While you don't have to be as organized as Felix Unger to be a success in sales, you do need to have a good system in place to avoid being swamped by papers and other tasks. The better organized you are, the more time you can devote to money making activities.
Workplace performance expert Jason Womack said many people feel overwhelmed when they come into work and see their to do list.
“Most of your dread doesn't come from the work itself—it comes from how you think about the work,” he said. “The psychological weight of unfinished tasks and unmade decisions is huge. There is a constant feeling of pressure to do more with less."
That can't be changed, but there are ways you can make peace with it, he continued.
The first step is accepting that you are never going to get it all done. “You'll always be updating your to-do list by crossing off completed tasks and adding new ones, and that's okay. When you improve the way you approach the things you need to get done, both on the job and off, you'll stop wishing things were different and start really making new things possible,” he said.
For example, you should purge and unsubscribe. “Get rid of everything you can and reduce what might be coming in,” advises Womack. “Unsubscribe from e-mail newsletters, magazines, book-of-the-month clubs, perhaps even the ad-hoc committees you've joined recently. Try the 'unsubscription' for three months; at the end of those 12 weeks, you can re-up if you want to!”
He goes on to recommend what many other time management experts suggest: block out your time and prioritize as well as categorize and organize emails. This also includes keeping your Blackberry out of bed.
Womack had a story about a client with who he created a five-day experiment during which period he would leave his mobile device in another room and use an alarm clock to wake up instead of his phone. Email would not be checked until the train ride to work.
The result, Womack said was the client felt less stressed and was using his morning more productively. "This change in his routine gave him a higher quality of life with less stress and increased productivity."
Other suggestions included breaking tasks into smaller ones and learning to delegate. These tips and others are in Womack's book "Your Best Just Got Better: Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Make More."
