3 Steps To Optimise Your Office And Save Time

by | Jun 24, 2021 | Blog

You will be amazed at how quickly you can get organised and save yourself heaps of time with these three simple steps.

As a business owner one of your most precious resources is your time. Most business owners that I meet almost always have a challenge with time. It is also surprising how much time people waste time and the scary thing is that it is generally the people that have the least amount of time, waste it the most.

You can either spend time or invest time. Spending time is often done when you are reacting to situations and trying to deal with urgent problems. These problems are often that just urgent, not even important. By investing a little time you can start responding to things, make better decision and literally have more time.

Invest some time, get your office optimized and you will find hours each week to focus on the important things that will help you achieve the results you desire.

Step 1 – Get the right tools and equipment. Make sure you and your team have all the right equipment to be able to do their jobs. The other day I was in an office where there four people each at their own desk sharing one stapler. Are you serious, think about the amount of time that is wasted trying to find the stapler and then actually getting your hands on it!
• At your desk and at the office make sure you have all the stationary and equipment you need to do your job.
• Invest in cupboards and shelves so everything can have its own dedicated space.
• Have files and folders which are organised and clearly labelled so they are easy to find.

Step 2 – Organise the proximity of your tools or equipment. Think about how frequently you use something and how accessible it needs to be. I like to use the following as a guideline:
• Hourly – be able to reach it while seated.
• Daily – you want to be able to get to it in under 3 steps.
• Weekly – you want to be able to get to it easily.
• Monthly – you want to have a set place for it that is accessible. It is surprising the amount of time we waste when we are looking for something that we don’t use often. Have a set place for these items.

Step 3 – Establish routines. Identify what are the best times and days to do certain tasks and how often you need to do them. The best thing with routines is they become habits and it is really easy to schedule them and remember to do them.

• Daily – Identify what tasks you need to do at the beginning and end of each day. The beginning of the day may include a few simple things that make your day run smoother. This could be as simple as checking there is enough paper in the printer, water in the coffee machine and yes toilet paper in the toilet! At the end of the day, spending a few minutes clearing your desk and re-organising everything helps you start the next day with a clean slate and is great for your mindset.
• Weekly – This may be your grocery shopping for things like milk and snacks. I hate running out of milk at our office so we now always have a spare carton of long life milk. It’s not ideal however it saves us from having to run across the street if we do run out of milk.
• Monthly – Using stationary as an example, you may make a list of all the stationary you need when you do your monthly shop. Knowing that you are only shopping monthly may mean that you need to buy more than one particular item. This will stop you from having to just quickly rush out and buy another printer cartridge or more paper.
• Quarterly or less often – Make sure you schedule it into your diary. Something that can cost you loads of time and cause much frustration is when equipment breaks down. Regularly having your equipment serviced and checked is crucial to make sure it continues to be reliable and work. Get maintenance done.

When your work environment is organised and optimised you will see your productivity go up and your stress go down. I would love to know what you have done to optimise your office for productivity.





Sam Harrop
Business Maximiser Coaching

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