If you are facing a lot of clutter that has already become mountainous, you may just throw up your hands in surrender. Improvement comes from consistent daily baby steps. Try these suggestions to arrive at an uncluttered and proficient work place.
BABY STEPS: Go through the stacks of papers and toss such things as outdated catalogs, loose notes, ads for sales. Even if you can spend only ten minutes a day for this, you will see improvement within a week. It's better if you can have an hour a day to get rid of the accumulation and use some other suggestions here to keep from adding more clutter. When you open a drawer to look for something and that draw is full of clutter, stop long enough to clear it - who knows, you might find what you need.
BE A LISTER: When you make yourself accustomed to keeping a list, you will see how more efficient your time has become when you don't have to spend time looking for things Keep your lists in a small notebook you can take with you. Lists just lying around the office become more clutter.
FIRST THINGS FIRST: Prioritize your list. This works better if you plan the next day's activities the evening before. If you have outside chores, plan your driving route in a sequence which will make the best efficiency of your time, and your car expenses. Keep track of mileage and expenses that are deductible for income tax purposes. There will be day when your can't do all the items for the day. When that happens, don't be too hard in yourself. Just give priority to the unfinished tasks the next day and keep doing that until the task is done. Be sure to review your list in the first part of the morning, after having your breakfast and perhaps a second cup of coffee,and update the list, then allot an hour to work on the accumulated clutter in your office.
OPENING MAIL: Open your mail immediately. Flip through the mail, tossing out sales catalogs and other ads that you don't want. File invoices, bills and mail that will need a reply in a special "In" box. Tag those items that need immediate attention. Write checks to pay your bills as you receive them or pay online.
USE YOUR COMPUTER: If you are proficient with a computer, you can reduce paper clutter by putting information in computer folders. I am not that proficient nor am I completely at ease in trusting myself or the machine.
PURGING FILES: Files should be purged at the end of December or in January of the following year. I dislike the job, but I dislike it more when I delay purging until I get ready to file my tax return.. If you have some papers from years other than the current one, you can store them in an accordion file, but be sure that you go back in that file every year to see if you still need to keep that information. If not, get rid of it.
BABY STEPS: Go through the stacks of papers and toss such things as outdated catalogs, loose notes, ads for sales. Even if you can spend only ten minutes a day for this, you will see improvement within a week. It's better if you can have an hour a day to get rid of the accumulation and use some other suggestions here to keep from adding more clutter. When you open a drawer to look for something and that draw is full of clutter, stop long enough to clear it - who knows, you might find what you need.
BE A LISTER: When you make yourself accustomed to keeping a list, you will see how more efficient your time has become when you don't have to spend time looking for things Keep your lists in a small notebook you can take with you. Lists just lying around the office become more clutter.
FIRST THINGS FIRST: Prioritize your list. This works better if you plan the next day's activities the evening before. If you have outside chores, plan your driving route in a sequence which will make the best efficiency of your time, and your car expenses. Keep track of mileage and expenses that are deductible for income tax purposes. There will be day when your can't do all the items for the day. When that happens, don't be too hard in yourself. Just give priority to the unfinished tasks the next day and keep doing that until the task is done. Be sure to review your list in the first part of the morning, after having your breakfast and perhaps a second cup of coffee,and update the list, then allot an hour to work on the accumulated clutter in your office.
OPENING MAIL: Open your mail immediately. Flip through the mail, tossing out sales catalogs and other ads that you don't want. File invoices, bills and mail that will need a reply in a special "In" box. Tag those items that need immediate attention. Write checks to pay your bills as you receive them or pay online.
USE YOUR COMPUTER: If you are proficient with a computer, you can reduce paper clutter by putting information in computer folders. I am not that proficient nor am I completely at ease in trusting myself or the machine.
PURGING FILES: Files should be purged at the end of December or in January of the following year. I dislike the job, but I dislike it more when I delay purging until I get ready to file my tax return.. If you have some papers from years other than the current one, you can store them in an accordion file, but be sure that you go back in that file every year to see if you still need to keep that information. If not, get rid of it.
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