Why Organizing your Virtual Office is a Good Idea
If you are feeling a little disorganized, which comes down to all the circumstances in our lives currently. The kids’ schoolwork seems to eat up the week in a flash…other adults in the home also work from home. In some cases, the elderly relative you’ve been part caretaking (which can leave you too exhausted for proactive activity).
When you put all these reasons together, you see there’s one common thread in this theme: You’re not making time for you. (Or if you do, it’s collapse-time!)
So you struggle to focus on your online businesses, trying to learn that course you invested in before eventually putting it on the back burner, rushing to get a project out to a client (and immediately get started on the next one), or just plain procrastinating because you feel powerless and tired. Perhaps even a little confused.
The big danger of being disorganized is that it becomes a habit. Breaking habits doesn’t happen through thinking and agonizing about it. Breaking habits happens when we take action.
If you really want to get your business back on track, a really easy way is to start organizing your virtual office—for maximum business productivity!
Why Organizing Your Virtual Office is a Good Idea
Your virtual office is just not a place where you do your work. However, it’s only one of your office’s functions.
That's why you should think of your office as a tool for running a successful business.
It is to your service-based or coaching business what a sewing machine is to a seamstress. If your sewing machine doesn’t work, you won’t get your work done!
So when your virtual office is disorganized it actually affects your productivity. You lose focus, energy—and more importantly hours of time.
Disorganization is:
So schedule some time to organize your virtual office so you can maximize productivity in your business - so you can GET MORE DONE!
Office Organization Plan
As you plan your organization to maximize your productiveness, while cleaning is great, some decisions have to be made. Information that you can’t find...means there is a barrier or bottleneck in the flow of your virtual office.
Five Essential Steps to Get Started
1. Set aside a morning or afternoon to work on your virtual office.
Make sure you choose a time period when you won’t be interrupted by children, phone calls or deadlines. Schedule it. Treat it as sacred. Make a commitment not to let anyone or anything distract you from getting it done. In David Allen's book, “Getting Things Done,” he advocates more than just a few hours. He tells his clients to set aside up to three days to fully organize their office (and life). Now is definitely not to time for that, So if you think your office might need a bit more than just an afternoon, don’t be afraid to commit to a longer period of time. It will be well worth it in the end! .
2. Look around. Assess your office space as objectively as you can.
On the day of your Home Office Organization, take your time, don’t rush straight into cleaning. Instead, make a cup of your favorite relaxing tea or coffee. Sit comfortably, turning your chair away from the computer. Look around and Identify areas that:
- Have accumulated stacks of clutter (even small ones).
- Items you never use.
- Broken equipment that causes you difficulty when you sit or get something from it.
- An area difficult to keep organized.
3. Make a list
List each trouble spot—for example, “filing drawer that sticks half-way.”
Create a secondary list answering these questions.
4. Don't Forget Digital Declutter
Most of your disorganization stress likely stems from not being able to find (or easily access) your digital documents, so spend some time thinking about how you’d like your ideal workflow to look. Consider things like:
- Additional devices you use—a laptop, second desktop, mobile phone or tablet.
- Other locations you work from—whether on the road or just your local coffee shop.
- How you will share documents and files with clients and your team.
- The ability to quickly search for and find relevant notes and files.
Take your time on this evaluation phase—and be sure to write down your answers.
Think deeply about each question, no matter how small. One tiny inconvenience in your office set-up can literally snowball into other inconveniences—and bad habits.
5. Think about what your office is set up to help you handle
Are you:
- Are you talking to clients on the telephone or video conference (Zoom, Team...)?
- Creating products or providing services?
- Do you need hard copy records, or can everything stay on the computer or in the cloud?
- Once you have completed these sets of questions, prioritize each action that needs to be taken. Then number each in order of priority.
Base your prioritization on your own, personal, most important criteria:
- What needs to be done first in order for other things to happen (E.g., “Move office off stair landing and into kitchen nook”).
- What you can easily do yourself.
- What you can afford—right now.
- If you can’t afford to buy that new desk, get creative. You can buy it at an inexpensive online marketplace such as Wayfair.com, which (in addition to being inexpensive) holds “70% off limited-time deals every day” during set periods?
I created a guide for you which you can click below to download your FREE copy.
Be kind to yourself, stay focused, and stay safe!
