|
Favorits •
Web Domain Directory •
ODP •
Annuaire FR •
Directorio ES •
Directory EN •
Diretório PT •
IT Katalog •
Czech Katalog •
Polski Katalog •
Maps •
Satellite Photos •
View Card
|
||
|
|
Organizing |
|
|
| ||
 |
10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos
Whether you are in your own business or an employee (or neither) -- if you have a family and a home you are in the business of having a life. I'm betting that none of you went into business to become hot at shuffling papers and reams of e-mail. Eighty percent of the clutter at work and at home is a result of disorganization, not lack of space! So if it's going to keep coming in and piling up, you've got to have an exit strategy. Regular maintenance is the best way to keep your office tuned up, same as your vehicle. The key 'success' habit is deciding immediately where each piece of paper or e-mail goes and what's the next action required from you. Setting anything aside in the 'decide later pile' just makes it worse. Every piece of clutter at work and at home is an unmade decision. Use my Daily, Monthly and Yearly Maintenance tips to keep ahead of all that information --whether it's paper or computer. I guarantee you can manage your information more easily and successfully at work and at home when you do. DAILY Unlike some wines, no piece of information improves with age. Set a certain time each day to sort, toss and refile both paper and e-mail. I do mine after lunch while I get through my post meal 'slump'. Daily maintenance, like brushing your teeth, keeps you from collecting build-up in your systems. Sort all your incoming materials daily; stand over the recycle bins and get rid of all the junk first. Sort into Action categories that make sense to you: to pay, to file, to review, etc. The daily sort is crucial just to keep your filing separate from Action items, and keep the discards moving. At home, your 'To File' first sort can be separated into personal and business filing (try a combination sorter:vertical for action/ horizontal for filing). At work, separate client or product materials from company administrative files in your first sort. More filing category help under Monthly tips. Set up magazine files for Reference items (catalogs, magazines). At home, make separate sort places to put receipts that refer to warranties, personal property records, or that you need to reconcile with monthly credit card and bank statements. Use a compartment, or envelope in your briefcase or purse where you can easily stuff any receipts (especially if you travel). Then, use it. In the office, have a drop box or action file for the day-to- day expensed receipts from your briefcase or pockets. MONTHLY Calendar definite times to do Maintenance and stick to them. At home, try doing your paper filing only when you pay bills. As long as you schedule your maintenance every two weeks, you'll never miss a payment and you'll be up on your filing, too. In between bill paying time, simply do your daily sort: tossing, and putting bills, receipts, project materials in your Action area to be filed or paid when the time comes. At work, try scheduling non-payday Fridays or before/after two different monthly meetings to keep it regular. Here are two suggestions on basic 'To File' systems you can use with your 'file piles' when you do your every day sort. No matter how you schedule it, you can cut your filing time in half by presorting your file piles into separate file trays in the following categories. Pre-Sorted File Categories: You can separate current business filing into three domains: People; clients, staff, teams You can separate current personal filing into three domains: Personal/Family If you don't have a 'business of having a life'filing system, check out the cost-effective Home and Small Business File Kits that I use in my own business, which makes it easy for me to guarantee your satisfaction. (www.organize.com) YEARLY Universal Archiving Rule: If they aren't this year's files and you don't use them regularly -- get them out of your office! I recommend that every private individual and small business do an Office Blitz in April after you've filed taxes. Pull all the old financial, insurance and tax-related files out, and put them in an archive box. Put in a back-up disk of your accounting program and data for that tax year. Pick up a retention schedule from your CPA or the Internal Revenue Service. I store my archives on shelves in the garage. Just remember to label the paper archive or waterproof plastic file boxes on the front, so you can keep a matching archive list in your file drawer with an index of box contents. Then, if you need something you can retrieve it easily. For larger companies I recommend an Office Blitz at least twice a year. Plan a Friday afternoon where everyone participates in cleaning out their offices and cubicles. (Order extra dumpsters.) If the finance year runs July to June do your archiving blitz in end July for the prior year. Archive administrative files, and completed project or program files. Toss records for which you have already been reimbursed, or which you no longer maintain as part of your job. Archive the rest to off-site storage after making an index. Separate essential records into current or archive storage: File in current year filing system (by category) Now, that you know how to manage your information more successfully at work and at home Peace of mind is just an Office Blitz plus Daily, Weekly and Monthly Maintenance away! For more free time-saving tips, see http://www.organize.com 10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos Copyright, Eve Abbott All Rights Reserved. Eve Abbott's newest book is available online at http://www.organize.com. Remember to sign up for more of the Organizer Extraordinaire's time-saving tips. Enjoy free brain quizzes to help you work at your personal best!
MORE RESOURCES: |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
10 Tips on Color Coding Your Paper: From Chaos to Coherence Color-There Is No SubstituteIn anatomical illustrations you see the brain's visual system, where the optic nerve is actually 25 times faster than our audio nerves (hearing). No matter which processing style you depend on, 90 percent of the sensory perceptions received by your brain are visual. The Top 10 Habits of Organized People Have you ever wondered how some people seem to have "it all together - all the time," while you struggle with deadlines, misplace items, and run late for appointments? Are you interested in learning the secrets to their organizing success? If so, implement the following strategies and you too will experience the joy of more focus, time and success.1. Kids Clutter: Organizing at Every Age Our children are probably the biggest clutter creators we have in our homes -- even more so than the dreaded paper flow. It starts out innocently, when we find out we are expecting; then the purchasing frenzy swings into high gear and does not let up until, well, let's just say many years down the road. Dont Get Lost In The Shuffle I have a good friend whom (also being in the same business) I often compare notes with.One of the things that I always give him a hard time about is the fact that even though he has one of the biggest desks I have ever seen I have never actually seen the desks surface. 3-Step Clean Sweep Program to Organize 3-Step Clean Sweep Program 1 - Purge2 - Simplify3 - Organize Getting Started Springtime is when many folks give their homes and offices a good cleaning. For every thing there is a season, and this is the season to get rid of the winter cobwebs. Spring Clean Your Life Spring is here and its time to sweep away the wintertime blues.Have you been hibernating this winter? Well you’re not the only one. Getting Things Done: A Guide To Next-Action Lists Getting Things Done (GTD), is a productivity methodology designed by David Allen. GTD increases your productivity by getting things out of your mind, and into a reliable system that you can trust. Organizing Solutions for the Disorganized Entrepreneur After more than 20 years as an entrepreneur and a consultant to entrepreneurs, I am convinced that for many entrepreneurs, "organized" is an enigma. "Organized entrepreneur" may even be an oxymoron, because the very strength that makes great entrepreneurs makes for poor organizing - at least organizing as most of the world defines it. Do You Have Scatter-Brain-Itis? In your quest to get 'up and running' so to speak with your online ventures do you find yourself getting distracted by things that have nothing to do with whatever it is your trying to accomplish?I call this "Scatter-Brain-Itis"It's not your fault though.There are so many well written, headlines, sales letters, articles, clickable links, and just plain outrageous stuff here online that it's nearly impossible to focus on the task at hand. 50 Ideas to Organize Your Home "Organize" is a familiar word heard on many of today's popular decorating shows. Every family has its struggles with some type of clutter whether it is stacks of papers or a cluttered and cramped bathroom. Digging out of Paper Clutter - part 2 We previously noted that papers must be sorted before they can be properly filed. Continuing from our last article, your sort has left you with two piles - 'to file' and 'to throw away/recycle. Spring Cleaning: Mission Garage Organization Spring is here and the garage door is open. This is a scary thought for Cindy. Four Tips For Clearing The Clutter Spring?. Fresh breezes through open windows, sleeping trees come awake with bright new leaves, flowers begin to bloom and the grass becomes green once more. 10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos Whether you are in your own business or an employee (or neither) -- if you have a family and a home you are in the business of having a life. I'm betting that none of you went into business to become hot at shuffling papers and reams of e-mail. 5 Steps From Clutter To Control Are you overwhelmed by clutter wherever you turn? Here are 5 practically painless steps to a clean slate.1. The Problem With To-Do Lists Do you use to-do lists? Do you find it satisfying to check off the items on that list? Too satisfying perhaps?More than once I've found myself adding something I've already done to my daily list. I get to check it off then, you see. Oh No, Not Another Interuption, How To Deal With Everyday Distractions Every day I find junk mail waiting for me, whether it is snail mail or email. Unless I deal with it immediately, I will be faced with piles of unwanted paper, or a full inbox, which just distracts me. Keep, Get Rid Of, Or Not Sure? Cleaning out can seem overwhelming -- especially if it's been a while since you've done it! But there is a very simple process you can follow that will A) help you sort and separate your belongings into manageable piles, and B) keep you from completely tearing up your house while you are cleaning out! When you begin clearing area, you should have three large boxes close at hand. One box is labeled "Keep" -- one is labeld "Get Rid Of" -- and one is called "Not Sure" (we'll talk about other possible sorting categories later on). Declutter Your Home in 11 Easy Steps Feeling overwhelmed at the thought of organizing your home? Start on a smaller scale instead and it will be a whole lot easier.For example, instead of starting with the entire house, commit to starting with one room. 1-2-3 Sort Article excerpted from the new book, "How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain" by Eve Abbott1 - 2 - 3-SORT!Every time you start to clean up your office so you can work better instead of harder-that big backlog of information is just too overwhelming. Sorting can actually put you into a better working space in very short time!The good news is you don't have to do it all at once.
|