These days when someone mentions your desktop, you automatically assume they are referring to the virtual desktop of your computer. However, when it comes to time managing, one of the first time bandits we need to tackle is usually the space in which we work each day.
Time Management can’t succeed without organization, and this means learning how to organize your work area as well as your time. Your work area is your world. If it is a mess, you are handicapped before you get to the starting line. It can be overwhelming to begin a project when your desk is cluttered with papers and junk. Ask yourself:
- Does your desk seem to grow paper?
- Is your desk a clean working surface that helps you focus your energy on the task at hand?
- Do you get a positive feeling when you approach your desk?
- Is your desk such a mess that you invent ways to avoid it altogether?
- Is your file cabinet a black hole that sucks in paper, notes, articles, documents, and other items you can’t part with?
- Is your filing system a streamlined, orderly one that supports you in getting your job done?
- Is the physical appearance of your work space uncluttered, cheerful, and light?
- Is your workspace conducive to clear, creative thinking?
Since most of your business activity emanates from your desk, it is the perfect place to start organizing. Remember the scene in the movie, Mary Poppins, where she looks at a messy room and firmly declares, “Well begun is half done?” Yes, I know she then proceeds to clean up the whole place using magic. Would it help if I promised you that you will have a magical feeling once you take the following steps?
- Scoop everything off your desk. Look at it: does it feel good? Is it refreshing to see it this way?
- Place your most recent project on the top of your desk. The project might include several file folders, a couple of books, and some forms.
- Begin a dump drawer. Designate one of the lower drawers of your desk as the dump drawer. Put all low priority, low pay-off items, such as brochures, newspapers, and other mail that isn’t time-critical in the dump drawer. Go through your dump drawer once a month and handle what has been accumulated. Scan the items quickly and decide whether to toss them. You will find that about 90% of what goes in this drawer can be thrown out.
- Develop a parking system for everything that comes into your office including personal items. Immediately put things in their respective places so you can find them more easily when you need them again.
- File most things in the wastebasket. As much as 80 % of all paper files are never needed. In fact, if you were to throw away most of your files, no one would ever know or care. Naturally, you will want to keep legal documents and resource materials to which you frequently refer. But the motto for everything else is “THROW IT OUT!” Ask yourself, “If I should need that information again, is there somewhere I can get it with a reasonable amount of effort?”
- Set up a filing system, but remember, everything you keep costs you time. Storing papers requires filling time, maintenance time and retrieving time. Important items can get lost in the clutter. You may look at a worthless piece of paper dozens of times while searching for something else. Our goal is to set up a filing system with an emphasis on retrieving information easily, rather than on simply storing paper.
Even these days, when so much is stored on your computer, the amount of paperwork and clutter that piles up on your desk is still astonishing. It can definitely slow things down, much the same way that spyware and adware slows down the speed of your computer. While you are defragging your hard drive or running your anti-spyware scan, use that down time to clean up your work area and you will suddenly become twice as productive!
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November Time Management Tip of the Month – Email Caveats
One of the greatest time savers of the past 20 years is the invention of electronic mail. It speeds up communication of information and ideas and helps us all be more efficient and effective. However, email can be overused and used improperly. Observe the following guidelines to make the best use of email:
Be careful that you don’t misuse this handy medium. Email is best for transmitting:
- Basic information such as memos, announcements and simple task assignments
- Answers to or expressions of quick, simple questions
- Scheduling meetings
Don’t use email for anything that really requires a personal touch, or anything that should remain confidential, including:
- Having difficult discussions with employees regarding performance issues
- Expressing anger or criticism to anyone for any reason if you have not given yourself plenty of time to cool down and regain your composure
- By all means, never put anything in an email that you wouldn’t be comfortable having anyone in your organization read, because you never know when it might be forwarded to people outside of your circle. Also, because most email is archived at the server, email never really goes away.
