With the busy schedule that assistants have to keep, organizational skills are essential to success. You must learn how to prioritize, plan, and work towards your goals. Organization is a skill that you can always work to improve. However, by implementing the following techniques, you will improve your efficiency as an assistant.
You will work more efficiently if you learn how to prioritize your workload into four tiers. Use the urgent important matrix to help you identify your tasks. The tasks will be given priorities based how urgent and important they are.
You need to establish goals to prioritize and organize your work related tasks. You should establish long-term and short-term goals for your personal and professional life. It is important to align your short-term work goals with your manager’s. It is also important that you create SMART goals.
Goals cannot be achieved if they are impossible. SMART goals make it easier to achieve success because you know that success is within your reach.
SMART Goals:
You should schedule the next day when the current day ends. Planning each day in the week is not feasible because your tasks and priorities will change. You need to wait until the end of the workday to plan for tomorrow. List all of the meetings, appointments, and relevant events in your plan. Note unfinished tasks for today to combine with new ones for tomorrow. Make a list of all tasks for the next day and prioritize them. Add the tasks from the list to your plan, according to their priorities. If you take the time to plan at the end of the day, you will be able to save time the next morning and stay focused on your plan.
Keeping your organizational skills on track is easier said than done. Your life may be organized on paper, but it is easy to become overwhelmed when the problems and distractions come. However, staying on track will make your life easier and increase your productivity.
Tips to Stay on Track:
Allen decided that he was going to become organized. He created SMART goals, prioritized his activities, and established his schedule. His plan began to fall apart by the second day. Allen’s manager gave him an emergency project to finish. His down time was gone, and there was no way that he would be able to keep up with the schedule he created. Allen decided to stop trying to keep himself organized and focused on handling the emergency his boss gave him.