Why Being Organized Makes You A Better Entrepreneur

Plus 6 great tips for getting organized & staying that way!

A client called me saying he couldn’t find an important document. Before he even finished the sentence I had clicked “send” on an email containing it.

He trailed off mid-sentence and said “…oh. You are aggressively organized!”

Whether he meant it as a compliment or not, I took it as one and have since used it in my marketing and even on my website!

“I have been called aggressively organized. Want to always know where everything is? I’ve got you!”

Organization is not relegated to secretaries, receptionists, and filers.

Decluttering

There have been many studies about how distractions affect productivity resulting in more organized people being more productive.

A billion people will tell you to clean off your desk and declutter, but until you actually do it, you just won’t get it.

Not just physical decluttering, either! Have you ever had so many emails in your inbox that some things started falling through the cracks or you get anxiety just seeing how many new ones you have?

Digital decluttering and organization is a thing, too!

Researchers at Princeton University Neuroscience Institute ran a study that showed that when your space is cluttered, your ability to focus is restricted.

Still not sure? Here are articles from Forbes, Inc, PickTheBrain, AceConcierge, Positive Routines, and there are a million more all about clutter and productivity.

Science

It’s not just physical or digital change, either. It can be emotional. Researchers at Yale School of Medicine identified two areas of your brain that are associated with conflict and pain, the anterior cingulate cortex and insula, go nuts when confronted with letting go of or throwing away items you feel a connection to or that you own.

Those two areas are also associated with physical pain. Meaning whether you cut your thumb while chopping carrots or you “decluttered” a treasured item, your brain feels the same thing.

Researchers at Illinois State University and Ohio State University ran a study that determined that just physically touching an item you DON’T own can make you assign emotional and even monetary value to it.

Entrepreneurship & Organization

The end result of all of the above studies shows you that we all form attachments to our stuff, which we then keep out and let clutter up our spaces, and that clutter directly affects your brain and makes you less focused and productive and more easily distracted.

As an entrepreneur that works from home, I can only tell you my own experience proves this all to be true. It’s easy enough to get distracted in your own home WITHOUT clutter and disorganization — that all just makes it 10x worse!

In order to be an effective entrepreneur, organization and decluttering are key.

Knowing where your stuff is, knowing where all the important work documents and resources are, and being able to easily access what you need is imperative.

How to Declutter?

It can feel overwhelming to look around and figure out how to start. I’m not going to Marie Kondo you here or say to just start in one room and keep going forever.

Here are just 6 tips to get you started. Just pick one and do it, don’t try to do everything all at once:

• Try starting with your desk. It is arguably the place where most of your important work stuff is, plus it’s a small space and has a huge impact on your work productivity. Grab the first thing you see. Is it something you need for the work you are CURRENTLY IN THE PROCESS of doing? If yes, it stays on the desk. If NO, immediately put it away. This may mean filing it in an existing folder or drawer, creating a new file folder, or — if you already have a digital copy that is organized where it needs to be — throwing it away. Keep doing that for every non-decorative item on your desk. When you get to decorative or personal items, consider pinning phonos to a cubicle wall or corkboard to get them off your desk surface, or giving or throwing away any of the decorative items you no longer care about. Keep the ones you love, but only a few on the desktop at any given time.
• After the desktop is clear, move to the drawers and files. Are the files all relevant and organized? If not, put them in the right order and create new folders as needed. If they are not relevant, remove them from your drawer and determine if they need to be stored elsewhere or can be shredded/thrown away.
• After the drawers are complete, move onto your digital workspace. Do you use Google Drive or another cloud-based storage system? Take a few minutes to look through the Drive and make sure any random single document or spreadsheet is moved into the right folder. Archive or delete things you no longer need, if you want. If not, simply create a new folder, name it, and move those things there.
• Now, time for email. If you don’t have them, start with folders. Organize by client, project, or year, whatever works best for you. I have a different folder for each long-term client and then overall project type folders for one-time or project clients. For example, I have a “Book Editing” folder in Gmail where all the emails relating to editing manuscripts for one-time clients go. You can also label emails. In Gmail, you can create labels for emails by type and have them labeled as anything you want. You can create auto-replies for emails if you get similar questions all the time. In Gmail, this feature is called a “Canned Response” and you can create them in the filter options. Gmail also has a way for you to put your most important emails at the top of your inbox, by going to Settings and using the dropdown box under “inbox type.” You can have important first, or starred, or unread, whatever you want. And Gmail learns what you interact with most and will start putting those at the top for you, too.
• Clean up the desktop screen of your computer. Create folders and make sure every random thing on your desktop has a home.
• Turn off notifications on your phone and computer you don’t care about. You can turn off push notifications on apps individually.

In the end, decluttering and organization do not mean there is nothing ever out of place. It simply means that when you’re ready to put something away, you know exactly where it goes. That way you always know where things are and how to find them.

Being organized makes me a better, more efficient, and effective business person. Whether you are a CEO or an intern, knowing where things are and how to find things will always make you more effective!

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