Too Busy Getting Organized
By Patricia Katz
This wildly busy world places a high value on organization. If you appear to be organized you’re held in high regard. Desk free and clear? Calendar clearly marked? Latest in organizing gadgetry on hand? You must know what’s happening and how to get things done.
It’s true… organizing does add value. It saves time (less searching and scrambling for information). It conserves money (less cash wasted on supplies buried too deeply to find). It minimizes effort (less backtracking when running errands or delegating tasks).
Still, it is possible to spend so much time getting ready that you never quite deliver the goods. When it comes to the world of organization, there is a point of diminishing return.
- Making a list is useful. Making a list look pretty is overkill.
- Separating high from low priorities is helpful. Setting perfectly ordered priorities through the use of complex mathematical formulae calculated to three decimal points is absurd.
- Sorting paperwork and supplies for easy access is a real timesaver. Maintaining perfectly manicured files and lining up pencils so the erasers all point in the same direction chews up time that could be spent getting the job done.
Keep the potential return on investment in mind as you go about your daily work.
If you’re setting up a new system to handle paperwork or tasks, don’t feel that you have to integrate the current backlog. Create the system now. Use it to handle tasks that come in from here forward. The leftover items from the past will eventually work their way through and you’ll have experienced the advantage of a new system sooner rather than later.
Be smart about the papers you choose to file. When the most current version of the information is regularly posted to a website, toss the paper, bookmark the URL and put the internet to work as your filing system.
If someone else in your organization is the official manager of back issues or archives, resist the urge to create your own. Don’t save, organize and file information that is already maintained by someone else. Not sure who’s saving what? Adopt the ‘you make it, you save it’ rule. Everybody else can toss with abandon.
Not sure if there is anything of value in that stack of paper growing in the corner of your office? If you’ve not dipped into it for weeks, the chances of any of it being needed are slim. You could live dangerously, take a chance, and dump it now. Or you could make a time saving compromise. Box it up. Note the contents on the end (i.e. Unsorted Papers – July – Dec, 2000). Give it a future kill date (i.e. Toss after June 30, 2001). Store it in an out of the way location where you will be able to do a search if it becomes necessary. Toss on the kill date, freed from investing the time to sort.
Don’t assume that you must have every single detail of a project organized before you begin. Many times the work teaches you as it unfolds. Begin, adapt and reorganize as you go along.
Remember… prolonged prep is not performance.
About the Author
Patricia Katz, MCE CHRP, works with the overloaded and overwhelmed to accomplish what matters most and find more peace of mind in the process. Based in Western Canada, this speaker and author of three books specializes in productivity and perspective. To bring Patricia’s expertise to your organization, call toll free (877-728-5289) or visit her at www.pauseworks.com & www.patkatz.com
Did you enjoy this article? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to our feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment