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So, how many of you have experienced this: You walk into your office and you say to yourself, "Today is the day!" You are excited and you say, "I am going to get this place organized and I'm not leaving until it is done!"
Then... you pick up the first piece of paper, look at it, say, "Hmm, well... I'll look at that later." and you put it down. You pick up the second piece of paper, look at it, say, "Oh geese!" and you put it down. The next thing you know, everything from the right side of your office has been moved to the left side of your office and you are tired and call it quits.
Paper can be overwhelming, but it does not have to be! I have worked with a number of people who think that they will never be able to get through their piles. Fortunately, it was not as horrible as they thought! They were able to get through their piles by changing the way that they looked at the piles.
Clutter is postponed decisions! So, why do we do that? Well, part of the reason is that when we pick up a piece of paper, we try to make too many decisions at once.
What is this?
And the list goes on. Then we default to "keep it."
Instead, consider asking the following 8 questions:
1.) Does it require any action by me/us? If an item requires action (a phone call to make, a report to write, an outfit that requires altering) then it is an "ACT." Keep everything that requires action in one location, so that when you have time, you will be able to go through and check the items off of the list!
2.) Is it recent enough to be useful? Is the address book that has not been updated in three years really current? Just like food has an expiration date, so do the things in your life. If you are keeping things that are no longer current, you are not allowing yourself the space for new and better things to start.
3.) Is it difficult to obtain again? Birth certificates, legal documentation, marriage licenses, company incorporation papers... the list goes on and on. If there are items that are difficult to find or obtain again, you may want to consider keeping the item in a container designated for that type of item.
4.) Are there tax or legal implications? Have you talked to your council about the information you keep and how long you keep it? If not, you might want to consider doing so. Each industry has different documents that should be retained as does residential paperwork.
I'm glad that you found the questions helpful! One of the biggest challenges with organizing is to decide to decide! Procrastination is just way too easy to do :-) Be on the look out for future articles I'll write on paper management. It is a big challenge for a number of people. So much so, in fact, that over 80% of my business is working with people in their offices and especially on paper. Know that you are not alone and take it a step at a time. I'd love to hear how your progress goes! Drop me a line and share what worked for you and what didn't.