New Year’s Resolutions: Clean Your Clutter and Increase Productivity

Use the new year as a fresh start for revamping your virtual office. Increase productivity and improve organization by cleaning up your virtual clutter.

The new year is usually considered a fresh start to achieving goals and tasks that will improve your life and wellbeing. In fact, half of Americans make a New Year’s resolution each January– most dealing with self-improvement. Weight loss is always what comes to mind as the most popular goal to achieve in the new year, but self-improvement involves other important tasks that are often overlooked and set aside. Last year, getting organized was ranked #2 in a list of the Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions and it continues to be an important focus at the start of this new year to ensure you increase productivity and maximize success. 

Organize your virtual office to increase productivity using these 4 simple steps.

1. Make a Plan

Without a plan of action any organizing task can seem daunting. Set specific goals to clean up different parts of your virtual files at a time. For example set aside 30 minutes on your calendar to go through old emails, documents, or pictures. Before you can begin moving files you need to get rid of any clutter that is simply taking up space on your device. Attempting to tackle all of these files at once will take up too much time and lead to frustration. Remember that Rome wasn’t built overnight– organizing your virtual office will be a valuable time investment that pays off with increased productivity in the end.

2. Sort and Categorize

Once you’ve deleted outdated files it will be easier to properly organize the ones you’re left with by creating folders that are clearly labeled for easy reference. Color coding files can be helpful for an at-a-glance organizing method. Stick with one method of organization for files, whether it's chronologically, alphabetically, or order of importance. Organize your inbox with filters to sort incoming messages, and archive any old messages you’ll need to access later. To remain organized once you’ve gone through all of this work to clean up your virtual office make it a habit to go through your downloads file once a week to move files and clear it of clutter.

3. Utilize Tools

Cloud-based storage applications make virtual office work easier and more accessible. If your files are easily accessible on any of your devices you can complete tasks whenever and wherever you need to. Google Drive can be used for file storage and sharing that is easily accessible on any device anywhere that internet is available. Instead of jotting down notes on a legal pad that you are likely to leave on your desk, use an application on your phone or computer that you can take with you wherever you go. Evernote is an example of such a tool that allows you to take your brainstorming with you on the go, making that misplaced legal pad a thing of the past.

4. Simplify Communications

The final thing to remember when organizing your virtual office is to communicate in an organized manner. One of the best ways to increase productivity is to communicate more effectively and efficiently. This can be done with the help of the Ving application that allows for greater organization in communication by eliminating the confusion and lack of responsiveness that often exists between sender and receiver when sharing important information. For more tips on how to communicate with Ving in the new year check out Six Tips for Using Ving During the Holidays, New Year – Any Time!

Ving enables people to more effectively create, share, act upon, and track the critical information they need as they perform their day-to-day tasks. Ving “packets” are the means by which user-created information (a video, survey, photo, file) is embedded and then transmitted via an individual’s chosen platform of communications (email, messaging, social network). Accessible from any device, each Ving is intelligent, reusable and responsive. They are reusable as templates, can be deactivated on demand, and are automatically tracked and analyzed in the dashboard. Ving can transform your virtual office from cluttered and chaotic to responsive and productive.