Clutter is very distracting. It makes every job harder and more time-consuming. Clutter is one of the greatest time and efficiency thieves there is. You simply can’t stay focused and work efficiently if there’s clutter pulling you in several directions at once. Plus if your office is organized, you’ll finish your work sooner giving you more free time to play poker!
Desk clutter … What’s the first thing people see when they walk into your office? You guessed it, your desk. A messy desk might be a sign of creative genius, but the truth is it diminishes respect co-workers, supervisors, and clients have for you. How can you head an important account when you can’t find your desk?
Let’s take a closer look. Pens that ran out of ink. Dried-up correction fluid. Those will really help you do your job. Then there’s that fancy pen set you never use — a gift from your former employer who fired you. Doesn’t that bring up fond memories? How about your overstuffed Rolodex with obsolete business cards? What about your overloaded computer? Maybe you could delete some old e-mails, files, and software you no longer use. You think?
Let’s take a peek in those desk drawers. You know, the ones crammed so full you can barely open and close them. Pull, pull, harder. Finally! Lint-covered post-its. Lint-covered mints, anyone? Yuck. Last year’s seminar brochures. I have to break it to you but registration is over. Canceled checks from 9 years ago. You’re kidding, right?
Paper clutter … What about that file cabinet? You know, the one that totters forward when you open a drawer. Could some of those files be trashed or stored?
Put papers in their proper place. Keep a separate file for each type of information. Computer information goes in a computer file. Tax information goes in a tax file. Send old tax records to storage. Charge card statements go in a charge card file. I have a file for health insurance, one for car insurance, and one for life insurance. I have separate maintenance files for our cars and separate health files for the kids. Out of sight, out of mind. Get the clutter off your desk and get your work done.
Mail is the bane of most people’s existence. Separate bills and file them according to subject matter. If an item or upcoming event looks good, file it in its appropriate place, toss the rest. You can eliminate a lot of junk mail by asking to be taken off mailing lists. Write to: Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008.
Information anxiety … Nowadays many of us suffer from information anxiety. Stop thinking you need to know everything. You don’t and you can’t. Do you have time to read it? Will you ever read it? If not, dump it.
Learn to skim mail, newspapers, and magazines. If something catches your eye, read it if you have time. If you don’t have time, tear it out and put it in a folder for reading at your leisure. Then dump the rest. A good rule of thumb for magazines is anything over a year is clutter — unless you’re planning to make a collector’s set of Poker Digest, of course!
Can someone else store the information? Remember, the library has the space, you don’t. The Internet is a wonderful space saver. I bookmark sites with critical information I need so I can jump there quickly. There is so much information on the web. You don’t need outdated books, directories, and manuals.
Recently, I read an article about the increasing number of ads and promos that clog up television programming. Do you know what those ads are called in TV parlance? You guessed it. Clutter. As the volume of ads increase, the time devoted to the shows you actually want to see decreases. And the clutter just keeps on growing. How can you remember any and when you’re bombarded with so many?
Set goals … Your initial goal should be to give yourself quick dramatic results that will encourage you to stay on a clutter-cleaning schedule for the rest of the stuff. Give each item a final destination — the trash, a file, a bin, a storage box.
Clean, then organize. Remember, your work station has a job. It’s job is to support you. Don’t make yourself get up and walk clear across the room for something you use frequently. Hot files, the phone, the trash, and references you use frequently should be at your fingertips.
Everything else should back off! File slow-burn matters where you can find them when you need them. Papers you never use, but must keep for legal or tax reasons, should be sentenced to storage where they can’t distract you. Once you’re organized, stay that way.
Decluttering your schedule … When I stopped practicing law a few years ago, I had chest pains every day for six months from the stress of juggling too much. I was 37 and the fear of wondering whether I would live to see my fortieth birthday taught me to focus on what’s really important in life and what I could realistically handle. Regain control of your life; simplify it. Here’s how:
The cost-benefit analysis … Learn to assess the payback value of each project, then pay attention to your limits. Stop and think, is this really worth a two-hour, two-day, or two-week investment from my life? If it is can I do it without throwing my life out of balance? Only take on what you can comfortably handle.
I give every incoming request a cost-benefit analysis. With freelance writing jobs, I pick the jobs that will pay the bills. With requests to volunteer at school or other activities, I evaluate my schedule and stress load. If I can do it without overloading both, I’ll do it. If I can’t, I delegate or say no.
Saying “no” doesn’t make me a bad person. In fact, it makes me a better one. I get incredibly cranky when I’m overstressed and that sinking feeling sets in. Saying no upfront to handle what I can makes me a much saner and nicer individual, then everyone around me benefits.
Delegate, delegate, delegate … If you can’t do it and it has to be done, then delegate. Hire someone to clean your house or mow your lawn. Give the kids extra chores to help out as they get older. They’re not helpless, even if they do a good job pretending to be. If you own your own business, hire a good bookkeeper and get your books balanced. If you can afford it, hire an errand service to pick up your dry-cleaning and do your grocery shopping.
Review it, decide it, send it … The clutter army has a commanding officer — procrastination — and it runs the show. That “I’ll deal with it later mentality” is what got you in the cluttered mess you’re in now. Quit creating piles of unrelated stuff that you’ll get to when you get to it.
I have a small desk that serves as my incoming review station for mail, messages, writing assignments, notices from school, you name it. After reviewing, I make a decision: do it now, get it on the list or calendar, file it, or dump it. Each item gets an immediate decision.
Prioritize and schedule … Almost no one takes a road trip without a map. Figure out where you’re going, then stake out a plan to get there by prioritizing and scheduling. On my computer desk, I keep a separate file for each writing assignment. I organize assignments by deadline and proceed accordingly. If I tried juggling all my assignments without prioritizing, my attention would be scattered and the quality of my work would suffer.
I keep a pad of paper with “to-do” lists near me when I’m writing. I keep a daily to-do list and a general one. If I think of something else I have to do, I jot it on the list then keep on writing. When my writing is done, I hit my lists, I would be lost without them!
Each item on the list gets a priority ranking. When something new comes in, I assess its urgency, rank it, and add it to the list. If it’s not urgent, it goes on the general list. If something was on the list for today but I didn’t get to it, it goes on tomorrow’s.
I always have an ongoing shopping list. When I hear, “Mom, we’re out of ice cream, ‘my knee-jerk reaction is’ put it on the list.” For family activities, I use a visual list. A huge wall calendar with cute little dachshund faces that let’s the whole family see what’s on the agenda for any given day of the week.
Some people never leave home without their American Express card. I’m a writer. I never leave home without pen and paper. Anytime, any idea hits me for an article, I add it to my list.
When tackling to-do lists, prioritize your energy. Schedule the toughest stuff for your peak energy times. Leave the easier, fun stuff for down times as a stress-deserved break.
Lists are not the only organizational system available. My husband swears by Ecco. It’s a computer program that lets him track his schedule, clients, and cases. Some people like bulletin boards; others use index cards.
What’s the best organizational system for you? Whatever works. The simpler, the better. Devise a system so simple that it requires almost no thought to maintain. The point is, out of sight, out of mind. Get it off your mind and on your system so you can focus on what needs to be done now. With a system in place, you’re ready to work and will have more time to play poker.
Poker Digest Magazine – Volume 1 Number 4