I find that there are times when I think over what I have on my plate and feel a sense of being overwhelmed.  That usually tends to add unwanted and unwarranted stress.  And who needs that?  For both my full time and freelance work, I have a few simple yet stress-relieving techniques that keep me organized and on time.


Don’t do everything yourself. You do not have to always have the mind of a steel trap when it comes to remembering everything.  Let technology help you along the way.  For meetings, important dates, and general reminders, Outlook calendars and mobile phone calendars have great reminders built in.  If you are not fond of relying solely on technology and would like to write in your appointments in a date book, I would still recommend Outlook.  You do not need to spend loads of money on a fancy planner when Outlook lets you print calendars.  For example, I printed out the next 3 months in a format that easily fits in a planner I already own.  No need to go get fancy paper or calendar refills when I can print out a few sheets of paper and have the same thing.  Drop a date into your phone, Outlook calendar and set a reminder or jot it down in your printed calendar so you always have your schedule in front of you.  That alone will help you balance your work day.

Get organized with forms.  A lot of freelance work that I get from existing clients usually comes in a form of an email request.  I have the details in the email along with the deadline I am working against, however, when many of these come across it can be difficult to manage everything if you let it overwhelm you.  I have a project form that I use which outlines the clients contact information, job number, deadline, and other project details.  I print that form out and attach any email or supporting information.  Rather than having to dig through several emails for contact information, project details, or anything else, I just grab the project form and it has everything I need.  I was amazed at how much better I felt after moving to this system.  If it helps you sleep at night, drop the deadlines from the project forms into your calendar as mentioned above.

Nail it down.  Well, not literally, unless you are into nails.  Related to the project forms above, get a cork board for your office.  In my home office, I have a cork board on the wall where all open and pending projects are hanging.  At any given time I can just glance at the board and see what is going on.  These are relatively inexpensive.  In fact, I got mine for free from an office that was closing its doors.  All I had to do was purchase some push pins!

File it away right the first time.  This is a photo from my freelance office.  These cabinets contain classified and top-secret documentation about my clients as well as all of your social security and credit card information. I am guilty as the next guy when it comes to small stacks of “stuff” that I plan to organize “later” or “when I get a free moment”.  Do it right away and be done with it.  I got a free 5-drawer filing cabinet and am starting to really use it for my freelance work.  Once a project is approved and the invoice is sent, I print that invoice and attach it to the project form, supporting documentation, and then all of that goes into a folder in my filing cabinet.  Doing it right away keeps my work area free of clutter and when things get stressful because of several projects and tight deadlines, I can at least look at a junk-free work station and feel as if I have things under control.  With companies going out of business, it should be easier to find a filing cabinet for cheap.

Those are just a few really simple things you can do and certainly not the end all, be all for organizing your work load.  Obviously your organizational habits should cater and be built around how you work.  However, I have found that having everything laid out in front of me or filed away and organized once complete has freed me mentally from worry in this area.