By Holly Uverity CPO®, Office Organizers
If you’re like many people, getting organized will be one of your top resolutions for 2014. It doesn’t have to be a chore if you use the 5Ss to organize your office. The 5Ss is a proven method of organization and productivity that anyone can use in any environment and may be just the tool you need to get you back on your organizing track. Simply put, it’s a system of steps that not only get you organized but keep you organized. Using the 5Ss will help you stay focused; you’ll have a simple system to follow and by keeping your ultimate goal in mind, you’ll discover that it’s easier to make decisions daily.
Sort
Begin by doing a Sort. Sort out your necessary items from the unnecessary ones and only keep what you need, not what you want. It can be tough to make those decisions so feel free to do a preliminary sort and then go back and sort again. I can guarantee you that the process will get easier as you go back through your piles. How many pens do you really need? How many scratch pads? How many magazines?
Simplify
Once you’ve sorted out what you don’t need, next Simplify access. Put those things closest to you that you use the most. If you get stuck trying to figure out what goes where, use your kitchen as a model; most kitchens are well organized because the everyday dishes are the most accessible and the holiday dishes are further away. Simply take that principle and apply it your office. Are your current project files close to you? Do your desk drawers hold the work that you are currently doing – the work that is the most important to you? Or are they holding old, outdated files or even junk?
Sweep
The next step is to do a visual Sweep of your office. If you put your project files in your lower left hand desk drawer, visually sweeping your office each day will ensure that they end up back in the correct drawer at the end of the day. Do you take the time each day to put your items back where they belong? Or do you leave them out because it’s too much trouble to put them away?
Standardize
Consistency is vital in staying organized so the next step is to Standardize your locations and procedures. In many ways, this is the hardest part of the process because it means you have to do things differently than you’ve done them before. If your client files have always been scattered and now you’re keeping them in a desk drawer, it can be difficult at first to remember where they are. There can be a great temptation to go back to your old, ingrained habits but it’s important that you stop and remember that your old habits didn’t work. How much simpler would your work life be if when you reached for a specific item, it was always there?
Self-Discipline
The last step is Self-Discipline and for many people, that is the challenge. I encourage you to think of it as only the daily routine practice of the previous steps. Practicing the self-discipline step maintains the momentum that you started. You already do certain things automatically and without thinking about them (daily and routinely); it’s just a matter of transferring those automated habits to your office and beginning a routine of work habits that sustains and supports you. What can you sort out every day? What can you simplify access to every day? What space can you visually sweep each day? What procedure or location of an item can you standardize?
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Office Organizers is The Entrepreneur’s Organizer. Founded in 1993, they work with business people to create solutions to their organizational challenges. Contact them at 281.655.5022, www.OfficeOrganizers.com, or www.fb.com/OfficeOrganizers.
