Organize Your Office With a Simple Chore List
Even though I’m an organizer, I too need systems just as much as anyone. Grown-ups need chores too. Shortly after I moved into my home many years ago, I posted a list of “house rules” on the fridge. My list at the time read something like: Kacy’s House Rules: Sunday — Wash sheets and vacuum bedroom and stairs Monday — Clean bathroom Tuesday — Sweep floors Wednesday — Clean kitchen Thursday — Vacuum sofa and rugs Friday — Sweep floors Saturday — Dust
This worked so well that months into it I said to myself, “This works so well that I think I can take down the Rules.” The rules came down and my system crumbled in a matter of days. An unfortunate side effect was that I returned to using housecleaning as a means of procrastination. Countless times throughout the day I would find myself jumping out of my desk chair to scrub the sink or dust the blinds. When these were scheduled though, I had no excuse to dust the windowsills when I should have been writing.
Experiment with assigning simple office chores to days of the week.
For example: Monday — Tidy up desk drawers. Tuesday — Scan and clean up computer desktop. Wednesday — File receipts and statements. Thursday — File loose papers and make files as needed. Friday — Audit active file drawers and to-dos.
Each of these alone may sound too small to do regularly. Would you rather, though, take a few minutes each week to make files, or take hours or days to dig out of a massive “to file” pile?
7 Day Inspired Office Challenge Think of at least three office chores that you can assign to specific days of the week. From personal experience I can tell you it is crucial that you write them down on a visible list. In addition to this list, put the tasks in your planner or set reminders in your electronic calendar.
What tasks, large or small, can you add to your weekly routine that will help you to maintain lasting order? Do you think a visible list like this could be helpful for you? Please share!
