Is Your Desk a Candidate for Detox?

Take a moment and look at your desktop. Is it edge-to-edge paperwork? Are your files in piles so high, people looking into your office would mistakenly think you’re not in? Do your co-workers roll their eyes when they hear you say, “I know it’s here someplace.”?
Or worse, are people in the habit of making a copy of the documents they give you, knowing you may not be able to locate your copy when it’s time to act upon it?

With the increasing demands of our work lives, even the most organized person can easily spin out of control, become buried beneath piles of “To Do’s” and filing.

For years I have listened to clients’ exclamations of knowing what’s in every pile. Of being able to put their hands on any document needed. In reality, I have yet to meet the person who can back that claim.

The paper shuffle has become so endemic that a new term has been coined for it, “infonoia.” “Infonoia” is the fear of being caught without an important document at the time it’s needed. It is, in short, paranoia of lack of information.

Especially today, with the reach and depth of computers, most any document can be recreated on the rare occasion that you can’t produce it when needed. More realistically speaking, the only real value of information is measured in your ability to put your hands on it when it’s called for. In other words, stacks and reams of paper are worthless – aka have no value – if you can’t find it.

In an earlier blog, I discussed clutter as being witness to the character of its creator. Piles of paper convey no character. Stacks of information do not validate your intelligence or verify your complex character. Papers do not impress your co-workers or bosses. In fact, 51 of 52 Wall Street CEO’s indicated they would promote the person with the neat desk before the person with the messy desk.

Much has been made of the fact that Europeans vacation more than Americans. I wonder how many of you can imagine taking a six-week vacation. Most of us find it hard to tear ourselves away from our daily routine for more than one week at a time. Well, imagine trading in the time you spend looking for lost documentation for vacation time because the average American spends the equivalent of six weeks annually looking for documents. If that isn’t motivation to eliminate those piles, I give up.

I have to admit papers are my Achilles heel. I save a wide array of paper. And, because I am committed to a six week vacation actually spent on vacation, I have disciplined myself to organize them. My staff no longer roles their eyes as I search frantically for the relevant paperwork. They have stopped making duplicate copies of what they put in my InBox and they have begun to trust again – as I have demonstrated control over the information flow within my office.

So, from the viewpoint of experience, let me offer some tips for organizing your desktop.

DeskTop Detox:

1. Clearly define your priorities for your professional and personal Life. This may require you shed old habits, interests, even people in your Life. (More about that in a future posting.)
2. Determine to only attract and retain papers important to your priorities. . .ONLY.
3. Create Files By Action Needed for the routine items that cross your desktop; Phone Calls, Events, Mail, Research, Reading, HOT Priorities, Projects in Process.
   Create a Log at the front of each file for the contents and action needed.
4. Create a File System for yourself within file drawers (out of sight is not always out of mind!);
• Start with broad topics; i.e. Business development, Marketing, Operations, etc.
• Create more specific topical files within each category: Operations/personnel, Operations/facilities, Business Development/Business Plan, BizDev/Goals, BizDev/Targets, etc
5. Spend the final 15 to 30 minutes each day filing the papers generated by the day’s activities and to sort and prioritize the items in the Action Files; open and sort mail, cross off the items completed,
6. Prioritize the remaining items and select the Top Three items to be completed tomorrow.
7. Leave your desktop clear, exit and turn off the lights.