WORK SPACE Make sure that you’re working environment is tidy and organised.  Put everything in its place and it will be easier to find what you need and what you need to do. Get in the habit of putting things back where they belong as soon as you’ve finished with them.

THINK ON PAPER OR IN WORD DOCUMENT so that you have a reference point, you can avoid duplicating work and it makes it easier to review and revise your work. Save all of your work as what’s not used might be relevant for something else.

CREATE TEMPLATES for repetitive tasks - letters, emails, invoices etc., so that you only have to fill in the relevant details each time rather than create a completely new version.  

When ever possible paper, files, correspondence etc., should only be handled ONCE. Make a decision about what to do and do it.                                                                                                                                                                                                          PRACTICE THE 4Ds:                                                                                                             


Delete       probably half your correspondence can be deleted straight away                                                          Do             if it's urgent or can be completed quickly                                                                                            Delegate    if it can be better dealt with by someone else                                                                                        Defer         set aside time at a later date to spend time on items requiring long  action                                         

Then there’s the question of whether to use a TO DO LIST or an ORGANISER/PLANNER.                          A ‘To Do List’ is just a list of everything that you have to do.  By writing everything down in one place you make sure that you don’t forget anything.  Tasks can be ticked off when completed and more can be added as and when required.  An Organiser lists all your appointmnts and keeps track of your schedule.

My preference is to use my CALENDER/ORGANISER as my TO DO LIST because this allows me not only to list all the things that need to be done but I can allocate an amount of time to each task.  It’s much easier to fit my work in around appointments and meetings because at one glance I can see my full schedule and this means that I’m able to organise and plan my time more efficently. The system automatically reminds me when tasks are due to commence and as an added bonus I can share my calender if required.

The thing that’s important is to find something that works for you and that you will use consistently.

If you work in an organised way it means that you are aware of everything that needs to be done; that you’ve planned how to get everything done; that you have a consistent approach to your work; that you are not needlessly duplicating work and you have a realistic understanding of what you can achieve with your time. The result of better organisation is increased efficiency, better use of time and improved quality of life.

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