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How To Organize Your Office and Improve Productivity
Are
you frustrated with your office space? Do you hunt for
a pen every time you put one down? Is the search for
documents a half-day event? Is your paper filed chronologically
- working your way down the pile to 'one week ago' and
unable to pull out 'four months ago' for fear of a paper
flood catastrophe?
Every office deals with an excess of paper and whether
large or small, your business is suffering when you
aren't operating in an organized space.
So,
how do you clear the clutter and gain control?
SPACE
IS ESSENTIAL
The
biggest problem with staying organized in an office
is that people set up a system and don't give themselves
enough room to grow.
If
you have spent the better part of a day cleaning out
a drawer and replacing the items in organized, labeled
files, but you can't squeeze a single extra sheet of
paper you've wasted your time and the unfiled papers
will grow again.
Be
certain to have at least a quarter to a third (more
if possible) of growing room when implementing a system.
You may need to change over at some point, but having
some extra space will encourage you to keep up with
the organizing.
This
also goes for items such as architectural drawings or
other products or documents you may accumulate.
Set
aside time to purge unnecessary documents. Not only
will this provide more space but will save you time
that would otherwise be wasted looking through worthless
paperwork.
SIMPLE
FILING SYSTEM
Do
not make your system too complicated or it will be hard
to follow through. Color coding can be the easiest if
you do not have too many categories. This is effective
for systems which only require 'Income', 'Expense',
'Projects', 'Correspondence' or something similar.
For
filing of large groups of clients, projects or invoices,
use a single drawer for each group of related files.
A tall filing cabinet can even be divided into alphabetical
or chronological systems.
For
items you refer to daily or even hourly you might consider
a posting board near your desk. This is a great idea
for phone number lists, 'To Do' lists and appointment
calendars.
MAINTENANCE
A
filing system is only as good as the upkeep. You may
find it easier to have a small system of files located
on or near your desk and daily or weekly transfer the
items into their permanent home.
This
also works for items which you need close at hand such
as current project information or price lists etc.
STYLE
OF FILING
Consider
if you can realistically maintain a filing system. Perhaps
labeled boxes would suit you better (especially if you
tend to pile papers). The key is to find something you
will feel comfortable maintaining. If papers are sorted
and occasionally purged, your system will work.
EVERYTHING
NEEDS A HOME
Everything
MUST be assigned a home. By giving each item a place
you will not loose pens, cellphones, glasses and so
on. Don't crowd the items or you will get frustrated.
Recognize that all of your efforts will help you run
your business more efficiently, and thus productively.
Reward yourself for keeping the system working!
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