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Workplace Organization

Declutter Your Workspace

Excessive Emails And Too Much Other Stuff!

Readers want the scoop!

                  how you stay organized to gain the most productive day at work.

Stressed Man

These days, your inbox quickly fills up with random emails, alerts, and newsletters from various companies. This bombardment of messages can be overwhelming, stressing, and distracting, preventing you from paying attention to important tasks. Therefore, digital decluttering is necessary to redirect your focus.

According to CBS News, John Shumway, an American journalist says that decluttering offers you mental relief and feels like breathing in fresh air. However, in terms of electronics, it needs to be done daily. According to Robin Waite, digital decluttering can greatly impact one's focus, clarity of thought, and overall well-being.

 

Do you want to stop feeling overwhelmed by watching millions of emails in your inbox? Utilize the below tips for some ways to clean your digital mailbox and concentrate on the necessary ones only.

Use Filters and Labels

When you have set your mind to do digital decluttering, then use the filters and labels made available by your email service, i.e. Gmail, Microsoft, etc.:

 

Filters

Sorting with filters is great help for incoming mail. You need to set the rules for which emails you want to see at the top, based on the sender's name, subject, or relevant keywords. After that, you can archive, label, or delete emails according to the particular conditions.

Labels

Consider labeling as separating folders in a digital way. You have the option of creating labels for multiple categories such as “personal”, “social”, “work”, and “to do”.  For getting the notification of a new email, you can drag and keep them in the assigned folders. This will help you in keeping your mailbox organized without missing anything.

Unsubscribe The Unwanted Emails

You might have subscribed to get emails from different companies to stay updated regarding their latest promotions or product launches. However, now you are noticing that they are taking way too much space or you have lost interest, so click on the option of unsubscribing their messages. This is usually at the bottom of the email, hence go ahead, and you will stop receiving future emails. Apart from that, you can even delete their previous emails to create more space in your folder.

Respond To Emails In Batches

If you constantly check your emails and respond to them, then that might take your whole day. This will leave you too tired to look after other tasks. Therefore, reply to emails in batches. For instance, give fifteen minutes to manage your emails and see how you will tackle the urgent ones. Then move ahead to finish other projects.

Archive Your Emails

You must have seen that archive option in your email account folders. Now is the time to use it. Drag and drop some emails in that section to open in the future. Archiving will save you from deleting necessary emails and allow you to look at them when you find it necessary.

 

Files, Papers and Just Stuff, Oh My ...

Have you ever said, "I know my workspace is a mess, but I can find everything I need easily"?  If that has been your approach to your workspace, you might want to try solutions that can provide a different perspective.  Consider that eliminating unnecessary paper on your desk, by minimizing the need for physical files, not only can assist in streamlining your workload, but can lift your spirit and lead to high-level production in your day, too.  

White office organization
Electronic Devices
Businesswoman at Home
Work Desk
Vlogging from Home Office

More on improving your work pace from home.

Best practice:  less is best
 
Research and plan the tools you need and consider equipment updates that are affordable, including organizational apps that can help.  Keep in mind that making good use of technology can create less stress.  

Traditional Filing Approach

Manual Filing System

  • Identify necessary documents

  • Remove docs that are repetitive

  • Separate documents by priority, i.e. date, alphabetical, numeric, subject matter, workflow (to do, completed)

  • Use storage files, i.e. drawers, binders, accordion style fanning options, etc.

  • Add labels and / or color code to locate docs easily

  • Review and purge for outdated docs regularly, i.e. quarterly, annually

 

Pro Tip:  be thoughtful, but don't overthink your filing system so much that getting started on your work suffers

woman at desk

File Using Technology

Digitial Filing Systems

  • Pro Tip:  leverage a phone app for storing and retrieving files

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  • Index electronic files by utilizing metadata naming conventions to classify documents for ease of retrieval.  You can index files electronically using software or by creating a manual index plan

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  • Scan and digitally organize docs so that you can dispose of paper that's not needed

Pro Tip:  though digital storage for space saving and ease in retrieval time for personal and business docs can be a great workspace cloud solution, before shredding or disposing of critical docs, also consider using a home safe or safety deposit box for extra precaution.  Note that there are risks for loss of docs in digital storage resulting from human error, software, hardware or system failure, etc.  The key exercise is to create a plan with all your needs at the forefront before taking any action.  Then follow your plan to make a valued difference in the way you approach organization.  You'll thank yourself for it later.

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