Remember the boy scout’s motto: ‘Be Prepared’
Preparing for your day is the ultimate organisation skill. If you know what you need to focus on and are mentally ready to achieve the challenges ahead, you will optimise your performance and work more efficiently.

Clear your work area
‘Tidy room, tidy mind’ my mum always said, and she was right. You will feel overwhelmed and distracted if you are staring at a pile of unruly papers, and without them you are more likely to devote a concentrated effort on whichever task is at hand. Get rid of them using the ‘touch a piece of paper once’ rule.

If you have other non-essential items on your desk put them away in a drawer and use a desk tidy for everyday items such as pens. Allow as much work space as possible to achieve a physical and psychological advantage.

Dealing with delays
Always build a 20% window into your day for last minute projects or unforeseen delays. A day never goes by without something cropping up – Google on a go-slow, a client calls with a last-minute issue, or you find a particularly enthralling blog article on Twitter that saps your time. These events can not be avoided (yes, even Twitter! See next article on procrastination), but if you allow for them, you won’t feel cheated out of your precious time.

Know what’s coming
We spend 80% of our time trying to complete 20% of tasks so set aside 10 minutes a day to prioritise and update your task list. I like to do this at the end of each day so I’m prepared for what lies ahead. It helps me focus on the essential matters and stops the sense of being overwhelmed. By being prepared I can relax knowing that everything is in hand. Having a head brimming with a jumble of jobs does not help stress levels or sleep patterns.

If you have meetings planned for the next day, ensure you have all the relevant paperwork organised beforehand and you know where you are going so it’s not a frantic last minute rush.

This is also a good time to review your inbox and deal with any unnecessary emails. Delete anything you don’t need, file all those emails related to the tasks you have completed that day, and highlight those that need immediate action tomorrow. And lastly, leave your desk looking neat and tidy – ready to start afresh the next day.