Home Office - How to Improve Productivity by Organizing Your Home
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Is your home office space affecting your productivity? Do you hunt for pens and pencils continuously? Is your document search an exercise in frustration? Are your papers a chronological stack of filing that is impossible to successfully navigate? Do you have an irrational fear of a paper flood catastrophe if you look for something at the bottom of the pile?
Every home office deals with excess paper and whether you are running a small or large business, it is still something to contend with, and one that gets worth when there is no organization.
So, what do you do to wrestle the clutter-beast into submission?
Space - The Essential Ingredient
One of the largest challenges of staying organized is the ability to set up a system where you have room to grow. Space is essential.
If you organize a drawer, take everything out and replace it in the drawer but still have no space to put anything else in that drawer, you have pretty much wasted your time. The un-filed pile of papers remains and will simply grow again.
Be certain to have at least a quarter to a third (more if possible) of growing room when implementing a system. You may need to change over at some point, but having some extra space will encourage you to keep up with the organizing.
This system includes everything from architectural drawings to products and documents you accumulate in the course of doing business.
Adding home office desks and storage organization items will go a long way towards making your organization implementation successful. Set aside time to get rid documents that are no longer relevant. This will allow for more space. Invest in a scanner and make PDF files out of things that can be stored electronically.
Keep It Simple
Do not make your system too complicated or it will be hard to follow through. Color-coding can be the easiest if you do not have too many categories. This is effective for systems, which only require ‘Income’, ‘Expense’, ‘Projects’, ‘Correspondence’, or something similar.
When filing large groups of projects, clients, or invoices, try utilizing a single draw for each group of like files. Get a tall filing cabinet that can be divided into either chronological or alphabetical systems.
For things that you use very frequently, consider getting a cork, posting or white board that you can place near your desk. This works for phone number lists, client projects and outlines, ‘To-Do’ lists and appointment calendars.
Maintaining Order
A filing system is only as good as the upkeep. You may find it easier to have a small system of files located on or near your desk and daily or weekly transfer the items into their permanent home.
The system will also work for stuff that you need off and on as the project you are working on progresses. Things like price lists, if you’re dealing with products, lists and articles that you need to add to a website, rewrites and the like. If you need to refer to it continuously, then you want it close.
Style of Filing
Consider if you can realistically maintain a filing system. Perhaps labeled boxes would suit you better (especially if you tend to pile papers). The key is to find something you will feel comfortable maintaining. If papers are sorted and occasionally purged, your system will work.
All Things Need a Place
Every piece of paper, each pen or pencil, the stapler and staple removers, post-it notes and the like need a place to sit. When you use them, replace them. Do not allow clutter to pile up around you or your business efforts and productivity will slow. You want to recognize ways to keep yourself as organized as possible in order for your business pursuits to go smoothly. Be sure and give yourself a little reward for keeping your system going, too!
March 31st, 2008 - Posted in Blogging | |
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on April 1st, 2008 at 6:46 am
[...] a circle, …http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/03/31/home-garden/doc47f112b194c92400774012.txtHome Office - How to Improve Productivity by Organizing Your Homeby KC Kudra Is your home office space affecting your productivity? Do you hunt for pens and pencils [...]