Being organised is one of the most effective skills a businessperson can acquire because when we're organised, we think more clearly. We're in tune with our targets and know how to reach them. Here are my top tips to bring order to your business life:

Organise your workspace
Don't underestimate time lost or stress caused from an inefficient working environment. To restore order:
• Cut down documents and stationery to the bare essentials. Be ruthless and remove anything that doesn't directly serve a function in your day-to-day activity. One or two carefully selected photos to make your desk feel like home are fine, but avoid too many.
• Create locations where you will keep all your work materials to make retrieval easy. Do this logically based on where you tend to use the items; for example, store spare copy paper near the printer. Move outside your immediate reach anything you use infrequently. Always return items once you have used them so they'll be where you expect them next time.
• Frustration ensues when you're searching for a client proposal, but it's buried among random papers. Eliminate desktop chaos by using trays, magazine files, or whatever you fancy and add clear labels such as ‘In', ‘Out', ‘For Action', ‘Current Projects' or other relevant categories.
• Be brutally honest about what you must keep. Studies suggest that 80% of what we file is never accessed again. Ask: do I know of a tax or legal requirement for retaining it? Why would this be important to me in future? Avoid ‘miscellaneous' as a category – you won't remember what's in there.

Effective planning
Plan your work; work your plan. Time spent planning saves untold hours in execution. Implementing regular planning strategies will sharpen your focus, thereby keeping you on track with your work. Start planning today for tomorrow. Near the close of each work day, implement a 10- to 15-minute routine to wrap up loose ends and prioritise key tasks. A good plan for tomorrow allows you to clear your head and enjoy your evening. Once a week, ring-fence a 60- to 90-minute appointment with yourself for larger scale planning. Use the time to do research or any of the thinking that normally takes a back seat.