After almost 10 years in our office space, Cookerly is moving! Granted, it’s to a building just a short walk away… and we’ll still be on the fifth floor. (There’s an office rumor about the fifth floor being our lucky number, but that’s for another day.) The packing process started about a week ago and everyone is in charge of his/her own workspace. While cleaning out the clutter, two colleagues started a friendly competition to see who could find the oldest media; it’s a tie between a cassette tape and a floppy disk, but an eight-track cassette would be a sure winner.
As we’re discovering, the key to getting the office packed is organization. It’s a skill that, fortunately, most people at Cookerly possess, but its true power is never realized until put to the test during a crazed week of deadlines or a big move. Here are a few things I do to keep my workspace and files tidy:
- To-Do List: I have a small pad as my dedicated checklist. I write down big projects, small research assignments and reminders to return phone calls. To keep the list prioritized without rewriting it every hour, I highlight important tasks and include due dates for each item.
- Notebooks: This is a practice I adapted from college, where I used three hole-punched file folders to keep class notes I’d written on loose leaf paper organized. Now, each client has a dedicated spiral bound notebook. I take them everywhere, and all of my notes from calls, meetings or brainstorms are in one place.
- Hanging Folders: The notebooks are great for immediate items, but what about past projects or files passed down from other colleagues? I have hanging folders for each client that contain file folders for specific news releases, special projects or planning.
- Purge: At the end of the week, I set aside 10 minutes to sift through the clutter on my desk, filing necessary documents, throwing away any random sticky notes floating around and rewriting my to-do list for the next week. If there are projects that need to be addressed first thing on Monday, I put all necessary materials on top of my keyboard so I see it even before I boot up my computer.
These few habits will allow me to easily adapt to the new office space without skipping a beat. What are your tips and tricks to keeping organized?
As design director at Cookerly, Tim serves as the creative lead in the development of branding campaigns, print collateral and digital media for clients across a broad range of industries, including consumer, professional services, healthcare and technology.
As senior vice president at Cookerly, Mike Rieman specializes in building and maintaining relationships with the media and has an excellent track record of landing significant placements in print and broadcast media including USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Money Magazine.
As vice president of Cookerly, Sheryl Sellaway uses her extensive corporate communications background to lead consumer PR efforts, deliver strategy for marketing programs and share expertise about community initiatives.
As a senior vice president at Cookerly, Matt helps organizations protect and advance their reputations and bottom lines through strategic communications programs. Using creativity, planning and flawless execution, he works with a team to deliver compelling public relations campaigns that produce results and support clients’ business objectives.
Great tips Anne!
I like to use the task list on gmail so that I can re-order and cross off things as I need to. It’s so nice to see a line through a to-do that I’ve already done. Then at the end of the week I can eliminate the finished tasks and start fresh on Monday.
The application on gmail lets me access my to do list from anywhere and I don’t have to re-write my tasks over and over again!
Thanks for the great tip, Grace!