There are stretches at work where you feel completely on top of everything.

You know what you need to do. Your inbox is manageable. You’re prepared for meetings. You’re getting things done before someone has to remind you, and when your boss asks for an update, you actually know what to tell them.

Then there are the other stretches.

You have 37 tabs open. There’s a Slack message you forgot to answer from yesterday. You’re halfway through four different things and somehow haven’t finished any of them. Your calendar is packed, your to-do list keeps getting longer, and every new request feels like the thing that finally pushes you over the edge.

It happens.

But when work starts feeling like that for too long, I think you need a reset. Not a completely new productivity system or some perfectly optimized morning routine. You probably just need to get organized, figure out what actually matters, and start doing a few basic things consistently again.

Basically, you need to get your shit together at work.

Here’s where I’d start.

Figure Out What Actually Matters

When everything feels important, nothing feels important.

You look at your to-do list and there are 15 things staring back at you. You answer the easiest email because at least you can cross something off, then respond to a Slack message, jump into a meeting, handle something somebody just asked you for, and suddenly half the day is gone.

You were busy the entire time. You just didn’t necessarily do anything that actually mattered.

“Prioritization, getting the shit done that you actually have to get done is one of the hardest things.”

This is where you have to stop reacting and start deciding.

At the beginning of the day, look at everything you could do and decide what you actually need to do. Which project has the biggest consequence? What does your boss need? What has a real deadline? What will actually move something forward?

Indeed’s guide to setting priorities recommends identifying the importance of your responsibilities and organizing work accordingly, which can also make it easier to recognize when you need to reject additional responsibilities.

You don’t need to finish everything today. You need to finish the right things today.

Stop Using Your Brain as Your To-Do List

If your entire organizational system is remembering things, you’re eventually going to forget something.

Write it down.

I don’t really care where. Use your Notes app, a Google Doc, a notebook, a project management tool, or whatever system your company already uses. You just need one place where you can see what you’re responsible for.

Then actually use it.

At the beginning or end of each day, look at what’s on there. Cross off what you finished, move what still matters, delete what no longer does, and add anything new.

This should make your brain quieter, not create another job for you. If maintaining your productivity system takes more time than actually doing your work, you have created a new problem.

Keep it simple.

Do the Important Thing Before the Easy Thing

I understand the appeal of easy work.

Answering an email takes two minutes. Updating something takes five. You get the satisfaction of crossing something off your list without having to think particularly hard.

Meanwhile, the presentation you actually need to finish has been sitting there for three days.

There’s nothing wrong with doing small tasks, but don’t use them to avoid the bigger ones. If you have something important that requires real focus, try to give it your best attention instead of whatever energy is left after six hours of reacting to everyone else.

That might mean blocking an hour on your calendar. It might mean closing Slack for 30 minutes. It might mean starting the project before opening your inbox in the morning.

The exact system doesn’t matter as much as protecting some time for the work that actually requires you to think.

Understand Why You’re Doing the Work

One of the easiest ways to get overwhelmed is to treat every assignment as an isolated task.

Finish this deck. Update this spreadsheet. Send this email. Join this meeting.

Eventually your job becomes one giant list of things people want from you.

Try zooming out.

How does your company make money? What is your team responsible for? What does your boss care about? What are the biggest goals right now, and how does the thing sitting in front of you connect to them?

The more you understand that, the easier prioritization becomes.

“The quicker you figure out how you fit into the big picture, the faster you matter to the company and the more important you become.”

This is one of the ideas behind The Best Career Advice For Starting Work. Being valuable isn’t about looking like the busiest person in the office. It’s about being reliable, communicating well, following through, and consistently contributing to the things that matter.

Once you understand the bigger picture, you can stop treating every request like it deserves exactly the same amount of your attention.

Get Better at Saying No

This doesn’t mean responding to your boss with, “No thanks.”

It means understanding that you have a limited amount of time, and every new responsibility has to go somewhere.

If your boss asks you to do something new when you’re already overloaded, explain what you’re working on. Instead of saying, “I can’t do that,” you can say, “Absolutely. I’m working on X and Y right now. Which would you like me to prioritize?”

Now you’re not refusing to work. You’re asking for clarity.

This is another reason getting organized matters. It’s much easier to communicate your workload when you actually know what your workload is.

And sometimes you need to say no to yourself too. You do not need to volunteer for every project, attend every optional meeting, or turn every idea you have into another thing you’re responsible for.

Being ambitious is good. Being permanently overwhelmed because you refuse to prioritize isn’t.

Start Keeping Track of What You Accomplish

Getting your shit together isn’t only about knowing what you still have to do.

You should also know what you’ve already done.

Keep a running document of your accomplishments. Every week, spend five minutes writing down the projects you completed, problems you solved, responsibilities you took on, measurable results you produced, and positive feedback you received.

“Having this running document will be incredibly helpful for you in everything you do at work.”

I go deeper into this in Why You Should Keep Track of Your Accomplishments at Work, but the point is simple: six months from now, you are not going to remember everything you’re doing today.

That document becomes incredibly useful during performance reviews, raise conversations, promotion discussions, and eventually your next job search. It also gives you something that’s easy to lose when work feels chaotic: proof that you’re actually making progress.

Stop Multitasking Through Everything

You’re in a meeting while answering an email while reading a Slack message while your phone is sitting next to you.

It feels like you’re doing everything.

You’re probably just paying partial attention to everything.

Research summarized by the American Psychological Association on multitasking and task switching explains that switching between tasks carries cognitive costs and can reduce efficiency, particularly when the work is complex.

So give yourself permission to do one thing.

When you’re in an important meeting, be in the meeting. When you need to finish something difficult, put Slack on Do Not Disturb. When you’re writing, close the 19 tabs that have absolutely nothing to do with what you’re writing.

You’re probably not going to eliminate distractions completely. You’re at work. People need things from you.

But there’s a huge difference between being available and allowing every notification to immediately become your highest priority.

Make Your One-on-Ones Actually Useful

Your one-on-one with your boss shouldn’t just be 30 minutes of both of you trying to remember what you’re supposed to talk about.

Come prepared.

Know what you’re working on, what you finished, where you’re stuck, what decisions you need from them, and what you need help with. If there’s something you want feedback on, bring it up.

This is also where your organization starts paying off. If you’ve been tracking your priorities and accomplishments, you already have most of the information you need.

Over time, learn what your boss wants from these conversations. Some managers want detailed updates. Others want the headlines and only want to spend time discussing problems.

The better you understand how they work, the less time both of you waste.

Ask for Feedback Before Something Goes Wrong

Don’t wait until your performance review to find out whether you’re doing a good job.

Ask.

You can keep it simple: “Is there anything you think I could be doing better?” or “Is there anything you’d like to see more from me?”

You might hear something you don’t love. That’s still better than finding out six months later.

Feedback gives you a chance to adjust while it actually matters. Maybe you need to communicate more. Maybe your work is good but your boss has no idea what you’re doing. Maybe you’re spending too much time on something that isn’t a priority.

Whatever the answer is, now you have information you can use.

Become Someone People Don’t Have to Chase

This might be the simplest career advice in this entire article.

Do what you say you’re going to do.

If you tell someone you’ll send something Thursday, send it Thursday. If you’re not going to make the deadline, tell them before the deadline passes. If someone asks you a question you can’t answer yet, acknowledge it and tell them when you’ll have an answer.

Reliability sounds boring because it is.

It’s also incredibly valuable.

That’s one of the biggest points in The Secret To Standing Out At Work: trust gets built through consistency. The person everyone knows will follow through becomes easier to give responsibility to, and responsibility eventually turns into bigger opportunities.

You don’t need to be perfect. You want people to know they don’t have to constantly remind you that something exists.

Reset Before You’re Completely Burned Out

Sometimes being disorganized at work isn’t actually an organization problem.

You’re tired.

You’ve been going nonstop. Your attention is shot, everything annoys you, and tasks that normally take 20 minutes somehow take an hour.

No productivity system is going to completely solve that.

Take the lunch break. Go outside. Use your vacation days. Stop checking Slack at 10 p.m. if nobody expects you to be checking Slack at 10 p.m.

Getting your shit together at work doesn’t mean turning yourself into a machine. The entire point is to make work feel more manageable so it doesn’t consume every bit of your attention.

You’re trying to get more control over your work, not give work more control over you.

And Here’s The Thing

You probably don’t need to completely reinvent the way you work.

You don’t need a new app, a 5 a.m. morning routine, or a 17-step productivity system. You probably need to figure out what matters, write down what you need to do, protect time for important work, communicate better, and follow through.

Start there.

Pick the three most important things you need to do tomorrow. Put them somewhere you’ll actually see them. Finish the most important one before you spend the entire day reacting to everybody else.

Then do it again the next day.

Getting your shit together at work isn’t one massive reset where you suddenly become the most organized person alive. It’s a collection of pretty boring habits that make your days less chaotic and make you better at your job.

And boring habits, done consistently, work.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get more organized at work?

Start with one place to track everything you’re responsible for, then identify your most important priorities each day. Keep the system simple enough that you’ll actually maintain it instead of creating an overly complicated productivity routine.

How do I prioritize when everything at work feels important?

Look at deadlines, impact, your boss’s priorities, and how each task connects to your company’s larger goals. If you genuinely can’t tell which of two competing responsibilities matters more, ask your manager to help you prioritize.

How can I stop feeling overwhelmed at work?

Get your responsibilities out of your head and into a written system, break large projects into smaller next steps, and focus on one priority at a time. If the workload itself is unreasonable, talk to your manager about what can realistically get done rather than silently trying to absorb everything.

How can I be more productive without working longer hours?

Protect focused time for important work and reduce unnecessary task switching. Being productive is less about filling every minute with activity and more about making sure your best attention is going toward your highest-value work.

What habits help you stand out at work?

Reliability, communication, prioritization, curiosity, and consistency go a long way. Do good work, keep people informed, follow through on commitments, ask for feedback, and understand how your work creates value for the company.