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As the season changes into fall, the routine of life gets back into gear.  It’s also a prime time to consider organization as a work from home employee.  When your home is also your workplace, it’s important that organization is a key component to your daily life.  In a home office, you don’t have a cleaning crew to keep your office nice and neat on a daily basis, so it’s up to you to establish this routine.

Read along for some best practices for “falling” into organization this season!

Manage your environment

A disorganized office or home can set you up for overwhelm and failure from the get go.  Make it a point to keep your spaces neat and tidy, which is known for boosting productivity.  This also keeps you from wanting to spend your day cleaning and organizing, which can be avoided with a cleaning schedule.

A cluttered space is often a cluttered mind, so do your best to organize your desk, home, and general living space so that you can give as much productivity as possible to your home based job.

Make it a daily habit

All you need is 10 minutes per day!  Once your system of organization is set up, simply spend at least 10 minutes per day staying that way.  Whether you choose a detailed filing system, color-coded documents, or just very well organized computer files, be sure that you’re taking the time every single day to look at these items.

When organization becomes a habit, it becomes part of our life.  Research suggests that it takes 21 days to make a new habit, so do your best to stick it out for at least 3-4 weeks, especially if organization isn’t your thing!  You might just find that you’re more productive, your mind is more clear, and you’re much more able to find needed items and files when they’re needed.

Keep it separate

Although this is more of a mental organization tip, it can also do wonders for your physical space – an office or a computer organizational system.  Make sure all your clients, employees, and employers are kept separate, as to clear up space in your head.  When you’re constantly putting everything together, you have to take the time to decipher which item, email, or request is from which client.

Since many work from home employees hold numerous freelance positions, organization here is more important than ever.  If you want to keep everything in one place, such as a master to do list, organize your clients or employers by color-coding them.  This will allow you to quickly see which tasks are for which person, leaving your brain power for the important items – your work!

Organization doesn’t need to be difficult or time consuming – it just has to become part of your life.  When you’re organized as a home based employee, your productivity is much higher and you’re able to produce more accurate and efficient work for your clients.

Think of how much easier it will be to find those folders or emails once everything is set!  Organization frees up time and mental space from the clutter – the clutter of seeking items you can’t find, and the clutter of a disorganized workspace that generally brings down your workday.  Put in the time now and reap the rewards daily!

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