Stressed: Organize your life and de-stress !

For librarians, stress comes from many sources: building renovations and other changes in physical spaces; interactions with colleagues; changes and problems with technology and systems; new or outdated policies and procedures; more demanding workplaces; multitasking; institutional culture; and family, health, and life situations. Even managing stress can itself be a stressor. Stress not only impacts productivity and morale, but getting out from under the avalanche of work may seem impossible.

Although there are a variety of methods to manage stress, one powerful tool for managing stress is organization. Organizing your workspace, both physical and virtual, can help you not only de‐stress, but the act of organizing provides an opportunity for evaluation and reflection, which can bring about new ideas or even new approaches to old problems and workflow.

Sorting and reorganizing can literally encourage “thinking out of the box,” since outdated organizational systems are being evaluated and analyzed. Clearing clutter can help clear your mind.

How do you begin to find time to organize and tackle all of the bits of stuff that we collect in the course of a work day?

• Evaluate your workspace and time. Consider everything that you do and interact with as a resource. What do you spend most of your time on and how do you use that time?
• Evaluate your priorities.
• Cultivate your support network.
• Learn to multitask effectively. Not every type of work lends itself well to multitasking. It may be that work needs to be sorted out as to the amount of energy, focus, and time it takes.
• Date and put a version on everything. Adding a date in a procedures document can help establish what is current and what is outdated (and perhaps should be deleted, recycled, or shredded).
• Manage people resources. Is your open‐door policy so open that you rarely get work done until your colleagues go home?
• Schedule, schedule, schedule!

Full article: Fay, Robin M. (2013) "Stressed? Organize (Or Reorganize) Your Workspace, Part 1," Georgia Library Quarterly: Vol. 50: Iss. 4, Article 9.
Full article at http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/glq/vol50/iss4/9/