Organizing Information


Tossing and Turning


"The real question is, why do you want it? What are you going to do with it? That's where you've got to start; otherwise you're going to waste a lot of money."

These are the words of Francis Carincross in her book 'The Company of the Future'. She tries to answer the question many of us have about saving paper.

Regardless of the fact that we have been talking about the 'paperless society' since the early 1970's, the truth of the matter is that there is more paper than ever before. In fact, a Xerox survey tells us we will have 50% more paper in 2005 than we had in 1995. And we don't know where it will go from there.

Letting go of paper
Letting go of paper is harder than it seems. Many companies have tried to go 'paperless' citing increased productivity and lower costs as the gain. However, employees are still ordering filing cabinets. Why? Because most of us have an emotional attachment to the paper. Even work-related papers.

I am talking about fond memories of papers relating to a project or person with whom you were associated. Or those marketing pieces you just can't throw away.

Then there is the concern that if the paper gets tossed, you will subsequently need it. Consider that most of us don't know what is inside our file cabinets to begin with. Is it really bringing you value? Would you lose your job if you didn't have many of those documents?

More than just a feeling
We fear that if it gets tossed we will somehow 'miss it' or 'suffer the consequences'. There are 18,000 pieces of paper in a full four-drawer file cabinet. We only use 20%. Re-read Frances Cairncross' words at the top of this page. If you can answer the questions honestly, you will probably start clearing out your filing cabinet, eliminate waste and clutter, save time and maintain only that which you actually use and need. Have you ever thought about a company-wide records retention policy and annual clean-out day?

It is one thing to organize and maintain a filing system, but the truth is that many of us put papers in files because we can't seem to make a decision about the document's true disposition. Outcome? Paper clutter. Time mismanagement. Money wasted. Frustration.

And don't forget those digital files. The keyword here is?delete.

Copyright 2001. Cynthia Kyriazis. All rights reserved.

Cynthia Kyriazis is an organizing and time management consultant, trainer, speaker, coach and author with over 20 years management experience in multi-unit corporations. Organize it, a division of Productivity Partners, Inc. is an organizational training firm she founded in 1995 and has been serving Fortune 500 clients ever since. Cynthia works with business and their employees to help improve performance and realize productivity gains.

Cynthia has appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Kansas City Star and the Legal Intelligencer. She currently serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), member of the Kansas City of the International Society for Performance Improvement - (ISPI-KC) and consultant to the American Coaching Association.


MORE RESOURCES:

Baltimore Sun (blog)

Contractors propose to organize Grand Prix, pay some debts
Baltimore Sun (blog)
Sharon R. Grinnell, president of sGrinnell Enterprises LLC of Owings Mills, and Gregory K. O'Neill, vice president of BMW Construction Specialists of Curtis Bay, approached city officials early last month about organizing the city's Indycar race.

and more »


Organizing Matters: A Lesson From Outside the Beltway
Huffington Post
When ordinary people get organized they can still do extraordinary things. But the key here is getting organized. The media likes to lift up singular "heroes" who are "making a difference." But political change is not made by individuals on their own.



Organizing committee of Dutch ice skating marathon gathers for first time in ...
Washington Post
AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands' state broadcaster NOS says the organizing committee of the country's traditional Eleven Cities Tour natural ice skating marathon is gathering for the first time in 15 years to consider whether the race can be skated next ...

and more »


digibet.info

Sochi starts recruiting volunteers for 2014 Games
ESPN
AP SOCHI, Russia -- With two years to go before the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sochi organizers have begun recruiting volunteers. The organizing committee said Tuesday it expects to receive more than 200000 applications from people between the ...
Sochi 2014 Launches the VolunTour Advertising CampaignSki Channel

all 14 news articles »


Get Organized: Clean Up iTunes (Part 2)
PC Magazine
The most important thing to understand about this article and others in the Get Organized series is that neither you nor your iTunes collection has to be perfect. If you follow the advice in this article, your iTunes library will be much improved, ...



Organize Your Paper Documents Efficiently
The Ledger
Having an efficient system to file and otherwise organize these documents can save frustration and time. Here are some tips: Prioritize. Think about the pieces of paper you most often need and build your filing system around those items, ...

and more »


The Atlantic Wire

Organizing Occupy, Without Occupations
The Atlantic Wire
As the movement fades from the headlines, these bits of activist shorthand have remained, and Occupy is counting on the shared culture they represent to carry it through to bigger actions this spring, organizers in New York said on Monday.



Organize Your Apps by Action Instead of Category for a More Intuitive Find-and ...
Lifehacker
If you're having trouble remembering where you've filed away an app on your phone's home screen, you may want to consider organizing your apps by action. By default, when you drag one app onto another to create a folder, iOS suggests a folder name ...

and more »


Azim Premji University and Jamia Millia Islamia University to organize Dr ...
India Education Diary
Bangalore: Azim Premji University, Bangalore & Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi will be organizing Dr. Report by Santanu Ganguly; New Delhi: Om Books International, in association with Taj Safaris, announced the launch of On ...

and more »


Get organized at work
San Antonio Express
By Melanie Warner If the piles on your desk are so out of control your co-workers are convinced it's the hiding place of Charlie Sheen's dignity, it might be time to get organized. "One client, once we organized her financial papers, found $40000 that ...


Google News

home | site map
© 2007