|
|
Are You Finding What You REALLY Need?
Are You Finding What You REALLY Need?: Internet Searching Techniques By: Janet L. Hall Remember the game Hide & Seek? Just like the game, websites can be hiding from you on the Internet while you try to seek out particular information, services, or...
Becoming Radiant: Mind Mapping For Creativity
I don't take notes anymore. Instead, I create one wildly colorful, creative and inspiring page whenever I need to make a decision, prepare a presentation, or plan an event. That whole two-column plus and minus approach? Gone. Bring on the Mind...
Business Events to Increase Profits
Business events can help small businesses to generate additional
income. Besides the fact that an event requires a lot of
planning and organizing as well as the business has to invest
money without knowing how much of that investment will make...
How to Leverage Your Strengths for Peak Performance
Ask almost any business leader how to most effectively develop people and build teamwork and you’ll hear, “tap into employees’ strengths.” Yet when it comes to their own careers, many managers still focus the majority of their personal development...
STRIKING A BALANCE. Take Time Off To Be More Effective
STRIKING A BALANCE Take Time Off To Be More Effective What do an entrepreneur, a healthy checking account, your diet and a tightrope walker have in common? They all need balance to be most effective! Balance is a word that you hear a lot about,...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ten Tips for Cleaning Off Your Desk and Keeping it Clean!
Ten Tips for Cleaning Off Your Desk and Keeping it Clean! By: Janet L. Hall
On July 15, 1993 Walter S. Mossberg, the author and creator of the weekly "Personal Technology" column in The Wall Street Journal, was quoted as saying: “The promise of the ‘paperless office,’ [and home] where documents are entirely created, distributed, read and stored on computers, has been about as reliable as the promise of a check in the mail.”
Now, almost a decade later, that statement is as true as it was then and possibly even worse! Many still have the mind set that everything that is on their computer must also be printed out, never of course to be seen again! You WILL have paperwork, in some form or another, until you die. It’s a fact, a part of life that will not go away. The truth is you will continue to have piles and junk cluttering your desk unless you take control of the situation and learn how to handle everything that lands on your desk.
Take a second and look at your desk, your countertop, dining room table, or what ever you call your desk or workspace. How much of your desktop can you actually see and use? Do you even know what’s in those piles? Does it look like something might be starting to “grow” from all the yesteryears of lunches, snacks, and dinners you’ve had there? Do you have so many gadgets and doodads, personal items and pictures scattered about on your desk? When was the last time you saw the whole top of your desk and it saw a can of polish?
Here are just three interesting statistics from two polls from Coopers & Lybrand and USA Weekend:
>>The average desk worker has 36 hours worth of work on their desk and wastes up to 3 hours a week just “looking” for STUFF!
>>7.5% of all documents get lost and 3% get misfiled.
>>Professionals spend 5 to 15% of their time reading information, but up to 50% looking for it!
Think about your desk for a minute and how your days play out:
>>Estimate how many hours of work you have piled on your desk?
>>Estimate how much time you waste each week looking for stuff on your desk?
>>How many documents did you lose or misfile last year?
>>Are you scheduling regular time to read?
>>What do you do with the article, magazine, or memo you have read?
>>After reading, if you keep, can you find it if needed?
Ten Tips to Clean Off Your Desk
1. SCHEDULE a date and time with yourself. Write it on your calendar and keep this appointment, just as you would an important meeting with a client or a doctor. 2. TOOLS: >>Set a timer for the length of time you have decided to work on this project. >>Make signs or mark boxes with the following: Current Paperwork, Reference Paperwork, Historical Paperwork, Refer to someone
else or take home, Supplies, Reading, and Data Entry (those business cards or scraps of paper that you need to put into your database, address book, or calendar). >>Box of garbage bags. >> Pad of Paper and Pen (to write down anything you think of doing or to make a to-do list for later. 3. CLEAR and EMPTY: Take everything off your desk and out of your desk drawers. 4. SORT everything into new piles that you made signs for or the boxes you marked from number 2 above. 5. File or Toss: Click up a FREE copy of our "5 W's of File or Toss" at mailto:fileortoss@sendfree.com 6. Read or Toss: Click up a FREE copy of our "5 W's of Read or Toss" at mailto:readortoss@sendfree.com 7. Polish your desk and get the dirt and grim out of your desk drawers. 8. After sorting ONLY put back on your desk what you use Daily, such as: Pen, Pencil, Phone, Phone Pad, Desk Workbook, Tickler File, Computer, Calendar, and Lamp. 9. Do NOT put back on your desk items that are seldom used and NOT used daily, such as: Gadgets/Toys, Glue, Scissors, Hole Puncher, Pencil Sharpener, Ruler, and In/Out Box (your Tickler File will replace this). 10. Drawers: Before you start putting things back into your desk drawers, think of how you would like to utilize them, and consider which hand is habit for you to open a drawer. The hand that is “habit” should be the same side of your desk drawers that you store frequently used items, such as: Supplies, Stationary, and Current Files.
Ten Tips for Maintaining a Clean Desk
1. When you stop working on a project put it away. 2. Put date or calendar related papers/files into your tickler file as soon as they land on your desk. 3. Sort through mail and toss out all junk mail as soon as it arrives. 4. Schedule regular reading time and put “to read” material in a reading folder. 5. Do NOT use scraps of paper or sticky pads. Use your Desk Workbook to record all your notes, ideas, phone numbers, web site and email addresses, errands, and to- do’s. 6. Schedule regular desk maintenance. 7. Schedule filing time and store your to-file in the corresponding date of your tickler file. 8. Make a frequently called numbers sheet and store under your mouse pad or inside a drawer. 9. Create a Pending Folder to store papers or files in that you are “waiting” for more information, someone else to get back to you on, or something you have ordered. 10. Dust, polish, and wipe down your desk weekly.
About the Author
The Organizing Wizard, Janet L. Hall, is a Professional Organizer, Speaker, and Author. She is the owner of OverHall Consulting and Organizing By Phone. Subscribe to her FREE organizing newsletter at http://www.overhall.com/newsletter.htm or visit her web site at http://www.overhall.com
|
|
|
|
|
Online Organizing.com |
Welcome to OnlineOrganizing.com!. Get Organized! Find the best organizing products, free tips on taming your clutter, an online newsletter, ... |
www.onlineorganizing.com |
  |
organizetips.com - organized, time management, planners,tips,Tips ... |
Get Organized,Organizing ideas, Tips, daily,chore lists,planners. |
www.organizetips.com |
  |
At Home : Organizing : Take This Stuff and Store It! : Home ... |
Our guide to the simple life, where everything has its place. |
www.hgtv.com |
  |
Home Organizing Tips - Bathroom, Bedroom & Garage Organizing ... |
Learn about home organizing tips for bathroom, bedroom, and garages from Home & Garden Television. |
www.hgtv.com |
  |
Christmas Organizing | Creating J.O.Y. for Christmas |
Offers a community of resources and support to help people get organized for Christmas throughout the entire year by creating and organizing a Christmas ... |
www.christmasorganizing.com |
  |
Organizing - HUD |
Organizing. [Vea la versión en español de esta página] · [Display the text version of this page] ... Organizing · Economic development. Working with HUD ... |
www.hud.gov |
  |
Get Organized - Organizing Tips and Ideas to help you get ... |
Free tips, ideas and articles to help you get organized. |
www.getorganizednow.com |
  |
Management Function of Organizing: Overview of Methods |
Organizing can be viewed as the activities to collect and configure resources in ... The following are some of the major types of organizing required in a ... |
www.managementhelp.org |
  |
Organizing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
In that sense, organizing can also be defined as the act to place different ... Organizing, in companies point of view, is the management function that ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
Amazon.com: Organizing from the Inside Out: Books: Julie Morgenstern |
Amazon.com: Organizing from the Inside Out: Books: Julie Morgenstern by Julie Morgenstern. |
www.amazon.com |
  |
Organized-Living.com - Get organized, Professional Organizer tips ... |
Articles and tips to help individuals organize their home or work life better. |
www.organized-living.com |
  |
How to organize your home and office, organizing tips, articles on ... |
LifeOrganizers.com is a rich resource of office and home organizing articles, tips, and fresh, easy ideas on how to get rid of clutter from every part of ... |
www.lifeorganizers.com |
  |
The Virginia Organizing Project |
VOP, racism, social justice, community organizing, leadership development, living wage, grassroots organizing, sexual orientation . |
www.virginia-organizing.org |
  |
Center for Third World Organizing |
A training and resource center dedicated to building a social justice movement led by people of color. |
www.ctwo.org |
  |
Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition |
WROC of Olympia, Washington, organizes groups of women and men who are current or former TANF recipients to watch how welfare and family policy is ... |
www.wroc.org |
  |
Self-Organizing Systems FAQ for Usenet newsgroup comp.theory.self ... |
Frequently Asked Questions about self-organized systems. |
www.calresco.org |
  |
Beyond Bookmarks: Schemes for Organizing the Web |
Beyond Bookmarks: Schemes for Organizing the Web is a clearinghouse of World Wide Web sites that have applied or adopted standard classification schemes or ... |
www.public.iastate.edu |
  |
Organizing Institute |
Program by the AFL-CIO to train union organizers and put them in the field. |
www.aflcio.org |
  |
SouthWest Organizing Project |
A statewide multi-racial, multi-issue, community based membership organization. Includes information on history, campaigns, and volunteer opportunities. |
www.swop.net |
  |
Farm Labor Organizing Committee |
The historic contract in North Carolina opens up a new chapter in the FLOC struggle for justice and ushers in a new era in farmworker organizing. ... |
www.floc.com |
  |
|