Dam the paper!

If you’re drowning with paper see the blog post just before this one.  Once you’ve caught up on your backlog of paper and sticky notes you’ll want to use some of the following tips to keep on top of what comes into your office. 

Special note:  These are habits to develop.  Anytime you want to create a new habit, you’ve got to work at it consciously for a period of time before it becomes automatic.

Step 1 – Look at the sources of your paper.

Mail coming in – your in-box (paper from others) – notes from meetings – sticky notes with reminders – business cards from others – email that you print out – others?

Step 2 – Everything gets put into a central location.  This could be a corner of your desk, an in-box or a basket, for our illustration here I’ll refer to it as a box.  Here’s what I mean about everything.  When you have mail delivered, put it in the box.  When you return from a meeting, put all the business cards you collected and notes from the meeting, in the box.  When someone hands you paper, put it in the box.

Step 3 – Set aside some time during the day for processing.  I would start with an hour at the beginning of the day or at the end of the day. 

Step 4 – Pick up one piece of paper at a time and process it using one of these options

Option 1:  File it:  Current project – put that in the project file.  Bills – file in “Bills to be paid”  Future ideas/projects – file in a future projects folder.  You get the picture.

Option 2:  Toss it:  Look over what you’re holding and ask yourself if you need to keep it or is it information you can retrieve from the internet.  If it is, toss it.

Option 3:  Record it:  If you’re holding business cards or sticky notes with to-do’s on them record the information.  For business cards, I input the contact information into my computer address book, included in the notes section, I record when I met the person and any other information I’d like to remember.  For sticky notes, these usually have follow up items or to-dos.  I have a single to-do list going, so I record the to-dos on my list.  If I need to follow up on something, I put it on my calendar so it is there when I need it.  You might have special software that helps you with some of these tasks.

Rules to keep you organized.  Touch each piece of paper once and find a home for it (which could be in the trash).  Use a single simple system that works for you – keep one calendar, one to-do list, one address book, etc.

Do you have any tips to share?  What works for you?  What doesn’t work for you?  Look around, what does your workspace look like?  Share your comments below! 

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