Those who work in an "office" job - how do you stay organized and on top of everything?

[monkeybum]

I desperately need some help getting organized at the office. I work in Senior Management in a very busy job, and I used to just work late to get caught up when I'd get behind. Unfortunately with all the downsizing that has occured, I'm doing about 3 people's jobs, and with two little ones I'm trying to do it during 9-5 hours!

I HATE HATE HATE bringing work home. But I literally get about 100 emails a day, most of which require some sort of action on my part -lots of following up with other departments, some is just info to file (but I have to create a new file or find the old file!), much is work I have to "do". My days are usually full of meetings too, so my actual "work" time is limited, and I don't have anyone I can delegate to.

I am so overwhelmed and I cannot stay on top of it or get organized. If anyone has any tricks or tips on how to manage HUGE volumes of work, I'd love to hear any advice you have.

I am drowning, and my work is suffering. But I value my time with my kids who are in daycare all day - I just don't want to bring work home, (and I don't have a very good set up for working from home at night anyway).

Thoughts?

[tangozulu]

You're in senior management, but don't have anyone to delegate to? Does this mean you have no staff, or you don't trust the staff you have?

[dawningmama]

Have you tried any organizing methods? I really like Getting Things Done--- 43 folders does a great breakdown of it here.

At work, it's all about prioritizing for me. I am unable to bring work home, as I work for the goverment and do not have the security to do any of the work from home. So I have to get it done there. And, since I am part-time, I have to pay special attention to time-sensitive stuff. I use outlook to help with that---designated folders for specific things and I use the alarm feature to remind me when things are due or when I need to be at a meeting. My main issue at work seems to be the "little fires" that pop up and like to distract me from my well-thought-out list of priorities! lol For those, I often choose ignore. I will just not pick up the phone or check voice mail or go get coffee when I know someone who likes to distract me is also over at the coffee machine. I have done this well and long enough now that the fires don't come to me first. It's too much work to get my attention so they look elsewhere.

[*MamaJen*]

There's a limit to how much work a human being can do. Obviously the key elements are organizing, delegating and prioritizing.
The bitch about organizing is that it takes time up front, but it can pay off -- you were talking about spending time looking for files, creating files ... look for stupid little things that take an inordinate amount of time and see if you can shave away at that.
Delegating -- sounds like your office is just understaffed. That sucks. We're a bit understaffed too, but we've been trying to make good use of free labor lately. In my field interns are a time-honored tradition. The trick is finding one who isn't a negative on the time balance sheet. I had the most awesome intern this summer and I'm about to get a new one.
Prioritizing -- There's just some stuff that you might not be able to get to. Is it vital? And, er, time suck things like posting on MDC....

[kcparker]

My tips:
- don't check your email or voicemail for the first hour that you are at work - get something done that is a high priority so that you can feel like you accomplished something and were able to focus on it. Keep your email OFF during the day, check it only periodically, and not more than 3x/day at set times, and get off it after a set time.
- Keep lists of what needs to be done, when it needs to be done by, and prioritize your daily activities based on the master list. My boss has a funny scheme: #1. things his boss assigns to him, #2. biggest fire, #3 smaller fires, #4 squeaky wheels, #5 background noise.
- you might also designate one day a week as a filing day, but try to do a clean-as-you-go policy if you are dealing with electronic docs.
- obviously - don't go onto the web, at all, ever, for any reason.