By Camille Carboneau, CFRW/C, CPRW, CEIP, CRW,
Set goals, but set them with deadlines. The first step in getting organized is goal setting. Do you want to organize your home? Your office? Your family? Your time? Write down exactly what you want to do, and assign a deadline for accomplishing that goal. The deadline should be specific like March 30, or July 30.
Set Mini-Goals. You will subliminally think you are accomplishing more. Break your goals down into small, realistic bite-sized pieces. For instance, instead of a large goal, such as organizing your entire house, choose one room and work on that. Instead of organizing all of your business files, start with one drawer, or one cabinet. Smaller pieces are easier to accomplish.
Reward Yourself. You need to feel successful when accomplishing a goal. Think of an enticing reward for each goal you accomplish. The reward will be your motivator and keep you on task for accomplishing these goals.
Tell your family and friends. Ask them for their support. Ask them to ask you about your goals and accomplishments from time to time, so you stay on track. They will also be a motivator to keep you on track.
Don’t expect perfection. As with any improvement you are making, there are bound to be bumps in the road. Do not get discouraged. Ask yourself questions as to what is not working. Re-evaluate. If it looks like you are not going to accomplish your goal by your deadline, just reschedule. Life is going to happen. It’s better to get back on track, than to give up.
Let’s talk specifically about our offices, where most of us spend a great deal of time.
Have you heard that computer technology would decrease paper? Grin. Yes, I was one who thought that most of our “office” paper would eventually go away. I have been involved in computer technology since 1980. In 1983, I was the first secretary at my work to get a computer. That instigated my training business. Over the years, it was said over and over that we are going to a paperless society. I even pay a lot of my bills online! I’m not sure about you, but I either have the same amount of paper or even more! I have not really seen a significant decrease in paper. One of the reasons for more paper is more people have computers and printers. So, I’m not one to say our society is going paperless just yet.
I will admit I have watched a few of the Clean Sweep shows with my husband, but he is the king of Clean Sweep! When I moved my business to my home, I went from 1600 square–feet to 650 square–foot that includes the computer lab, my office, and a storage room! I had to change my pack-rat habits. In fact, just today I decided I needed a cabinet for my office. My husband said, well you have four down in the storage room—pick one and let’s “clean sweep” it. So, I did just that. I am getting rid of, really important things like WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, Quicken version 3, Lotus version 4, old old training materials, and kit to upgrade a 386 computer to a 486 computer. Yip, I finally did it and got rid of a whole cabinet of old software and things I really do not need to store. I am heeding advice that I have known and somewhat practiced for years.
We have all probably heard the tip “touch it once” when we receive papers on our desks. When we sort our mail, it is easy to throw away all the junk mail. Then we sort the bills into a pile, then we sort the reading into a pile, and perhaps we have a pile for “just in case I get to it later.” Well, later never comes and we are surrounded by stacks of basically useless items.
Here are some tips for getting our paper organized and keeping it organized:
Are you overwhelmed with stacks of paper? Do you realize they are nothing more than decisions waiting to be made? 80% of what we keep we never use. Keep in mind just three simple things will help you reduce your paper stacks. File. Act. Toss.
Here are some things to ask yourself about these papers:
Does this paper require action?
Is it useful or outdated?
Would it be difficult to replace it?
Are there any legal or tax implications? (keep important tax documents)
Can you identify a SPECIFIC use? If not, toss it.
What is the worst possible scenario if you toss it?
If you decide to keep it, does it require action by you or someone else, or are you keeping it “just in case?” If it requires action that someone else can do, put it in their in box. If it requires action by you, put it in your action file. If it does not require action, put it in a reference file for later use.
Divide and Conquer your magazines, articles, newsletters, catalogs, and other reading.
Do you have stacks of magazines? Sort the ones you have not read in one year. Throw those away and stop the subscription. Sort the ones you have read into another pile and decide if you would re-read them, or if you really need to keep them. If you need to keep them, label them, and store them for a determined period of time. Can your newsletters be accessed online or the catalogs? Do you really need to keep that three-inch thick office supply catalog, or can you look up the web site and search their online catalog?
Become friends with your wastebasket. Throw out things that have been stacked for over a year. If you haven’t looked at it in over a year, chances are, it is not important. If you really do need to keep it, label it and store it in another location with similar items that need to be kept.
The In Box. As you take papers out of your In Box, continually make decisions. Perform one of the three actions—File, Act, or Toss.
According to Barbara Hemphill, author of Taming the Paper Tiger, the average business person spends over 150 hours per year just looking for lost information. If you are re-organizing just your papers you can start getting those hours back so you can do more enjoyable things! I totally agree with her that “Clutter is just a postponed decision.” That can surely be said of my clutter! I have made a resolution to get rid of it!
Since being asked to write about getting organized, I thought perhaps I would “talk the talk and walk the walk.” I now have five ‘tubs’ of family clothes, three tubs of old software and training items, two tubs of garbage out of my personal office, two computer monitors, one tub of small appliances, and three or four bags of miscellaneous junk all ready to be taken away! I still have more to do, but one must get back to pay work! I thought that was a good dent for a few hours!
Good luck in achieving your goals whether it is getting organized, or anything else! Attitude is everything. If you think you will fail, you will. If you think you will succeed, you will.
About the Author
Camille offers a variety of services including federal and private-industry résumé writing, KSA writing, interview and salary coaching, effective document design, business mentoring, proofreading, web site design and marketing, and mini-teleclasses on computer software. For more information click on www.superiorResumes.com or www.ccComputer.com.