19 Tips To Get More Organized at Work
Becoming organized at work will make your job a lot easier. You’ll have more time on your hands, you’ll get more done, and your job satisfaction will begin to improve.
We’ll walk through 19 practical tips to help you become more organized at work in this post. One of the keys is to use the tips below that stand out. Instead of using them all at once, use one tip at a time. When you’re comfortable with the method, then move on to the next.
Let’s get started on the path to becoming organized at work!
1. Make a Decision:
Becoming organized isn’t difficult, but it does require commitment. Decide right now that you’re going to move forward and start getting organized from this moment on.
Once you’ve made that decision, it’s no longer just an idea. It’s a process, and it’s time to take action.
2. Prepare for Work the Night Before:
The first step to organizing your day starts at home. When you’re off to a good start in the morning, your day usually moves in that direction. But have you ever noticed those days when you get up late? You’re in a rush, and you start making mistakes, like forgetting something on your way out the door or dropping something because you’re hurrying.
Doesn’t the rest of your day tend to go the same way as your morning?
Take a few minutes before bed to get ready for the next day.
If you use a computer and a briefcase or backpack, pack them up the night before and double-check that you haven’t missed anything. Then place your bag somewhere handy, like the kitchen table or near the door.
Next, set out what you’ll need for breakfast, and lay out the clothes you’re going to wear.
With the physical items handled, jot down anything important to remember for work — a meeting, a project, or anything else worth keeping in mind for the next day.
This simple 5–10 minute routine means you can wake up to a quiet morning with time for coffee, breakfast, or whatever you want. You’ll start the day ready to go.
3. Dress Appropriately:
When you look professional, you’ll feel professional, and at the same time, you’ll feel organized. But on the other hand, when you’re dressed out of place and you sense it, you don’t feel like you’re in control or organized, and a lot of your focus goes to the way you’re dressed.
These days, many companies have a casual dress code. Even though you’re free to wear what you want, dress appropriately for your line of work. It’s part of looking and feeling organized.
4. Planning:
Planning is one of the most important factors in improving your organizational skills. It allows you to focus and see things through before you take action. Developing your planning skills will help improve your organization almost immediately.
Planning doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as writing your steps and ideas on paper. You can also use software, such as Todoist or TickTick, if you prefer that route. It doesn’t matter how you plan, as long as you do it before you act.
5. Make Use of Time Management Techniques:
Time management techniques will keep you ahead of schedule and save you valuable time. Time is a valuable asset, and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. You can always make more money, but you can never get back the time you’ve spent.
When you focus on time management, you may be able to save countless hours of wasted time every month!
Even if you saved a few minutes a day, that’s a lot of time for more productive things.
If you want, look at my article on time management techniques that are simple and easy to use.
6. Focus on What You Are Doing:
When you’re working on something and thinking about something else, your work suffers, and it takes longer to complete the job. So it’s important to think about what you’re doing while you’re doing it.
Sometimes, if I complete a job while thinking of other things, I’ll need to go over the work again. I’ll ask myself, did I miss anything? Since I wasn’t focused on the task at hand, it’s difficult to determine if I completed everything correctly.
It’s a lot of backtracking and wasted time. However, when I’m focused, I never backtrack, and the job is completed in less time.
7. Create a Routine:
Routines are a great way to get things done that you have to do daily. For example, every day you have to create a report. You can create a routine so it feels like an automated process.
Set your start time. Create any steps that you need to take and note how long each should take. Once you start the task every day and have memorized the steps, it becomes a routine that you don’t have to give much thought to.
Some people get bored with routines because you’re doing the same thing over and over again every day. But a routine helps you stay organized and get your most important work completed quickly and effectively. Think of a routine as a way to program your mind and stay on track.
8. Prepare for Meetings:
When You’re Invited to a Meeting:
It’s a great idea to look at the meeting agenda if it’s available. Gather any information that you may need to become active during the meeting and provide feedback.
Take your phone, laptop, or notepad to take notes. You’ll also want to bring any reports or data that you may need.
Take a few minutes to prepare and arrive a couple of minutes early.
When You’re Running the Meeting:
Do all the prep work beforehand. Below are a few of the issues you may need to address:
- Create a meeting agenda and include all the points you want to go over, then send it to the attendees so they can prepare.
- For each item on your meeting agenda, write down some key points to cover. Make a note of how long each point should take.
- Decide if you will allow questions, answers, and input from the attendees during or at the end of the presentation.
- Keep your meeting short and to the point. Everyone is busy and doesn’t want to waste time on issues that don’t really matter or concern them.
- If you’re using a screen to present your meeting, test it ahead of time to make sure your equipment is working correctly.
- Make sure you have all the data required and organized before the meeting so that you’ll be able to refer to it if needed.
- If you are asked a question that needs more information, don’t waste time trying to get that information unless absolutely necessary. Instead, say I’ll look into that and get back to you.
- Take notes on the issues you need to follow up on. Don’t try to keep everything in memory. You want to focus on what’s going on, not what you have to remember.
9. Eliminate Clutter:
Clutter is one of the biggest drains on productivity in an office. It’s also the opposite of being organized, so it’s worth clearing it out of your work area, desk, computer, and related devices.
Cluttered desks and disorganized files are consistently linked to lost time, added stress, and reduced focus, based on research on office organization. (Source: EHS Today)
Getting rid of it is as simple as putting everything in a box and throwing it out. The only problem is you might toss something important — and that’s often how it piled up in the first place.
You can tackle it by creating three separate piles.
- Pile 1 – Important Items
- Pile 2 – Disposable Items
- Pile 3 – Undecided Items
Let’s go over each pile next:
Pile 1 – Important Items:
This pile is easy because you know what’s important, and you can put everything you need to keep in this pile.
Pile 2 – Disposable Items:
This pile is easy to build because you know what you can throw out without worrying about it.
Pile 3 – Undecided Items:
This is where you’ll put the items that you may need but aren’t sure yet, or items that you need to keep for a little while longer and dispose of later.
Go through your desk and workspace:
Now it’s time to go through your desk and workspace and put everything in the appropriate pile.
When you’re finished, you’ll have three piles. The first thing to do is throw out the garbage pile, then you will have two piles left. Next, take the undecided pile and store it somewhere you can easily access it. I wouldn’t spend too much time on it because you’ll probably end up throwing a lot of it away when the time comes.
Take some time to decide how and where you want to store your important items. For example, should you buy cabinets or shelves? Do you have some you can use?
Once I had to organize 4 large cabinets in my office. I took a half-hour every day to handle this task. I purchased plastic organizers and labeled everything! I was finished in about one week. It’s been about eight years, and everything is still organized. All that’s required is going through the cabinets to get rid of items no longer needed.
10. Have a Designated Place for Everything:
Having a designated place for everything will improve your productivity. Instead of wasting time looking for something, you’ll spend that time getting the job done. Proof of this is a system called 5S, used most often in manufacturing and warehousing but applicable to almost any industry, to organize operations and boost productivity.
The origin of the term is made up of five Japanese words:
- Seiri
- Seiton
- Seiso
- Seiketsu
- Shitsuke
In English, think of the following:
- Sort
- Set in Order
- Shine
- Standardize
- Sustain
Since organizations of all kinds use this system, you can see the benefit of having a place for everything, whether it’s a manufacturing plant or your home office.
You can take it one step further by labeling the items and the shelf or cabinet. If you have many items, you can create a searchable document that allows you to locate anything you need in seconds. Think of it as a small inventory program to keep you on track.
11. Make Your Workspace Work for You:
It’s important to modify your workspace to work for you.
I have seen a lot of businesses in operation. One story I can share with you is about a computer station I noticed in a manufacturing plant.
The computer sat on top of a storage cabinet. The keyboard and mouse were in a section that was just about 14 inches long. The operator put the mouse in front of the keyboard rather than next to it. With that type of setup, how can a user operate the computer effectively? There’s no room.
Set up your equipment in a way that’s organized, user-friendly, and makes sense. If you’re tight on space, either move the equipment or move the items taking up space. You can always rearrange things for a better setup.
If you’re the only one using the equipment, optimizing the area and the setup is easy according to your preference. But if not, get feedback from other users to gather ideas and make a group decision.
12. Organize Your Desk Space:
Your desk should be optimized for your working preference. You should have enough room to operate your keyboard and mouse comfortably. There shouldn’t be any clutter on your desk.
For example, there’s no use having your stapler, binders, stapler remover, calculator, and other office items all on your desk when you’re not using them. It creates clutter. You can use your top drawer for your most-used items, and it’s easy to get them out and put them back when they’re in the top drawer.
Your desk should only contain the items you use while at your desk. If it’s used as a storage area, you’ll have a problem with clutter. If possible, store the items you don’t regularly use somewhere else.
13. Digitize Your Records:
You may have a lot of records that you have to keep for various reasons.
When you digitize your documents, you’ll save a lot of space. You’ll be able to store them on your hard drive, and you can even keep a backup on the cloud.
Another advantage of digitizing your documents is that you can search for them using keywords.
When you save your documents, use a keyword in the file name, which allows you to locate the document using the search function of your operating system.
Organize Your Digital Files:
Organize your digital files in a way that makes sense. For example, name one folder “financials.” Inside that folder, create a folder for the current year, and inside that, a folder for each month. For each month, file the reports and important documents for that month.
Another example would be a “sales” folder. Inside it, you could create folders for customers or by sales category.
A separate folder inside your main financial folder would be “expenses,” with subfolders for each type of expense.
When you organize your filing system in folders and subfolders, it’s easy to keep track of all your documents. You’ll know where to retrieve files and where to store them because everything has a place.
14. Utilize Available Tools and Organizers:
Many tools and organizers on the market will help you get organized. My favorites include:
- A portable label maker
- A Dymo label maker
- A wide variety of containers
- Desk and shelf organizers
- Decorative cabinets
- Shelves
- Zip ties
15. Creating Storage Space:
You may not have a storage room or an area in your workplace to help you organize and store your items. Instead, you can create a storage area. A couple of ideas include purchasing cabinets, shelves, or even building a storage bin solution.
When you have a designated area to store your items, organizing the rest of your space is a lot easier.
16. Becoming Mindful of Organizing:
You can improve your organizational skills by focusing on organizational improvement. When you’re in somebody else’s office, department, or house, take a quick look around to identify where there’s room for improvement.
You may find clutter on the desk, boxes in the corner, or an opportunity for a storage area. Thinking this way is like flexing a muscle — the more you do it, the stronger you become. This technique isn’t meant to be something you become obsessed with, nor is it a suggestion to organize someone else’s area. It’s just something you can do to build your own skill.
17. Manage Notifications, Messages, and Emails
Notifications can help you stay on track and keep you from missing important tasks, meetings, and follow-ups. You can receive notifications from various apps like email, a reminder app, or your scheduling app. You may want to use multiple apps or just one — the key is using something that works.
That said, more apps isn’t always better. A 2025 workplace report found that half of businesses juggle an average of 17 disconnected work tools, and that kind of fragmentation often hurts productivity instead of helping it. Pick one or two tools that cover your needs and stick with them.
Organize Your Inbox
Email is still one of the most effective communication tools. It’s important to organize your inbox. You don’t want thousands of emails sitting there. Instead, designate folders or tags to organize your messages.
Even though you can use the search function to locate an email, sometimes you can’t remember what you’re searching for, but you can remember the sender or topic. When emails are organized in folders, it’s easier to store and retrieve them as needed.
18. Follow Up:
Following up on issues as soon as possible is a good way to stay on top of things. Use scheduling software such as Todoist or TickTick to help you follow up on issues on time.
For example, say you had an issue with an employee who was in training. You want to check in with them after two weeks. Rather than leaving it to memory, schedule an appointment with the points you want to discuss.
Setting up the follow-up takes a minute or two, and the app will remind you when it’s time. The more consistently you follow up on issues, the more you’ll stay on top of things.
19. Delegation:
Delegation is an important skill that can help you stay organized and improve productivity. When you delegate tasks, you can get more work completed instead of doing everything yourself. You can also make better use of your time by delegating while you focus on managing and planning.
Delegating some tasks works better when you have qualified people to do the job.
For example, if you need research completed, handing that research to someone talented in that field is a much better option than doing it yourself and rushing through the task because you’re pressed for time.
Conclusion:
Becoming organized is something achievable. It’s not difficult, but it is rewarding.
In summary, becoming organized falls under the following:
- Having a place for everything
- Returning items to their proper location
- Knowing where everything is
- Managing your time
- Sticking to a schedule
- Following up on issues that need your attention
- Preparing ahead of time
Use the tips that stand out most for you and put them to use starting today. Once you’re on the path to becoming organized, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner, because your productivity will improve — and others will notice.
Key Points and Facts About Getting Organized at Work
Why Organization Matters
- Being organized frees up time, helps you get more done, and can improve your overall job satisfaction.
- Small daily habits — like prepping the night before or clearing your desk — add up to bigger gains over time.
The Cost of Clutter
- Cluttered desks and disorganized files are consistently linked to lost time, higher stress, and reduced focus. (Source: EHS Today)
Where the 5S System Comes From
- 5S is a workplace organization method built around five Japanese words — sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain — used most often in manufacturing and warehousing, though it can benefit almost any industry. (Source: Wikipedia; KaiNexus)
Action Steps for Getting Organized at Work
Start With a Plan
- Choose a scheduling tool, such as Todoist or TickTick, or stick with paper if you prefer.
- Prepare your bag, clothes, and notes the night before.
Clear the Clutter
- Sort your desk and files into keep, toss, and undecided piles.
- Give every item you keep a permanent home.
Protect Your Focus
- Turn off notifications you don’t need.
- Check email in batches instead of reacting to every alert.
Checklist for Getting Organized at Work
- Plan Tomorrow Tonight
- Pack your bag or briefcase
- Lay out your clothes
- Jot down key tasks and meetings
- Clear Your Desk
- Sort items into three piles
- Toss the disposable pile
- File the important pile
- Set Up a System
- Pick one scheduling app and stick with it
- Label your storage and shelves
- Digitize key documents
- Guard Your Time
- Mute unnecessary notifications
- Set reminders for follow-ups
- Delegate tasks where you can
FAQ: Getting Organized at Work
What’s the fastest way to get more organized at work?
- Start with one habit — like preparing the night before or clearing your desk — instead of trying to overhaul everything at once. Small, consistent changes stick better than a single big push.
Do I need to buy special tools to get organized?
- No. A notebook and a few labeled folders work fine to start. Tools like label makers, shelving, or a scheduling app can help once you know what you actually need.
How do I stay organized once I get everything in order?
- Build a short daily or weekly routine — like a nightly prep habit or a weekly desk clear-out — so staying organized doesn’t depend on willpower alone.
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