Organizing Your Mindset: Declutter the Tasks That Aren’t Serving You Anymore

Experts weigh in on small ways you can re-evaluate what’s on your plate and discard what’s not working anymore.

When we think of organizing and decluttering, we often think of our pantries or closets. But decluttering can benefit us at work, too. Oftentimes, when we’ve been at our jobs for so long, we don’t pause to question if the tasks we’re spending our time on –– or the meetings we’re routinely attending –– are serving us or our team any longer.

“Over time, we often have tasks added to our plate, but we don't always take time to step back and to make sure that what is on our plate is still the most important,” Elizabeth Grace Saunders, time management coach and the author of The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment and Divine Time Management, tells Thrive. More employees need to be comfortable “taking ownership over their workload and delegating or dropping tasks that aren't serving them or their teams anymore.” Plus: doing so can make you happier. “When employees can take some ownership over what they spend their time on, they’re likely to be more motivated and stay at the company longer,” adds Elana Feldman, Ph.D., assistant professor of management at the University of Massachusetts Lowell Manning School of Business.

If you need some help decluttering your workload, here are five expert-backed tips to try:

Create a list of all of your current priorities.

Oftentimes, we do so many different things on any given day that we don’t actually have them written down anywhere. But when we take time to re-evaluate what we’re dedicating our efforts toward, we can deprioritize what’s no longer working, and find more valuable ways to spend our time. “The first step of spring cleaning should be taking stock of what tasks you’re already doing,” Feldman says. “A lot of people think they know what they're doing with their time, but we know from research that we often get caught up in things.” Feldman suggests making some time to make a list of your current tasks and responsibilities. “Step one is asking: What am I doing? How much time am I spending on each task, and what does that really look like?” she adds. “Get a clear picture of where your starting point is.”

Have an open conversation with your manager

Asking your manager to have them weigh in on what you can declutter from your workload can help you get some clarity on what you should be prioritizing. “Someone who doesn't do your job may not understand how long certain items take and/or how many impromptu requests come up throughout your day,” Saunders says. “Do they want you to spend less time on certain items? drop them? hire contract help? or renegotiate expectations?” Having an honest conversation about your current workload can help you and your manager get on the same page and re-prioritize together. Plus, this can also be a good time to talk to your manager about the tasks you want to do more of. “Ask yourself which tasks you wish you could devote more of your time to,” Feldman suggests. “If you think about your time in a pie, ultimately, what the spring cleaning should do is get you to a point where more of the pie fulfills you.”

Be mindful of distractions

Sometimes, it can feel like we have more work than we actually do because we’re so distracted by incoming emails and Slack messages during the day. “Research on interruptions shows that interruptions come in and people turn their attention to them, so they can be a very inefficient way to actually get our work done,” Feldman says –– which is why it can be helpful to pause and remind ourselves to be more mindful of what’s distracting us. “Ask yourself: Am I intentionally prioritizing? Am I being mindful, or am I letting email or my Slack channel or other interruptions really dictate what I'm doing?” Once you can become more mindful of that, there are strategies you can try to minimize those distractions. “Consider batching your responses to messages,” Saunders adds. “For example, instead of being on email all day long, check it three times a day.” Cutting back on constantly answering messages can help you protect your time and free you up for other priorities.

Consider the tasks that energize you, and the ones that don’t

When it comes to spring cleaning, it’s important to look at what you’re currently doing, and ask yourself which of your tasks bring you joy, meaning, and purpose –– and which feel depleting, or not necessary to keep doing anymore. Researchers call this idea “job crafting,” and Feldman suggests trying it by asking yourself which of your tasks energizes you. “It might be the work that you really love, work that’s helping you meet your goals or your team’s goals, or maybe it's the people that you get to work with for a particular task,” she says. “And then you can think about which tasks you might find less motivating and could be done by someone else. Ask yourself if there are some that don’t really need to be done at all anymore, or maybe don’t need to be done as much.” When you take time to notice how much time you’re spending on a task that isn’t helping you or your team, it might be a sign that it’s time to take it off your plate.

Don’t be afraid to delegate when necessary

There might be parts of our jobs that don’t fall in our area of expertise or part of our skill sets, but they still need to get done –– which is where delegation comes in. Part of your decluttering process should be considering who else on the team should be doing certain tasks that don’t make sense for your workload anymore, and discussing that transition with your manager. “Discuss some tasks with your manager that could be done as well, or even better, by someone else on the team,” Feldman says. “Maybe there's a junior person who's come in who could really benefit from some new opportunities and learning. Maybe there's someone on the team who really enjoys that type of task, even though you don't.” We all are different when it comes to what we enjoy doing, so it’s important to break out of the mindset that we have to keep doing what we’ve always done. And if there is something that has to stay on your plate that you don’t enjoy, try asking yourself what the meaning is behind it. “There are always going to be some aspects of our jobs that aren’t our favorites,” Feldman adds –– identifying what goal it’s helping your team meet can help you see the bigger picture.