matterlogic blog

Jim thought he was organized. Everything was color coded, and there was a file for every project he work working on - each with sub files, research files - all neatly stored in state-of-the-art filing cabinets. So why can’t Jim find anything?

One of the biggest frustration of being called “an organizing consultant” is that people assume you are always orderly (some would call it a “neatfreak!) Creative people often assume that “being organized” would cramp their style. Nothing could be further from the truth - at least in my case! Let me illustrate.

Recently I came home from a shopping trip with several bags of groceries which I dumped on the counter. In the midst of unpacking them I decided to bake the cake I was planning for dinner. In the middle of mixing the cake, I realized there was more fresh coconut than I needed for the cake, so I decided to make a pineapple coconut salad. While looking for the recipe, I found several other recipes I hadn’t used recently, so decided to leave those out so I could make a list of ingredients I needed to buy. Within an hour, the kitchen looked like a tornado had passed - and not the “white tornado” variety!

The rest of the story: The phone rang with news that a friend wanted to bring his daughter over to see our house to get ideas for the house she was building! In less than ten minutes, everything was put away - and not stuffed in a closet out of sight.

The Productivity Principle: “A place for everything” makes “everything in its place” a reality - not all the time, but at just the right time!

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: work decided cake everything files

After you’ve completed the inventory of existing files, the next step is to establish user-friendly retention guidelines. Often, offices are glutted with paper and computer files because people using them aren’t given guidelines about what to keep and what to eliminate. Ironically, some organizations do have such guidelines, but they’re not communicated to the people who really need them, or not provided in a user-friendly form. One company I worked with had a guidebook that was nearly a hundred pages long, but poorly organized, and contained information most people didn’t need.

As a general rule, retention guidelines are most useful when organized by department, but it’s helpful to know what other departments keep. For example, in one company I discovered three departments (on the same floor) keeping information about potential meeting sites. This is unnecessary duplication and takes far too much space. In addition to keeping it in three places, they kept the information for several years when in fact, it wouldn’t be wise to make a decision about a meeting space based on old information.

Talk with staff members People who use files regularly are the best source of information when you’re developing retention guidelines. Use the records inventory form discussed previously as a starting point for discussion, and determine how long people actually use the information that is kept. In many cases, employees may not know-which is exactly the reason for going through this process.

Talk with your advisors To further develop your retention guidelines, collect all the information you can from your accountant and general counsel about what information is legally necessary in your company (and see the accompanying box for suggestions). In some cases, your organization may belong to an industry-related association, which might be able to provide additional guidelines. The “Originator’s Rule:” The Universal Retention Guideline It’s essential to keep some information, but unnecessary and undesirable to keep duplicate information. One way to avoid this is to be sure everyone in your office understands and implements, wherever applicable, the “Originator’s Rule: Whoever originates a piece of paper is responsible for its retention!”

Document your record-keeping plan. Once you’ve collected all the available information about records retention from internal and external sources, it’s time to put the information in some sort of user-friendly form for each department by adding the information to your File Index. If your company becomes involved in litigation or an audit, you’ll be in a much better position to protect yourself if you produce evidence of your records-retention program. Having a formal records retention program creates consistency and indicates an honest attempt to retain important information. For example, if you’re audited and you have only some records, you look sloppy at best. At worst, you give the impression that you’re trying to hide something. It’s a good idea to set up and maintain a computer database of the company’s records, including the location of all records and how long they must be kept. This will give you the flexibility to sort the information into various types of lists as needed.

Simplify Paper Management The best way to simplify paper management is (naturally) to not create excess paperwork in the first place. A good resource to assist you in looking at these issues is Cutting Paperwork in the Corporate Culture by Dianna Booher ($16.95 Facts on File; 800–342-6621).

Here are some guidelines:

- Annual financial statements: Retain indefinitely.

- Monthly financial statements used for internal purposes: Retain for three years.

- Bank reconciliation’s, voided checks, check stubs and check register tapes: Retain for six years.

- Books of account, such as the general ledger and general journal: Retain indefinitely, unless posted regularly to the general ledger. (”Ledgers” refer to the actual books or the magnetic tapes, disks, or other media upon which the ledgers and journals are stored.)

- Subsidiary ledgers: Retain for three years.

- Canceled, payroll and dividend checks: Retain for six years.

- Corporate documents, including certificate of incorporation, corporate charter, constitution and bylaws, deeds and easements, stock, stock transfer and stockholder records, minutes of board of directors’ meeting, retirement and pension records, labor contracts, licenses, patents, trademarks and registration applications: Retain indefinitely.

- Documents substantiating fixed-asset additions, such as the amounts and dates of additions or improvements, detail related to retirements, depreciation policies, and salvage values assigned to assets: Retain indefinitely.

- Income tax, revenue agents’ report, protests, court briefs and appeals: Retain indefinitely.

- Income tax payment checks: Retain indefinitely.

- Personnel and payroll records, such as payments and reports to taxing authorities, including federal income tax withholding, FICA contributions, unemployment taxes and workers’ compensation insurance: Retain for four years.

- Purchase records, including purchase orders, payment vouchers authorizing payment to vendors and vendor invoices: Retain for six years.

- Sales records such as invoices, monthly statements, remittance advisories, shipping papers, bills of lading and customers’ purchase orders: Retain for six years.

- Travel and entertainment records, including account books, diaries and expense statements: Retain for six years.

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: retain information records years. retention

If your choice affects other people, there is a third question you should ask, “Does it work for others?” Through the years people have often made comments such as “My office is a mess, but I can find anything in it!” That may be - but what happens if they can’t come to work? I tell my clients, “If you are working for someone else, that information does not belong to you, it belongs to the client, and your professional responsibility is to organize it so that someone else could find it if you were not there and they needed it.”

If you work for yourself, you may think it doesn’t matter. A highly successful business owner discovered it could make a tremendous difference. While jogging down the road he was hit by a drunk driver. Left for dead, he spent months regaining his ability to work. To keep his company in business, he had to accomplish the same results in half the time.

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: work people someone else information

Imagine arriving at your home or business only to find it burned to the ground. For too many people, that scenario is a frightening reality. To just about any home or business owner, a fire is the most detrimental of all disasters. Charred remains of furniture, equipment and personal belongings stand as reminders of what used to be. Even worse, many items may be burned beyond recognition.

While losing everything you own seems like a bleak forecast, all is not always lost. In fact, getting through the fire’s aftermath depends on how organized you are before disaster strikes.

Chances are you have insurance for anything of value. You also have all sorts of paperwork that can help you get your life back in order, such as financial records, business records, and personal documents. As long as you take the foresight to protect these vital items, you can rebuild your home or business in no time.

Well-protected businesses and smart homeowners utilize one of the most indispensable storage tools ever developed: a fireproof file cabinet. In fact, most experts recommend that at least ten percent of your filing equipment be fireproof in nature.

Fireproof file cabinets are available from any office products dealer or catalog. They cost more than a standard metal file cabinet, but the investment is worth the price. You’ll enjoy peace of mind knowing that should a disaster ever strike, your important papers will be protected and your business and/or personal life will quickly continue as normal.

However, simply having the correct file container is just the first step. In order to be fully protected, you need to make sure you have the correct items filed in it. For each person and business the list of documents to store in a fireproof cabinet will be different, but here are some suggestions to get you started.

1. Collect your important personal and business papers and information related to financial transactions. Clear off those desks, table tops and credenzas, toss the papers you no longer need and keep only what’s vital. Most people will want to keep a record of contracts, insurance policies, payables, receivables, deeds, titles, licenses, tax records, bank account numbers, birth certificates, identification records, doctors, credit card statements, divorce decrees, investment records, marriage certificates, mortgage or other loan information, social security cards, trusts and wills. There are many other items you may wish to keep–decide what is important to you. Create a list of your filing system’s contents so you can easily see what is available or what you still need to acquire.

2. Take an accurate home and business inventory. Rather than simply listing your items, break it down by room or office. This is a great cross-reference tool in case only one room of items gets damaged. Next to each item indicate its value and approximate date of purchase. Also indicate whether or not you have warranty or insurance information for the item on file.

3. Create copies of everything. Some copies may need to be certified, so allow ample time to get the duplicate copies you need. Put the important original documents in plastic covers to protect them. This will keep them clean and damage-free while preventing you from accidentally giving away an original. Store one set of copies in the same location as the originals and another set of copies in a location separate from your main filing system (such as a safe deposit box). Most important, notify the appropriate people where this important information will be located in case you are not available when it is needed.

4. Continually add relevant information to your filing system. As you go through your day, be aware of the kinds of information you should add. Identify a method, such as an index card in your pocket or mini tape recorder in your car, to make notes of new items as they pop into your mind.

Fire is one of nature’s most destructive elements. But today’s fireproof cabinets along with your careful planning can keep your home or business protected, even if it is burned to the ground. Reconstruction won’t be easy, but it will be possible when you use the correct tools.

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: business items information home most

Whether you are working at home or in the office, your desk is a major key to reducing stress and improving productivity. Make sure that it is not only a place you can function efficiently, but just as important, a place you like to be! A functional desk that is ugly can be as much of a deterrent to productivity as a beautiful desk that is not functional. I have spent nearly twenty years with people at their desks. One thing has become vehemently clear. Your desk can be your greatest enemy or your best friend. Take a good look at your desk. How does it make you feel? Are you comfortable there? Can you do what you need to do there easily? How does it look to other people? Does it reflect the message you want to give to the world about your work and your values? Analyze the kinds of activities you need or want to do at your desk. If you use a computer, an L-shape desk is usually the best option. Use the short end of the “L” for your computer, and the long end for desk accessories, your telephone, and spreading out papers while you are working.

One of the major detractors to an effective and attractive desk are those pesky scraps of paper, which seem to proliferate in your absence - and sometimes in your presence! Post-it Software Notes solves that problem. You can jot down reminders, organize them in memo boards, and set and alarm to remind you of your intentions. You can even embed them in your documents. In my experience, an important component of any desk is space for files. I prefer two file drawers in my desk - one for current projects, and another for reference materials I use frequently. If you are an “out of sight, out of mind” person, you may prefer a file holder that sits on top of your desk. You can use Post-it Flags with colored bars for easy-to-use color-coded labels. Do you get lots of phone calls? If so, it is important to develop a systematic way to record all those messages. In our office, we leave an open 6″ x 9″ spiral-bound notebook by the telephone to jot them down. The top of each page is dated, and we put the initials of the person responsible for responding to the call in the left-hand column. When the action is completed, the initials are crossed out. Any pending issues are flagged with a Post-it Flag - a different color for each person. The flag dispensers are attached to the side of the telephone. Do you spend lots of time talking on the telephone? If so, what do you need? Is your source of phone numbers - electronic or paper — easily accessible? Do have a consistent way to take notes while you are talking? To make filing your telephone notes easier, keep Post-it 4″ x 6″ pads nearby. Avoid putting notes from several conversations on the same piece of paper. The greatest desk in the world will be sabotaged without a comfortable adjustable chair and good lighting. An inspirational piece of art in your natural line of vision can be a real stress reducer too! Most people want to be able to move around in their work area, so a swivel chair on rollers is a big advantage. If there is carpeting, you will need a chair mat so the chair will roll easily. Most desks I see are too cluttered - paper that could be filed away if you were confident you could find it when you needed it (we’ll talk more about that in future columns!), office supplies you never use, and memorabilia that has been there so long you don’t even see it!

Essential desktop supplies for most people include an “In Box” for mail you haven’t looked at yet (not a place to put postponed decisions!); an “Out Box” for the things that need to go outside your office, and a “To File Box” for the papers that need to be filed outside the reach of your desk. Caution: Eliminate any container not designated for a specific purpose or it will soon become a catchall for unidentified objects! (I use one-inch Post- it Correction Tape to label the containers.) 3M Desktop Organizers come in several varieties, and make a great place for your favorite pens and pencils, a pair of scissors, and one of my favorite desktop tools - a letter opener. I always appreciate easily accessible business cards on the desk of someone I visit. A Post-it Pop Up Notes dispenser provides a convenient way to jot quick notes to colleagues, to identify where I want a piece of paper filed, or as a self-reminder of an action I want to take. My definition of “organized” is very simple: 1) Does it work and 2) Do you like it? If you answer “No” to either of those questions when it comes to your desk, decide now what you can do about it!

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: desk paper notes work post-it

Have you ever sat down at the kitchen table with the day’s mail and started sorting it into piles?
- bills (you always recognize those first!),

- “to read” pile (that’s always the tallest),

- stuff to go in the wastebasket (but that’s on the other side of the room),

- papers to discuss with your significant other (who isn’t there at the moment), and finally

- “I don’t even know how I got this” pile (but you really want to read it!)

Then the phone rings — or the kids come in — or it’s time to go to a meeting. By this time, you can’t remember which pile is which, and you don’t have time to think about it - so you scoop it up into a bigger pile and put it in the bay window. This goes on all week - in a different place each time! Saturday night you have company coming - and you certainly don’t want your friends and colleagues to think you’re disorganized, so you stuff everything in a drawer…or under the bed.

If you can identify with this scenario, you’re not alone. Research shows the average person spends 150 hours per year looking for misplaced information! Certainly nothing creates a crisis in a household faster than when your 15-year-old needs a copy of his birth certificate to get into driver’s Ed class - or the IRS wants proof of that $200 deduction you took on your taxes three years ago -and you can’t find it.

Are you looking for a way to stop this endless cycle of clutter and crisis - and be able to find what you want (and better yet, let other members of the family find what they need themselves!)? Here are some principles to help you “attack the stacks!”

Today’s mail is tomorrow’s pile. Don’t worry about the piles from yesterday - they’ll take care of themselves in time. Your road to success starts by establishing a “paper management center” in your house - a place to put new papers where you will go regularly to manage your mail. Caution: Make sure it is a place you like to be! If you pay bills and make phone calls while you’re cooking or watching the kids, a corner in the kitchen may be best - but if you only work in solitude, creating a cozy office in a corner somewhere may be more effective. Eliminate everything from your paper management center except what you know you will use.

Clutter is postponed decisions?. The key to your new system is to decide now! As you take papers out of your “In Basket”, remember The FAT System?. There are only three decisions you can make: File, Act, or Toss. In other words, if you want to eliminate the “fat” from your desk and your like, think “FAT”!

Instead of taking papers out of your “In Basket” and putting them back again without making a decision, ask yourself, “What’s the worst possible thing that would happen if I didn’t have this piece of paper?” If you can live with your answer, toss the paper!

Practice The Art of Wastebasketry? Determine whether you want to keep each piece of paper at all by asking yourself these Art of Wastebasketry? questions: 1. Does this require any action on my part? 2. Does this exist elsewhere? 3. Is this information recent enough to be useful? 4. Can I identify specific circumstances when I’d use this information? 5. Are there any tax or legal implications? If you answer “No” to all the above questions, but are still not comfortable throwing something away, ask one last question: 6. What is the worst possible thing that could happen if I did not have this information? If you can live with your answer, toss - or recycle it - and live happily ever after!

Half of any job is using the right tool. A major factor in your success at attacking your stacks will be using the right tool. Here are some essentials:

1. A wastebasket/recycle bin - or shredder, if you’re concerned about confidentiality.

2. An “In Basket” to hold mail and other papers you haven’t look at yet.

3. An “Out Basket” for papers you need to take someplace else.

4. A “To File Basket” for papers you need to put in your reference filing cabinet at a later time.

5. A calendar for scheduling your time and tracking other family member’s schedules.

6. A Rolodex (or computer program such as Outlook) for managing names and contact info.

7. A small plastic file box (without a lid!) designed to hold a dozen or so hanging files for papers requiring your action.

8. A filing cabinet for reference files, which can be located outside your paper management center.

Create a “Finding System” Does just the idea of filing give you knots in your stomach? Not surprising - most filing systems don’t work! Why? Because the same information can be filed under “Car”, “Auto” “Vehicle” or “Chrysler” - and it’s highly unlikely that any two family members would agree on what to name a file, much less be able to remember it when they want to find it later.

The solution to this age-old problem: A File Index - a list of the names of your files. You can create a File Index as a word processing document - or you can use Taming the Paper Tiger software ( www.thepapertiger.com) to generate an alphabetical list of your files automatically. (The system is so simple, your kids can help you file!)

From Ideas to Action But what about those papers that do require your action? Bills to pay, phone calls to make, things to discuss with another family member. Some projects may require a folder of their own, such as “PTA Fundraiser” or “New York Trip.”

Often we shuffle papers from one side of the desk to the other because there are so many things that need to be done. To solve this problem, create an Action File System for recurring activities. To identify what Action Files you need, ask the question, “What is the next action I need to take?” Never mind that there are several things you need to do! Just file the papers according to the next action. Typical answers include:

- Call

- Calls Expected

- Data Entry

- Discuss with …

- Errands

- On-Line

- Pay

- Photocopy

- Write

Put these Action Files in a desktop file holder, along with the current projects you are working on, so you will have a visual reminder. This system encourages effective time management - when you are making one phone call, you can often squeeze in another one - since all the papers requiring phone calls are in one place. Afraid you’ll forget to look in the file? Make a note in your calendar on the day you need to take the action.

Does this system guarantee that your kitchen table with never be piled with papers? Hardly! But you will be able to clean up the clutter quickly, and know exactly where to put it. Your ability to accomplish anything is directly related to your ability to find the right information at the right time. Happy paper taming!

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: papers file paper information action

In 20 years as a professional organizer, I’ve never met anyone who could successfully manage his or her personal and professional lives without relying on a calendar system. Don’t fall into the trap of using the freebie given to you by a client or a vendor (even if it was expensive!) — choosing your calendar is a personal decision.

Here are some questions you can answer to help you decide:

1) Do you need to combine your business and personal life on one calendar? More people are finding that their business and personal lives are blended, so having a master calendar for life is essential. If you are not sure, try this exercise. For one week, make a mark in your business calendar every time you wished you had your personal calendar. Add up the marks at the end of the week, and it will be easy to decide.

2) Do you prefer “bytes or atoms?” Computer programs and handheld devices provide an amazing flexibility in calendar options. Nonetheless, some people still prefer the feel of the paper in their hand. One client I know selects her calendar based on the way it looks, knowing that she won’t like to use it if it’s ugly! Another client was never successful managing a paper calendar, but thrives on his Palm Pilot.

3) How many calendars do you need? Some companies require employees to use an electronic calendar to simplify meeting scheduling, but individuals prefer not to share everything. Or, you could use a wall calendar at the office to communicate your travel schedule to your staff - and another at home for your family. To avoid a crisis, identify what information goes on what calendar.

4) How much writing space do you need? Keep in mind you can eliminate a surprising amount of clutter by extrapolating the information you need from a piece of paper and entering it on your calendar on the date you need the information. Then throw out the piece of paper!

5) What size calendar is best for you? Both electronic calendars and paper calendars come in a variety of sizes. Do you always carry a briefcase, or do you need a calendar to fit in your pocket? If you like a small calendar, but need extra writing space, create additional space with Post-it Notes? that you can toss when they are no longer relevant.

Choose your calendar carefully. If you’re not sure what calendar is best for you, ask your friends colleagues what they use and why. When you do find one you love, treat it with care. In mine, you will see a note in the front, “If found, please return for reward.”

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: calendar paper personal space client

One of the best administrative professionals, and most productive people I know, is my mother. She is 78 years old and still works full-time as the personal assistant to the CEO of a bank! (I come from great genes - it makes me very optimistic about my long-term future!) One of her secrets to productivity is what is often called “a tickler file.” Many people used to employ such a system, but like a lot of good things, people stopped using it, even though it was so simple. Basically the tickler file is a reminder system based on the days of the month, and months of the year, and simply consists of a set of file folders, “1-31″ and “January - December”.

Under the heading of “everything old is new again” - it is time to bring that old system back - only it’s bigger and better than ever before. Now called “The GO System: Get Organized for Life”, it is a new 2-hour seminar being offered by many of the PTACs (Productivity Trainer and Authorized Consultants) around the country - and let me tell you why I’m so excited about it!

Surveys show that people’s stress levels are at an all-time high - and a major source of that stress is “information overload.” In fact, we know that there are six major issues that cause people to be disorganized. If you’re reading this newsletter, chances are you can relate!

Information comes to us in 5 ways:

1. Paper

2. Electronic

3. Voice mail

4. Verbal messages

5. Thoughts in your head

Think of a 5-lane highway. You are speeding down the highway and suddenly you see orange barrels, and you know you’re in for trouble! That’s exactly what happens when you sit down at your desk and are overwhelmed with where to begin. Do you start with the e-mail? Most people do, but should you? Or if you start with the verbal message you got on your way to the office, the highest priority could be in the “In Box” you haven’t looked at in days - or it could be the idea you had in the shower that morning! How do you figure out what is most important - now?

There are only 5 possibilities of what to do with information:

1. Discard

2. Delegate

3. Do it now

4. File it for reference

5. File it for action

Let’s look at each one:

Discard I’ve spent lots of time promoting the power of The Art of Wastebasketry!” Don’t overlook the productive power of asking “What’s the worst possible thing that would happen if I didn’t have this or didn’t do this?”

Delegate One question you should ask yourself in this area: “If you are not delegating some of your work, why not?” The most productive people in the world are those who spend 80% of their time doing what ONLY they can do, and surrounding themselves with people whose talents are complimentary to theirs.

Do it now Here’s a good question to ask about this one: “Is this the BEST use of my time right now?”

File for reference These are things you want or need to keep for future reference. Fortunately, you don’t have any stress there, because with The Paper Tiger software you can find anything you file in 5 seconds or less!

File for follow-up These are things you want to or need to do. In the Paper Tiger software system, we call these “Action Files”. In other words, the ball is in your court to take action. That’s where the GO System comes in.

Let us go back to that 5-lane highway. When the 5 lanes begin to merge into one, you probably feel stress, but when you finally merge into that one lane, you are on your way to your destination with ease. That brings me to the missing piece in personal productivity - a system for merging those 5 lanes of information into one. In my book, Taming the Paper Tiger at Work ( www.ProductiveEnvironment.com), I address how to manage paper, electronic documents, voice mail, and “to do” lists. These are great tips and now I am sharing information on how to take those principles a step further: to integrate them into one system, using an “old but new” tool: The Go System.

Here is the magic! Regardless of the form which the information takes - paper, electronic, voice mail, a verbal message, or an idea in your head - your reaction is “I have to DO this.” If you are serious about increasing your productivity and prioritizing your work, the question you have to answer is “When?” As scary as it sometimes, you have to decide. (Remember, “Clutter is postponed decisions”) When you make that decision, you put the reminder to do it in your tickler system. NOW you have a tool that enables you to prioritize your work - and to measure whether the interruption of the moment is more important than what you said you were going to do today.

When people, especially highly organized administrative professionals, hear about this system, their first reaction is often fear. It’s the same reaction people experience when they first encounter the Paper Tiger numerical filing system - that would never work for me - but I don’t know anyone who goes back to the alphabetical system after giving The Paper Tiger a serious try!

Remember how I told you in the beginning of this newsletter that there are six major reasons that cause you to be disorganized? The GO System: Get Organized for Life seminar gives you tips on how to handle each issue. It is going to be offered in cities all over the country in the upcoming months - it’s a perfect productivity partner to The Paper Tiger software! If you’d like to know if GO is coming to your city, send an e-mail to [mailto:GOSystem@ProductiveEnvironment.com]GOSystem@ProductiveEnvironment.com, and we will keep you informed of upcoming events!

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: paper people system tiger file

Are Post-it? notes, business cards, and message slips littered across your desk, stuffed in pockets, and jammed into drawers? Do you have a dog-eared Rolodex? Are your competitors listing your missed opportunities? Do you frequently promise yourself “Someday I’m going to organize this mess!” - but the day never comes?

Would you like to turn your clutter into relationships that lead to money in your bank account? If so, read on!

As a child growing up on a farm in Nebraska, my father taught me “Half of any job is having the right tool.” An essential tool for any real estate agent is a system for tracking people. Your contacts, whether they are potential buyers, or business service people who can quickly solve an emergency prior to closing, are the heart of your business. The care you give them can mean the difference between mediocre survival and wild success — and a lot fewer headaches!

Tip #1: Today’s mail is tomorrow’s pile. Forget about your past failures. Start over! Choose a contact management system that will work for you, and enter the very next contact you get. Refile names from the old system as you use them. When you’ve exhausted its useful information, throw it away, or just put it in some less accessible space if the mere thought of throwing it away gives you heart palpitations!

Paper vs. Electronic Before the days of computers, the most sophisticated way to manage names and numbers was a Rolodex. Some people still feel more comfortable with a piece of paper than a computer screen, but serious business people are recognizing and appreciating the increased capabilities of an electronic system.

The biggest advantage of a traditional paper Rolodex is that it allows you to file business cards as soon as you receive them, without having to transcribe the information elsewhere. (If you choose this method, use a 3″x5″ size, so you can staple or glue business cards right on the Rolodex card without having to cut it down. In addition, you will have space to write notes about the contact such as where you met, pet’s name, or who gave you the lead.)

The biggest disadvantage is that you have to determine how you can file the lead so that you can find it again. If I file the lead under the last name - what happens I can’t remember the name? Or what if it is a couple - and they have different last names?

The Power of Technology Unlike a paper system, technology allows you to organize data so it can be retrieved in a variety of ways. You can enter whatever kind of information you want-name, title, address, phone, fax, who introduced you, customer history, and so on-and to search, sort and retrieve it by whichever criteria you choose.

Contact manager programs, such as Outlook, Day timer, and ACT! combine database sorting with a calendar and word processing capabilities. You can use your contact manager program to retrieve every contact you have in a specific geographic area. For example, whenever I take a trip, I do a search by geographic area. Some of my most exciting and rewarding experiences were a result of that electronic search. In addition, you can write personalized marketing letters and speedy thank yours — and easily print out envelopes and mailing labels. While you may use such programs only on your desktop computer, you have other powerful options.

If you travel with a laptop, you can use transfer software, such as PC Anywhere, to synchronize the information in your desktop and your laptop. Portable electronic organizers let you take your names and numbers (and frequently your calendar) with you. They range from the size of a watch to a small pocketbook. The simplest model stores a few hundred names, while the most advanced stores thousands of names and has word processing capability that allows you to create documents. With synching capabilities included in many, you can send and receive files to and from your computer, while some even have e-mail and fax capability. Many clients, who were never able to use a calendar or contact system successfully, consider products such as Palm Pilot their saving grace!

My favorite new tool: Card Scan. In a few minutes, it enables me to turn a pile of business cards into valuable, searchable data. No more racking my brain about where I got that pile of business cards in the rubber band on my desk!

A WORD OF CAUTION: A variety of circumstances-some explainable, some not-can cause any technology to fail. A backup system is priceless insurance for your real estate business and your peace of mind.

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: business contact system names paper

In spite of all the talk about the romance of travel, if you’re frequently on the road for business, you know the story is often quite different! If you’re wandering around Europe with a significant other, missing a connection may only mean one less wonderful sightseeing opportunity in the city before you leave. If it happens on business travel, it often means chaos and lost opportunities. Through careful preparation, the loss can be minimized - and if you’re really clever, new opportunities created!

Here are some tips you can use to hit the road with confidence. (If you’re lucky enough to have an assistant, let him/her do some of the organizing for you!)

1. Start planning the trip as soon as possible. As soon as you get wind of an upcoming trip, begin collecting information in a file folder labeled with the date and event. (Don’t overlook that reservations and other info you need is easily and quickly available on the Internet!) Your trip folder can contain:

- airline tickets

- car rental confirmation/coupons

- hotel confirmation

- directions to hotel/appointment

- names of contacts in site city

- map of the local area

2. Set up a section in your filing system for “Upcoming Trips.” File in chronological order according to the date of the next trip so you can quickly check trip status. (A side benefit of this practice is that it will help you organize your desk more effectively!) Make a note in the trip file of other files that might be useful on the road.

3. Create, use, and update a business travel checklist. Keep a running list of everything you could possibly want or have ever used on a trip. Put a copy of the checklist in the front of the trip file. If your assistant does the packing, give it to him or her prior to the trip with the items you need checked. As you work together, your assistant will be able to do much of the packing without your input. (I frequently leave on a business trip without any idea of trip details - confident that the information is in my file, and has already been given to my family and colleagues.)

Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

Technorati tags: trip youre business file travel