If you have stacks piled all over your office, whether that office is at home or away from home, having to rearrange these piles can be costly. For every hour it takes for your to find what you are looking for or resorting piles is time taken away from how you earn your salary.
But don’t despair. There are easy ways to get organized that if you take the initial time to address, can save you in the long run.
1) Take the time to put things away correctly. Cleaning you’re your desk for the sake of making it neat as an end in itself can be risky as you can for where you put everything. Take the time to put things away in their proper files.
2) Reduce Clutter. Clutter is rarely caused by insufficient space or time. The culprit is usually indecisiveness. So be selective about what you bring into your office and home. If you know what you value and what your goals are, being selective is not hard.
3) Create a place for everything. Open your mail in the same place everyday so it doesn't get strewn everywhere. Put unpaid bills together, separate from paid bills. Store all office supplies together to prevent duplicate purchases.
4) Do not use your entire desk surface as a giant In-box. Instead, determine your next action on every piece of paper and file accordingly. Tasks to be done soon (phone calls to make, questions to ask business associates) and current projects go into your "Action Files," which should not be mixed with Reference Files. Action Files must be kept close at hand.
5) That maxim, "Handle each piece of paper only once," is too extreme to be realistic. But it contains a grain of truth. Do try to take the next action that's required each time you handle a piece of paper. How about that seminar advertisement you left on your desk, as a reminder to decide whether to sign up -- you know, that paper you've shuffled ten times today already? Either call right now to get the information you need, or make a note in your appointment book to call later. Then you're that much closer to being done with it.
6) Don't save paper that you're not willing to spend time filing. If you don't file it properly, you either will forget you have it, or you won't be able to find it when you need it. It does you no good, and the result is the same as if you'd thrown it out in the first place. If you are set up to scan information into your computer, be selective. If you cannot imagine a specific situation when you'd need to refer to the information again, don't scan it. Most of us save a great deal of paper we'll never use again.
7) Use your day planner or a To Do List to help clear your desk. If you avoid filing things out of fear you'll forget to follow up, jot down a reminder in your appointment book or computer software.
8) Beware of stuff. The more stuff you have, the more you must find a place to put, and the more you'll have to clean, repair, and eventually replace. Stop buying things you don't really need just because they're on sale. You can always get more stuff, and you can always get more money. But you can never get more time.
9) Schedule appointments with yourself to get things done. Appointments aren't only for business lunches or seeing your doctor. They're for you, too. Commit to spending time on the things you keep "not getting around to." This works for everything -- from taking the next step on that back-burner project, to making sure you get yourself to the gym twice a week.
10) Get a good desk. This doesn't necessarily mean an expensive desk, but one that is right for your personal work habits, business activities and other daily needs. If you regularly refer to books, manuals or publications, a desk with an upright hutch would make sense. Or if you use a computer and have ample floor space, consider an L-shaped desk. You can keep your computer on one section and still have a large workspace on the other. This configuration allows you to avoid juggling two priorities on the same desktop.
Stephen Nickse is the founder of Closet Solutions, a leading provider of quality
Boston Closets, strategically headquartered in the nation’s design capitol, Boston, Ma. For more information, please visit
www.closet-solutions.com
