By Monica Ricci
Lights, Camera, ACTION FILES! Your desk is the most important part of your office. It is a work space, however many people make the mistake of using the desk as a storage space! In order for you to be focused on the task at hand, the desk should be clear and free of distractions, such as piles of paper, books, notes, bills, etc. How can you manage these items without losing them, find the information you need to work on, and still have a clear work space?
Action files! Action files are merely temporary homes where papers live until they either end up filed away permanently or thrown away. Your action files may sit on the far corner of your desktop, they might be in your file drawer, or in baskets on the credenza. Whichever method works for you is fine. Label them according to what actions fit best with your industry. (ex: CALL BACK, TO FILE, TO READ, TO MAIL, TO PAY, etc) Clearly label your files so you will always know what is in them, and just as importantly, the labels will remind you what not to put in them.
An important add-on to your action files is a HOLDING file. This will be a key player in the organization of your office space, as it will hold all the information that requires an action some time in the future, rather than immediately. For example, if you get an invitation and map to a seminar you?d like to attend in a few months, how do you keep that information without losing it or forgetting about the event entirely? This is precisely where the ?Holding file? comes into play.
You simply mark in your calendar the date you wish to take action and what the action will be (ex: September 5, Marketing Seminar at the Hilton) then you make an ?H? next to what you?ve written, which is a visual indicator that the information pertaining to this event is living in your Holding file. The key to using your Holding file effectively is that you must use it in conjunction with your calendar. It?s a dual system: the note in the calendar reminds you of the action you need to take, and the ?H? next to the note reminds you of where the details of the information are being stored. Once the action is taken, remove the physical information from the Holding file and either file it or throw it away.
Some examples of what to keep in a Holding file:
·Airline tickets and itineraries In short, your Holding file is a temporary home for anything with an action deadline either in the near or distant future. The system gives you a way to safely put things out of your mind until it?s necessary to think of them again, thereby freeing your mind up to focus on your immediate priorities.
Monica Ricci has been an organizing specialist since 1999, and her motivational presentations teach effective organizing and simplifying techniques for home and work. She also offers free email tips and ideas on how to make life simpler and more organized. Her topics include clutter control, paper management, time management, organizing space and procrastination.Contact Monica at 770-569-2642 or Monica@CatalystOrganizing.com.
Organizing Your Office By Task
·Event or seminar invitations
·Directions to events
·Letters to follow-up on
·Auto tag registration
By Anonymous
Tempe, AZ March 16, 2004 -- Evolved Systems, Inc. (dba Supply and Service), provider of facility operations technology, announced today that C.H. Stone Plumbing of Los Angeles, CA has begun realizing the benefits of an online service desk.
C. H. Stone Plumbing Co., Inc. provides services to the industrial, commercial, institutional, manufacturing, medical and defense industry. The plumbing company has stood above the competition by provide exceptional customer service. C.H. Stone Plumbing has further extended their client support through softWrench™, their website and online service desk. Through C.H. Stone’s new website their key clients will have the ability to request, update and check progress on work requests through the internet providing yet another way for C.H. Stones clients to request work anywhere they have access to the internet.
“Supply and Service has exceeded our expectations of providing us with a web based request tool. They have also taken the IT management of these products off of our hands and made the implementation process quick and seamless. They understand our processes and needs and have definitely met our expectations,” said Timothy Brink, President of C.H. Stone Plumbing.
Three of C.H. Stone’s primary clients will start using softWrench at the end of March 2004. All requests whether called in or written down by a technician in the field will be entered into softWrench creating one place for all service request information. C.H. Stone will also be able to tie work through softWrench into their accounting application making billing more accurate and timely.
‘Our applications have helped our clients streamline their processes that saves them time, provides them with better reporting and reinforces or established best practices”, said Ted Ritter President of Supply and Service. ‘C.H. Stone will see return on investment quickly because of their dedication to the applications and the process.’
About Supply and Service
Since 1997, Supply and Service offers facility operations technology solutions benefiting building owners, property managers and service contractors. The company provides application hosting and long term support solutions for Maximo and softWrench™, the facility portal, which integrates work order management, move management, conference room scheduling, mobile suite, floor plans, and lease administration. Customers realize benefits in weeks rather than months and can quickly make sound decisions based on comprehensive reporting, trending, and cost savings. More information on Supply and Service can be found at www.supplyandservice.com.
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By BZ Riger-Hull
1. Hold the intention that the only three things aloud on your writing desk is a lamp, a small vase for flowers, and a photograph or two. That's it! When you get up from your desk put everything else away except those three things.
2. Sort your mail as soon as it comes in, then recycle, throw out, file, or respond. No piles and no promise to go through it later.
3. Spend ten minutes a day walking through your house with a large shopping bag. Grab at least three things from each room in the house that you can throw away.
4. Have a special reading box or basket- Sort through magazines or articles you want to read and tear out the articles you are interested in and recycle the rest of the magazine.
5. Make sure you sort your email so you never have more than 3-5 things in your in box at any one time.
6. Set up project files in Word to keep track of important things you are working on. Designate a separate file for each project or focus. You won't have to hunt for your information when you need it.
7. Shred unwanted office paper and use it for garden mulch, cat litter, or starting a nice crackling fire in the fireplace.
8. Learn to say NO. Or at least get in the habit of asking for a day to think the request over. This will clear out clutter from your schedule.
9. Make a rule that everything has a drawer, cabinet, basket, bin, or shelf it belongs on put nothing on the flat surfaces in your house.
10. Write down all of those things that are running around your brain nagging you. Sort them into three categories.
1. Things that will help me accomplish my goals that are Really important to me.
2. Things I think are urgent or burning.
3. Things I should do. Be honest and ruthless when you sort this list.
Stop doing everything that falls under # 3. Everything that falls under # 2 Delegate these to someone else or eliminate them all together. The # 1 items are the only things you want to spend your time working on.
BZ Riger-Hull is the Success Coach. She helps Business Professionals and Entrepreneurs create Success, Balance, and Wealth on their Own Terms. Read Excerpts from her book The Soul of Success, get tips and practical strategies for success from the Inspirit Newsletter subscribe, go to
http://www.in-spiros.com