Tips On Organizing Your Paperwork
Professional Organizer Regina Leeds, author of “One Year To An Organized Work Life” shares her five best tips on organizing your paperwork.
Tip # 1: Take a deep breath and remember that 'the whole of anything' is overwhelming. You need to break any project down into manageable chunks. So it isn't all the papers on your desk that are calling to you, it's just one stack. And within that world, you are simply going one paper at a time. Soon you are making progress and you are empowered by the shift in the visual. You are also gaining organizing experience. Self esteem rises. There is power in taking that first step!
Tip # 2: Try a speed elimination if your entire space is a disaster. Eliminate as much as you can. This means tossing items in the trash, setting aside items to be shredded, returning things to others, creating archive boxes and perhaps selecting items to go home with you or be walked to the central supply area for your company. Elimination is a creative step in the process. Embrace it.
Tip # 3: As you eliminate, you naturally make decisions about what items are to stay. Group related items together. In the physical space you will have automatic 'inventory control.' (Do you really need all those pens and staples?) With your papers, you will be gathering the items that belong to specific projects. This is very powerful and will boost your creativity.
Tip #4: Once you have your categories you can start organizing. You might need to call in a professional organizer or buy a book like mine or perhaps tap the expertise of a loving, organized friend or co-worker. Your completed projects need to be beautiful to look at, completely functional and easy to maintain based on how you think and relate to space. For products, I love the Container Store. They carry good quality items and they keep them in stock over time.
Tip #5: Eliminate, categorize and organize are the steps I call 'The Magic Formula' because you can use them to bring order to any project from a clothes closet to a file system, from packing for a trip to organizing your next meeting at work.
At the end of the day, we have to face reality: whatever systems (organizing is about systems not tidying up) you create must be maintained. This is a part of life. What happens after a diet and exercise program? You have to maintain what you created. It's the same with organizing.
Remember this: you won't be exerting extra effort; you will be redirecting the same energy you have been using...and saving it in the long run. How? Here's a great example: you walk in the door and your keys land wherever they can. There's no rhyme or reason. When you need to leave, nine times out of ten a drama ensues. I like to say that THE most popular soap opera in America is not General Hospital but Where Are my Keys?! Once you are organized, the minute you enter your home or office, your keys have one spot in which to land. It's the same energy to fling them as it is to place them. And you avoid a drama thus saving time as well as physical and emotional energy. Pretty neat, huh? (Pun intended!)
About the Author: Regina Leeds, known as the Zen Organizer, is the founder of Get Organized! by Regina. She is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller One Year to an Organized Life and The Zen of Organizing. She lives outside of Los Angeles. www.organizewithregina.com
To order One Year To An Organized Work Life click here.
