Below is a series of thoughts from Brian Tracy that came from his outstanding book "Time Power."Four ideas for personal organization
1. Neatness is a key habit. Remember that neatness is a key habit for personal productivity. You can dramatically increase your productivity and output simply by cleaning up and organizing your workspace.
2. Stand back and evaluate yourself. Stand back from your desk or work area and ask, “What kind of person works at that desk?”
In a serious interview with senior executives, fifty out of fifty-two of the respondents said that they would not promote a person with a messy desk or a cluttered work environment.
3. Refuse to make excuses. Many people working in a messy environment use their intelligence against themselves. They use their cleverness to justify and excuse themselves or the messiness of their workspace. They say things like, “I know where everything is.”
4. Work from a clean desk. Direct mail entrepreneur Joe Sugarman once wrote a book explaining his five rules for success. One of his five principles was, “End every day with a clean desk.” He made this rule throughout his organization.
Three steps to organizing your workspace
1. Clear your desk. Begin your process of getting organized by clearing your desk of everything but the one thing that you are working on at the moment.
2. Assemble everything you need. Arrange to have everything you need at hand before you begin any task.
3. Handle each piece of paper only once. Resolve to handle every piece of paper only once. Make a decision to do something with it when you pick it up, and don’t pick it up unless you are ready to act on it.
There are four things you can do with any piece of paper
1. Throw it away. One of the best time management tools at home or office is the wastebasket. The fastest way to save time in reading anything is to simply throw it away and not read it at all. This applies to junk mail, unwanted subscriptions to catalogs, sales circulars, and everything else that is not relevant to your goals.
2. Delegate it to someone else. You can refer or delegate the task to someone else. When you pick up a piece of paper, ask yourself is there is someone else who should be acting on this matter.
3. Take personal action. You can take action on the piece of paper. These are the letters, proposals, and messages that you must personally do something about.
4. File it for future reference. You can file it away. But before you file anything, remember that 80 percent of papers filed are never needed, used, or seen again. Before you decide to put something in your files, ask yourself, “What would happen if I couldn’t find this piece of paper?” What would be the negative consequences of not having this information available?
When you are finished with something, put it away. Complete your transactions. Finish your jobs. Discipline yourself to stay at it until the job is 100 percent complete.
1. Neatness is a key habit. Remember that neatness is a key habit for personal productivity. You can dramatically increase your productivity and output simply by cleaning up and organizing your workspace.
2. Stand back and evaluate yourself. Stand back from your desk or work area and ask, “What kind of person works at that desk?”
In a serious interview with senior executives, fifty out of fifty-two of the respondents said that they would not promote a person with a messy desk or a cluttered work environment.
3. Refuse to make excuses. Many people working in a messy environment use their intelligence against themselves. They use their cleverness to justify and excuse themselves or the messiness of their workspace. They say things like, “I know where everything is.”
4. Work from a clean desk. Direct mail entrepreneur Joe Sugarman once wrote a book explaining his five rules for success. One of his five principles was, “End every day with a clean desk.” He made this rule throughout his organization.
Three steps to organizing your workspace
1. Clear your desk. Begin your process of getting organized by clearing your desk of everything but the one thing that you are working on at the moment.
2. Assemble everything you need. Arrange to have everything you need at hand before you begin any task.
3. Handle each piece of paper only once. Resolve to handle every piece of paper only once. Make a decision to do something with it when you pick it up, and don’t pick it up unless you are ready to act on it.
There are four things you can do with any piece of paper
1. Throw it away. One of the best time management tools at home or office is the wastebasket. The fastest way to save time in reading anything is to simply throw it away and not read it at all. This applies to junk mail, unwanted subscriptions to catalogs, sales circulars, and everything else that is not relevant to your goals.
2. Delegate it to someone else. You can refer or delegate the task to someone else. When you pick up a piece of paper, ask yourself is there is someone else who should be acting on this matter.
3. Take personal action. You can take action on the piece of paper. These are the letters, proposals, and messages that you must personally do something about.
4. File it for future reference. You can file it away. But before you file anything, remember that 80 percent of papers filed are never needed, used, or seen again. Before you decide to put something in your files, ask yourself, “What would happen if I couldn’t find this piece of paper?” What would be the negative consequences of not having this information available?
When you are finished with something, put it away. Complete your transactions. Finish your jobs. Discipline yourself to stay at it until the job is 100 percent complete.
