15 Principles for Organizing Your Business Life


By Dorothy Lehmkuhl
  1. Get Rid of "Stuff" Paper, publications and possessions require maintenance; maintenance costs time, energy, space and money. How long do you really need to keep your old project files, seminar flyers, reference materials, association or business journals, etc.? Dispose of seldom or never-used items. Ask yourself, "What will happen if I let this go?" If the answer is "Nothing," get rid of it. Keeping it requires the same decisions over and over. Remember: It's okay to make a few mistakes; that's a small price for the contentment of having less "stuff."

  2. Limit Your Reading Material Realize that you can't read, know, or retain all the information your receive. (That's why we have public libraries!) Set up a read folder or other limited space for holding unread information. Pitch the oldest material (read or not) when that space is full.

  3. Touch It Once! Be decisive: Handle mail only once and move on. If later action is needed, put it in an action file. Indecision is "organizational death" - yet most people aren't even aware of their inability to make decisions. Don't shuffle papers with the vague "I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-this-so-I'll-put-it-here-for-now" Syndrome. Use the simple DRAFT technique - Delegate, Read, Act, File, or Toss - the first time you touch it. Draft spells death to ever-growing, work-in-process clutter.

  4. Think Before Acquiring More Evaluate before buying/accepting new items. Get off mailing/routing lists which serve no purpose; drop subscriptions to periodicals you seldom read. Ask yourself if you really NEED this item - or are you simply acquiring it because it looks interesting, because someone passed it on to you, or because "it might come in handy sometime"? Where will you store it? Items must DO something more than collect dust! Accept as few papers and possessions as possible. For each item you do acquire, purge two!

  5. Organize Before Increasing Space Adding storage space is often a disservice to yourself. The more space you have, the more inclined you are to be a saver. Keep things as simple as possible by retaining as few items as you absolutely need. Stamp out redundancies. Return supplies to your central supply area. Purge file folders and storage space before adding more.

  6. Don't Leave Things Out As Reminders Leaving items out as reminders is a common mistake which creates clutter and distractions.

  7. Keep Frequently-Used Items Handy Keep within easy reach your current working papers and items you'll need when you answer the phone. Don't waste "up front" storage space with infrequently used items - store those further away. Keep like items together so you don't have to take "trips" to gather materials for tasks.

  8. Don't Crowd Individual file folders more than 3/4" thick need to be first purged, then divided if necessary. Consider box-bottomed files for thick materials. If file drawers are stuffed, papers become mutilated, labels become hidden, and access is difficult. Leave at least 3" of extra space in file drawers.

  9. Do The Best Task At The Best Time After selecting the most productive task, do it at a time when you can accomplish it most effectively. Do tasks physically or mentally difficult for you at your own peak energy times; this includes making tough decisions. Do jobs you enjoy most (even if others consider them hard work) at low-ebb times. Don't try to do difficult work against all odds when you know you'll have lots of interruptions, for instance.

  10. Be Prepared Like the Boy Scouts, plan ahead for everything you'll need. Gather data and plan an agenda for telephone calls. For a report, assemble all the files, books, forms, copies, special writing equipment, etc., you'll use. For cleaning out, collect extra folders, boxes, cleaning equipment, and trash containers in advance.

  11. Don't Leave Until You're Finished If you find items to be delivered elsewhere, put them in a specific place and deliver them there only when you're finished with your present task.

  12. Do Only What You Set Out To Do Focus on your specified project. Resist the urge to be distracted by what your eyes see. Instead, like a boomerang, let your brain keep guiding you back to achieving your immediate goal. Put other reminders in an action file and do them when you're finished with this task.

  13. Break Your Work Into Units If a project seems overwhelming, "divide and conquer." Break it down into manageable units and schedule the steps to execute it.

  14. Empower Yourself Through Delegation Many people are reluctant to delegate. They find it hard to let go - to make decisions to give up a task - or are embarrassed to have others see their disarray. Take heart!
    Empower yourself with these strategies to most effectively use your support team - peers, employees, supervisor, assistant, etc.:
    1) Know what you and they do best (but don't take on their work just because you're good at it).
    2) Never delegate tasks that are not essential and should not be done at all. Toss them.
    3) Communicate clearly what, why, and when.

  15. Take Time For Training
    Just having the right planner, filing system or computer software program doesn't assure your success; knowing how to use them effectively is the key to being well organized. "I don't have time for training" is short-sighted. Actually, you don't have time not to invest in learning!


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