Home office organization -
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However, we've all heard the mantra: organize, organize, organize, and like any cliché, the reason you hear it so often is because it's tried-and-true. Organization works: it helps you become more efficient, makes your life easier, and saves time in the long run.
It may be difficult to worry about "the long run" when you're late for a meeting and trying to juggle your Starbucks, briefcase, organizer, ID badge and who-knows-what-else, but you'll soon come to appreciate home office organization once you've tried it.
The element of time
Home office organization for a freelance translator means organizing two very different things: your time, and your physical stuff. In this article we're not going to offer tips on how to sort your files and ID badge supplies; that's for another time. This outing, we'll be talking about how to organize your time.Business pundits say you have to spend money to make money, and the same is true of time. Like it or not, you'll have to take time out of your busy schedule to get your time organized. Find or create a nice-sized block of time when you won't be bothered by meetings, phone calls, talkative co-workers, people who want to borrow paper clips or magnetic badge holder supplies, , or solicitations for Girl Scout cookies. Close your door, if you have one (this may be a problem for cubical dwellers). Turn off your computer and ignore your email if you can, then sit down and get to work.
It's time to start planning your home office organization. Push aside the mess on your desk -- yes, at some point you'll need to clean it up, but that's for later. Pull out your organizer; if you don't have one, for goodness sake, get one. (Yes, even freelance translators need one). Your organizer is of vital importance, and it should have pride of place on your desk and in your briefcase or valise (or whatever you carry your stuff in). It doesn't matter if it's electronic or paper-based, as long as it can do the job -- though admittedly, electronic organizers can be more useful in your efforts to cut down on clutter.
Worth its weight in the precious metal or cookies of your choice
Any good organizer should include features that let you see not just your entries for individual days, but also for a week or even a month at a time. If you're reminded on Monday that you have a presentation on Friday, you're less likely to forget until the last minute and have to stay up til midnight the night before preparing slides. Make sure you pencil in each of your meetings and appointment on your organizer -- don't just let them sit there on your e-mail calendar until the little alarm tells you it's time to go.The most important thing to remember about an organizer is to use it! Whether it's part of your handy tablet PC or a spiral-bound book you keep in your briefcase, it won't do you any good if you ignore it. All that home office organization will go right down the drain. After all, it's not as if organizers jump up and tell you, in a loud no-nonsense voice, when it's time to go to that preliminary meeting to prepare for the pre-meeting about the budget meeting. At least, they don't yet. Now excuse me while I make a call to the patent office.