Throw It Out!

Tired of piles of useless paper that only waste your time
by having to shuffle through them over and over?

Open your mail over the trash can.
*Is it junk? Throw it out. Don´t even read it.
*Is it duplicate information that you already have or can get elsewhere when needed? Throw it out.
*Is it non-urgent but necessary to keep? File it in it´s proper place.
*Is it urgent? Handle it right away (or delegate it)

Put it away

One key to staying organized is to do as we´ve always taught our children, "When you´re finished with it, put it away."

What if "it" doesn´t have a special place in which to be "put away"? Create one. Here are some ideas:
bags
baskets
binders
bookshelves
boxes
cabinets
crates
drawers
hooks
racks

Clean your room!

Clean off your desk at the end of every day. Piles create clutter and can hinder good customer service. If a customer calls with a question about an order, it is much easier and faster if you simply have to pull out that customer´s folder from an alphabetical file, or a pending orders folder from a work file.

When your desk is in order, you can handle tasks quickly and efficiently thus saving lots of valuable time.

Plan-ahead meals

Want to save time during the week? Plan ahead over the weekend.

When preparing large meals on the weekend, make a double batch and freeze half for quick re-heat meals during the week.

Where is it?

When deciding how to set up your filing system, keep these tips in mind:

1. If you refer to the information daily, then keep it out and available on your desk (or workspace).
2. If you refer to it weekly, keep it in your desk or file cabinet next to or under your desk.
3. If you refer to it monthly, file it in your office (or work area), but not at your desk.
4. If you refer to it less than monthly, store it outside of your office (or even packed in file boxes for storage)

Junk Mail be gone!

If you´re finding yourself spending more than five minutes a day sifting through and deleting junk mail (e-mail or paper mail), unsubscribe from the useless stuff!

If it´s on e-mail, you can usually unsubscribe at the bottom of any subscription type of e-mail. Taking just a minute to do that today will save you many minutes for all the days of the future.

If it´s regular mail, unsubscribe to magazines and other subscriptions that you just don´t have time to read anymore. Not only will you save yourself time, but money also--not to mention the trees that provide the paper for printing!

Don´t Forget the Good Stuff!

How do you decide what gets done and what doesn´t? Do you spend most of your time putting out other people´s fires only to find at the end of the week that you have no time left to finish that great book, or take your kids to the zoo? Plan your priorities into your week: scheduled meetings, family activities, personal time. And most importantly, treat each and every one of these activities as being equally important. If the decision to take on an extra project to impress your boss conflicts with your son´s scheduled baseball game- choose the game. It´s more important to impress your son than your boss. You´ll not only build cherished family memories, but you´ll also teach your children about priorities.

Reduce Phone Time

Do you often get caught up in a long phone conversation
when all you needed to do was answer a quick question?
Try making these types of quick calls after-hours when you´re
more likely to get voice mail. Leave your quick answer
and get on with your life.