A full working week, running a household, maintaining a social life and also making time for yourself: no piece of cake. For many people it is difficult to stay focused and keep an overview. Fortunately, there are useful tools and methods to become and stay more organized. Professional Organizer Natalie Vossenberg can help you with this during an individual coaching process. Her motto is: “You can learn to organize!”
Natalie Vossenberg
Natalie is trained as an Organizer and Virtual Assistant. She not only helps people to tidy up their house (and head) and more structure in their personal lives, but also entrepreneurs and employees to bring more overview and structure to their work. During Corona she started giving the webinar ‘A tidy house and head’ at Marel. She was then asked to take up individual processes with employees, so that they can turn to Natalie with specific questions for help. Several colleagues have already followed a trajectory with Natalie and with success! In this article they share their experiences and Natalie shares a number of useful tips that you can use immediately.
Tips from Natalie:
- There are many useful online tools that make organizing your work a lot easier. For example, you can use Microsoft ‘To Do’ or ‘OneNote’. I personally find Asana or Trello great programs to work with but choose a tool that suits you.
- Break big chunks (such as big projects) into small chunks and make it as concrete as possible. There’s nothing better than checking things off your to-do list. In this way you get results quickly and you stay motivated to complete your work.
- We often don’t schedule enough time to complete tasks and this ends up stressing us out. Plan more time in your calendar to work on certain (big) tasks. Are you ready sooner? Nice!
- Do you have many appointments in one day? Then work with alarm clocks on your phone! Set an alarm 10-15 minutes before an appointment and then stop looking at the clock or your watch. This means you don’t have to constantly think about the time, and you stay productive and focused at work.
- Don’t forget: the busier you are, the more important it is to take a break every now and then. The longer you work in a row, the less productive you are. By going for a walk or doing something else, you get a new boost of energy.
Experiences of colleagues
Ben Strijbosch – Information Security Officer
“I did my graduation internship at Marel two years ago and have now been working as an Information Security Officer for 1.5 years. As a recently graduated student, I could still learn a lot in the field of structure and creating overview in my work. I saw an email from Samen Sterk and went to see which offer matched my need for more structure and overview. The coaching process with Natalie immediately appealed to me. In total we had four sessions, divided into two parts. In the first two sessions we dealt with my request for more structure and overview. In the meantime, I started learning for a certification and I also asked Natalie how I can structure this in order to work towards the deadline in a nice way. This is what we spent the last two sessions on.
At first I kept all my notes on paper, but then Natalie convinced me to use Asana, a handy online planning/management tool. I never thought of working with this myself, because it seemed like a lot of work. It is a great tool to keep track of my daily activities. This way I can see what’s on the schedule every morning and I can check off tasks. This is very motivating. In the meantime I have found a good combination between keeping notes on paper and using Asana to keep an overview. Not only do I notice a difference in my work, but I also apply the lessons learned and tips at home. For example, we have a weekly planner on the fridge, which provides a better overview for my girlfriend and me.
I look back positively on the sessions with Natalie. We started with an exploratory conversation in which she listened carefully and asked pointed questions to find out what I was looking for. When I indicated that something didn’t work for me, we started looking for another solution. In the end, we were able to work out Asana properly, so that I now really use it. Moreover, Natalie is very attentive and she sent me an e-mail later, for example, to wish me luck with my exam. That gives a nice personal touch.”
Isabel Lopez – Warranty Specialist en Spare Parts Coordinator
“I have been with Marel since September 2021 and I work here in a combined position as Warranty Specialist and Spare Parts Coordinator. In addition, I have two teenagers at home, so planning and organizing is not new to me. I’m quite organized by nature, but at the moment I couldn’t manage to get my personal mailbox in order. Many parents probably recognize themselves in this: an overflowing mailbox with a lot of advertising, but also many emails from your children’s school or sports club. In addition, more and more important emails were added and it kept piling up, while I am someone who likes to tidy up. I started coaching by Natalie to get everything back in order.
Natalie has been to my house twice and I thought this was a very nice experience. Natalie is a very good listener and really looks at what suits your personal situation. I had asked for help with my personal email, but she also gave me so many useful tips beyond that. Just that little bit extra around it was very nice!
For example, I already had a certain structure in my mailbox. For example, I had all kinds of different folders, but these are now a lot less and it is arranged more efficiently. The most important thing I learned from Natalie is to really distinguish between what’s important and what’s not. You often receive several emails about the same subject or an upcoming appointment; however, you do not need to keep all of these. I am now much more consistent in deleting emails. Because I now do this in my private life, I have also started doing this at work and I only have important emails in my inbox with high priority. This works very well and all in all I have benefited a lot from the coaching!”