When you hear the word “organized”, you probably think mostly about physical clutter. But isn’t your mind full of clutter too? If you don’t know how it feels to be truly “organized”, then it’s time to re-evaluate your personal situation.

Today, it is more critical than ever, to be organized in life at work and home. Do you feel like you’re living your life in the “fast lane?” Are you losing business to your competitors? How do you even know? Are you working harder or smarter?

By focusing on a few of the areas which seem to pull people away from their top priorities, you can start to see how being more efficient can help you in the long run.

Let’s start with paper. How much paper (i.e. mail, newspapers, subscriptions, catalogs, etc.) do you let physically enter your office? Do you have somebody filter your mail? If not, why not? Isn’t your time more valuable than sorting mail? Please delegate this task if you can.

Let’s continue with e-mail. How much time do you spend sending and responding to e-mail? Are you addicted to it? How much more productive would you be if you didn’t check it for one day (assuming your job doesn’t solely depend on it)? Act like you took a vacation day, go to the office, but don’t load your e-mail. Would you go stir crazy? Has e-mail management de-railed you from focusing on your true job? Limit your use and stick with it. When you respond quickly to e-mail sent to you, you are training the “sender” to expect a fast response from you.

Moving on now to your brain. When you’re at home, do you think about tasks you need to accomplish at work? At work…is your thought process interrupted by thinking about tasks which must be accomplished at home? How many times a day or week, do you repeatedly think about the same things over and over, but yet just can’t seem to get them done? The pain is in your brain….it needs to be cleared out in a categorized to-do list layout, that lets you write down and unload your brain, of the constant items which keep re-surfacing over and over. Once written, the accomplishment of the task becomes easier. A fancy calendar or electronic task list often takes more time to manage than to just complete the task. If a task takes a couple minutes or less to complete, then “Take Two”, two minutes that is, to complete it and remove it from your mind.

Are you “comfortable” operating with loads of paper, tons of e-mail, overwhelming number of tasks and constant interruptions? Then it’s time to get uncomfortable. When you sit in comfort, you are content and your competitors will pass you by. Get uncomfortable, make it a goal to stop with the messes of paper and stress in your mind and get focused ON your business, not on the “busyness” of your job.