13. Organize yourself first.

A professional kitchen is a hot, cramped place full of people working under tremendous time constraints. Chefs don’t have the option of coming in on the weekend to catch up. In fact, the weekends are already their busiest times. When the doors to the restaurant open, the race begins. In an industry with notoriously slim profit margins, chefs must turn out an extraordinary number of high-quality meals fast, with the least possible waste. How do they do it?

They get organized first. The phrase they use to describe their workspace is “mise en place,” a French phrase that means “put in place” (or, more loosely, “everything in its place”). Before a chef begins cooking, he or she must anticipate all the equipment and food he or she will need and have them at arm’s reach. A chef always places things in the same order and space, as if they were an extension of his or her body. In restaurants, this kind of organization defines the difference between success and failure.

You should do the same in your workspace. Get organized before you do anything else. Don’t waste time looking for things—whether on your desk or on your computer. Put them where you can find them quickly. Set up systems for organizing your day, your staff, your equipment and supplies, your information and thoughts.

Once you find a place for everything, stick to your system. Eventually, knowing where things belong will become second nature. You’ll never have to waste time searching for a file, an e-mail, or a document again.