60 Second Organizer by Jeff Davidson

Author:Jeff Davidson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Business
Published: 2011-12-17T16:38:57.903220+00:00

34 Gain Power over Paper

Milt knew that he needed to

1 get organized, but he let years pass without addressing the issue. He would do anything but straighten his files. Then, when he needed to find something, he spent untold hours rummaging around and was never in control. Milt could not be trusted to return anything. This reputation hampered his career and working relationships. It probably restricted his earnings... Need I say more?

If you analyzed your most repetitive task, chances are that handling paper would top the list on most days. In many respects, getting organized is synonymous with paper handling!

Knowing where to find things, such as necessary papers, files, and other documents, is a sign of competence and provides a measure of freedom to concentrate on creative, fulfilling work rather than on the clutter that surrounds you. Unfortunately, career professionals today, like poor Milty, are plagued by more paper than their predecessors of a generation ago, despite the long-standing promise that we'd all be working in "paperless offices."

There's little wonder that it's so easy to become disorganized, in record time, considering the volume of paper everyone handles daily. A Pitney Bowes study indicated that from 2000 to 2004, annual catalog sales grew at 6.7 percent compared with 4.5 percent for total retail sales. Figures from the U.S. Postal Service reveal that last year more than 19.5 billion catalogs were mailed in the United States-that's the equivalent of sixty-four catalogs for every man, woman, and child, including newborns, in America. If you retain all of those catalogs, no wonder you're buried in paper!

Despite the popularity of e-mail, the Direct Marketing Association reports that the growth rate in the total volume of regular, third-class, bulk mail (fondly known as junk mail) continues to increase at a pace faster than growth rate in the population. The typical executive receives at least 175 pieces of unsolicited mail each month. I've calculated that the average person spends a total of eight solid months of his or her life reading junk mail.

Greenpeace, an organization dedicated to protecting the environment, at one point was annually sending out 25 million pieces of direct mail to its huge database of members, supporters, and prospects. So much for being green. Today, they're presumably sending less mail and relying more on door-to-door, grassroots efforts.

Your mission is to whittle down all those pages of catalogs, magazines, and other voluminous materials that come your way so that you deal with only what you need. You can avoid being besieged with paper by reducing the potential for disorganization from the start, such as the moment when:

• You receive the daily mail

• Somebody hands you something

• Something is placed in your inbox

Use your copier as often as possible to retain the few pages you need from a book or other item. Scan key paragraphs and pages directly onto your hard drive, where it will be easily search-able and retrievable via your various word-processing functions. This is superior to filing something, then seeking to find it on your own.

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