According to author Mary Anne Lessley, when someone must search 15 minutes/day for an important document or possession they lose 11 eight-hour days per year.  That adds up to a lot of time taken away from more important aspects of your business such as marketing, phone calls, billing and client contact time. 

The definition of clutter from Webster’s dictionary is:  a state or condition of confusion, a disorderly mess.  Does that happen to bring your office desktop to mind?  Are you at a point where you are frequently searching for lost papers, embarrassed to have co-workers see your office or do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed in your workspace?  If any of your answers are yes, then it’s time to turn things around and get organized!

First you need to make a commitment to get organized by creating an appointment in your schedule.  You are a busy business person whose time will remain filled with other tasks unless you specifically set aside time for organizing.  Remember, getting organized is an investment in your business and will ultimately help you be more productive.

Be sure you choose the time of day that you have the most energy to tackle your project.  If you are a morning person, don’t work all day and try to organize at the end of the day. Instead eat a good breakfast and dedicate the first two hours of the day to your project. 

Don’t overwhelm yourself by taking on the whole office in one day.  It’s ok to set a time limit for how long you are willing to devote to getting organized each day.  You can even break it down by taking on a section of the room or desk at a time. 

Attack visible clutter first.  Take on the desktop that you see every day before diving into desk drawers.  It will make a bigger impact on creating a clear workspace as well as improve the appearance of your office which will motivate you to keep going. 

Invest in a label machine so all files are clearly labeled which makes them easy to read for you or co-workers who may need to retrieve something from your office.

Now make the most of your extra 15 minutes a day since that you won’t be spending them searching for documents!