Mini Lesson
The Chaos 
on Your Desk

  
 
 

 

 

Zigzag performance
A while back, I had a day that started out with a very clear and well-focused objective. Successful execution of the objective would have a massive effect of the financial goals of the company. 

It was a simple task, to finish up about four hours of work on a proposal for a government agency. The bid deadline was 10:00 a.m. the following morning in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The previous day was one of those out of control days that seem to have a crisis behind every door. I went home exhausted at the end of the day, and left the office without clearing the clutter from my desk.

Driving to the office the next morning, I was confident that there was plenty of time to finish the proposal well before the deadline for FedEx, whose last pick up for the day was 3pm. Settling in for the day, I began to work right on top of the clutter from the previous day. 

Fifteen minutes into the project, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a pink telephone message from the previous day. The message was from one of yesterday's bonfires, that I had delegated to a subordinate. I thought I better check on the status of the crisis, so I wandered down the hall to get a briefing from the subordinate. Which turned out to be totally unnecessary, as the subordinate had things well under control. 

One hour later I returned to my office, worked on the proposal for 45 minutes, then my eyes caught the attention a piece of mail from a client. It was a check for a payment on an invoice, and the check was not for the full amount. Would you believe . . . I walked down to the accounting department? Well, to make a long story short, this routine continued a couple more hours, until you guessed it! . . . I missed the FedEx man.

That night, as I was heading west on Highway 212, just about the time I was crossing the South Dakota border, I began to examine what went wrong. It was instantly clear what the problem was. I had forgot one of Daddy's favorites. "Outa sight, Outa Mind."

I had violated one of the most fundamental rules of high performance individuals . . . Work on only one thing at a time! I had good intentions all day to follow that principle. What kept diverting me over and over again was the desk. Everything must be out of sight, except that which you are working on at the moment. 

We could end the lesson right here, because it really isn't important how you get there . . . but, you must get the desk clear of clutter, somehow or someway, even if it means throwing a sheet over your desk while you work. But, as you might expect there are some more elegant ways. Lets have a look . . . 
 

 

 

 

Digging out from under
Is your desk turning into your personal nightmare? Does the spill over from your in-basket creep across your desk, flood onto the bookcase and cascade from there to the floor? Do you dream of being obscured in an inundation of memos, reports and mail?

One test we all face is coping with the mass of paper that oozes across our desk. It becomes increasingly difficult to locate things, keep track of tasks or work comfortably, when the stacks and heaps turn into clutter. If you do not move that paper on, you may never see your desktop again.

The solution is to take control: Get organized up front, maintain that organization and create a filing system that works. Ensuring a smooth paper flow means removing the stacks, rearranging and color-coding files and learning to handle the in-baskets and out-baskets quickly and effectively. Professional organizing consultants can, inside of three hours, permanently organize even the messiest of desks of clutter. Here is how they do it.
 

 

 

 

Organizing is not just throwing away
Ask yourself the following questions to help you decide if you need to hang onto an item, or if you can recycle it or throw it away. These suggestions should apply to electronic documents as well.
  • Am I legally required to keep this? Example: taxes, patent or copyright requirements, contractual requirements, government mandate. If yes, keep it.
  • Does it help me do my job more effectively to have this on hand? Does it help me accomplish my individual job objectives? If yes, keep it.
  • Will I use this? On average, we will use only 20 percent of what is in our workspace. If yes, keep it.
  • Is this information updated periodically? Decide how much history you need to keep, and throw out anything older. When the next report comes in, toss out the oldest report and you will have a "naturally maintained" file.
  • Did you create this? Just because you create an item it does not necessarily mean you have to keep a copy of it. Only keep it for legal, mission, or use reasons.
  • Is someone else the originator of this information? Almost everything that comes into your in-box (paper and electronic) originated somewhere else. If you do not need it for legal, mission, or use reasons, let the originator know you are relying on them to provide up-to-date information.
  • Can you obtain this information from someone or somewhere else when the need arises?
  • Do you need this for "political" reasons? If it could be a CYA in the future, hang on to it.
  • Ask yourself this question; what is the worst possible thing that could happen if I threw this away?
  • If you are still not sure what to do, keep a banker's box somewhere handy and mark it "Off Site Storage." Then take the box periodically to a storage locker, basement or garage. Every year throw out last year's box.  
 

 

 

 

Pendings—the black hole of organization
A pending is an item that no action is required on your part until some time in the future. Example: a meeting or class notice, a task you have delegated, waiting for someone to return your call.

There is a very simple solution to handling pendings that requires no technology and no memory games. For every pending item, there are three steps that should be followed for a fool-proof system:
  • Time activate it! Put a reminder in your 1-31 daily planning pages, on the day you intend to take action. File any supporting paperwork in your alphabetic tabs in your organizer or one of the three new holding files in your desk.
  • If you are not sure of the precise future action date, pick an arbitrary date! If you want to make sure nothing turns into a crisis, decide when you will follow up to keep information moving. 
  • Avoid zigzagging during the day. Set aside the last hour of the day to sort all of the day's incoming pendings. You still have time to get that hot call returned and to get things into the outgoing mail for the day.
  • Single handle every piece of paper whenever possible. Don't pick something up unless you intend to act upon it. Give yourself the gift of focus.
  • Keep your inbox behind you, out of arms' reach or better yet, out of sight.
 

 

 

 

Getting the file drawer organized  

Your mind is like a vast treasury of information, but like the pirates' buried gold you need a map to get there, clues are essential. Your permanent filing system should be developed for retrieval, not storage. 

How do we stay focused on retrieval? Provide your mind with clues.  Things are easier to retrieve if arranged in the order in which they will be used. So create one file drawer or area that you can divide by zones. Use a different bright file color for each zone. Use straight tab folders . . . staggered tabs went out in the 80's when we all figured out that keeping all those tabs in order was a useless waste of time. Next, create a series of zones containing folders of often-accessed files. Here are some suggested zones:

  • Mail/Correspondence

  • Reading

  • Projects/Miscellaneous

  • Delegated activities

  • Customers

  • Suppliers

  • Often accessed files

  • Twenty six files labeled A-Z

  • Twelve monthly files Jan-Dec

  • An Out Years

  • Reoccurring Events
 

 

 

 

Portable project workbooks 
Often, it is important for me to have the documents for a particular client or project with me when I am working on the client's premises, or while traveling. 

When I start a large project, I get a high-quality, three-ring notebook with storage pockets. I like to start a new color for each active project so there is less chance of mixing them up. Each project workbook has a set of index dividers that are made up especially for that project. I start with divisions for correspondence, directory of personnel, a task list, schedules, and at the back miscellaneous paper and forms section.