Time Management
Create Files Now, Fill Them Laterby Jeff Davidson
Filing is essential to staying efficient, organized, and in control of your time. This article gives tips to help make your filing system even more beneficial, including starting files in advance of having anything to put in them.
When items begin to mount on your desk, you sort and file them away. By doing this, your spending time making folders, taking away time from your projects. To make filing more efficient, anticipate what you are going to need to file by creating files beforehand. You can start a new file folder, label it, and park it in your file drawer, even without anything in the folder.
Suppose you will eventually be going to go back to graduate school to get a masters degree. One way to accommodate the growing body of literature you'll be assembling is to create a file folder in advance of even having anything to file. When stuff comes in that appears to be worth saving, it will already have a home.
If your ultimate goal is to get a masters degree, and you come across a brilliant article on how to finance your degree, considerably reducing your burden, where are you going to put that article? If you don't already have a file for it, you'll probably park it on top of something else where it will sit for weeks or maybe months. You still won't know what to do with it, but you want to hang onto it because it will have value.
Here are some suggestions for files you can create in advance of having anything to put in them because it makes sense based on where you're heading in life:
* Your child's higher education fund
* Your retirement home
* Your vacation next year to Greece
* Assisting your aging parents
* Evolving technology that interests you
* A new medical operation that might help you
Woody Allen once said that 85% of everything is just showing up. At least 50% of dealing with all the piles you confront is making room for them. Dealing with too many piles and too much data at once is like lifting a rain barrel up with all your might and trying to tip it ever so slightly for a small drink. You're likely to strain yourself in lifting it, and you're unlikely to be able to tip it ever so slightly for the right amount.
If you put a single cup into the rain barrel and get a suitable amount of drinking water, you can quench your thirst. You can also go back for another cup. Creating customized file folders and folders in advance of having anything to put in them works the same way, enabling you to handle a cupful of information at a time.
Extending The Principle
The idea of creating a file in advance of having anything to put in it also works on hard disk. If a new project is about to start, or you're going to be scanning information on a new topic, why not go ahead and create a directory on your hard disk? I do this when I bring on new part-time help.
If Bob is going to start in a few days, the first thing I do is create a directory named "Bob." As the days pass, I move files into Bob's directory, so that when Bob comes on board, I already have assignments for him. As he initiates assignments, other things develop and I move them to his directory.
You can use this same principle whether it's working with someone else, down-loading files from on-line, or simply parking items in progress. I have a directory called "Inprog." I often go to "Inprog" at the start of each day. From there I might move an item to "Bob," or once it's finished, elsewhere on my hard disk -- you get the picture.
Storing Files
Your goal is to keep closest to you the items you use often, and keep items furthest from you that which you seldom use. Much of what you file won't be used frequently.
Nevertheless, because of the nature of your work, tax laws, or other regulations, you may have to hang on to a lot. Whatever you have to hang onto, added to what you want to hang onto can be stored away from your immediate workspace. Your organization probably has systems and procedures for storing--what about you? Suppose you're hanging on to a lot of stuff with which you cannot bear to part?
As always, group like items, put them in a box or storage container, and mark on the box with something descriptive such as "check again next April," or "review after the merger is completed."
If you have the mental strength, before storing a container, quickly plow through it once more and see what can be removed. This will simplify your task, and you'll be thankful later on.
Once the box is out of sight, build a safeguard into your system. Put a note in your "April" file that says to review the contents of the box.
Take advantage of emerging technology. Sometimes, rather than having to store massive amounts of material, you can scan it, and keep it all on disk. Open up the business section of your large metropolitan newspaper and you'll see advertisements of services that do this.
Can anyone else in your organization or family organize such items other than you? If the box consists of remaining items of a deceased relative, perhaps the best solution is to rotate it among the siblings--four months a year at your sister Sally's, four months at your brother Tom's, and four months with you. People do this all the time, especially with stuff they know they'll never go through again, but can't bear to throw away.
When it comes to domestic items, beware of yard sales. It's easy from an emo- tional standpoint to sell your child's baby clothes if somebody wants them. When you sell items, you feel good. Afterwards, when you have to pack up what wasn't sold and give the items to charity, you may not feel as good, although it's a charitable gesture.
Perhaps there is an emotional relief in getting money for the goods, and an emotional blockage in giving them away. Perhaps there is a lingering notion, "My goodness, I should hang on to these items for posterity rather than give them away. Maybe my child, as an adult, might open the box and appreciate them." Hence, you need to decide the exact disposition of your goods in advance of a yard sale.
Paying For Storage?
If the stuff you've boxed is valuable and compact, it may make sense to put it in a safe-deposit box in a bank. If it's voluminous, it might pay to put it in a commercial self-storage unit available in most metro areas today.
Paying to store materials brings up the issue of what you're retaining. Is it worth it to pay a bank or a company to retain those items? If it is, then you needn't feel too badly about forking over the dough. If it isn't, this is a good indicator that you don't need to hang onto the stuff.
Recycling
To effectively keep the number of pages confronting you to a dull roar, constantly be on guard for what can be recycled. Can you give a report, memo, or article to a key associate or junior staff person whom it will benefit? If so, it's far easier to let go of what you're retaining.
Can you use the clean back sides of sheets for rough drafts, scratch paper, internal memos, notepads, and hardcopy fax responses? If so, it will be far easier for you to recycle materials that come across your desk. In this case, rather than tossing pages, you're supporting the environment by getting double use out of your materials. All of the folders that you use are reusable--new labels gives them new lives. Recycling is an important, socially acceptable means of dealing with much of the paper and clutter that come your way in the course of a day.
Most of what confronts you is not going to impact your career, or your life, even on a trivial basis. Therefore, most of what crosses your desk need not find its way into your files. Otherwise, you're setting yourself up for glutted files and glutted systems. You're at your best when you're file system is lean and mean.
There is no sense in prolonging this useful activity: filing is a necessary response to working in an environment of continual overload. When you're in control of your desk, office, files, and the resources you've assembled, you are a more focused, efficient, and effective career professional, and you're more in charge of your time.
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Jeff Davidson, MBA, CMC, is a popular conference speaker and author of 28 books, including Breathing Space (Feb 2000). For books, videos, cassettes, or presentations, visit http://www.BreathingSpace.com, FAX (919) 932-9982, or call (919) 932-1996.
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