Get organised

Successful professionals swear by the mantra of 'planning ahead' in order to soar at the workplace.

Start your day with a 'to do' list. Gather your supplies and resources for each task, set priorities and get similar tasks done together. Prioritising is important. If you have a lot on your plate, it becomes essential too. Of all the work you need to sink your teeth into, sort out what's important and urgent, what's important but not urgent, what's urgent and not important and, finally, what's neither important nor urgent but needs to get done. You'll get the hang of it eventually.

Set the early hours of the day, when energy levels are high, to tackle what's most important and urgent, proceed with the rest on your plate and, if possible, delegate the unimportant work. Do not deviate from your plans. Apart from getting your act right, being organised also has its innate advantages.

Says Uttam Saklani, Head of Marketing at an ITES firm that specialises in imparting training programmes, "An organised person will always be successful. You not only need to do a good job, but also keep a record of it. At the end of the day, if you do not have facts and figures to prove you have made a significant contribution, all your hard work accounts to nothing. It's all about numbers. Being organised will help you invest time on the right things and resist distractions that come by the truckload."