There are two types of people in the world.  First you have those who were born with the organization gene; second are those who were not.  Do you fall in the second group?  Don’t worry!  There are ways to stay organized in your small business. 

The advantages are great.  A person who can organized their business will find the work gets done in much less time.  They remember important events and meetings.  They don’t have anxious moments or feel as though they have lost control as often as someone who is disorganized.  So here are some practical tips for those of us who don’t have the organizational gene built in:

Don’t Leave a Messy Workplace at Night

Never leave your workspace at night until you have taken a few minutes to clean up your desk.  Put office supplies such as stapler and pens in a central location so you are ready to go in the morning.  Check the trash can and empty it if necessary, and remove any empty cups or other dishes that are cluttering your desk. 

Most important, quickly go through the papers cluttering up the desk and stack them somewhat in the order they need to be tackled in the morning.  This is also the perfect opportunity to jot down a to-do list for tomorrow, and rank each item as to importance. 

The ten minutes these simple tasks take each night will be rewarded by your ability to jump in and start the day running each morning. 

Organize Work Product Using the Rule of 3

There will always be those people who know right where everything they need is at any time.  The rest of us make up the bigger population.  One trick I have found helpful in organizing work papers so I can actually find them is to group them according to the rule of 3. 

It is a simple concept.  Never have more than three piles of paperwork going at any given time.  The first stack is your most pressing business that you hope to get through during the day.  Next, are those items to accomplish sometime during the week, and the final stack contains those less pressing items to get to within the month.  This may take a few minutes to create the first time, but in the long run it will save you ton of time from having to look through every paper on your desk for the one that you really need. 

Just Do It

The reality is that each day you avoid creating an organization system that you can live with you miss opportunities for your small business.  A larger part of your day can be spent on making your small business succeed when you are organized.  But remember, one size does not fit all and what works for one would drive someone else crazy.  So find a system you can call your own and stick with it.     

Get more small business success strategies and claim your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year”  to learn about an online accounting program that makes it simple to organize your accounting and finance.