We regularly receive questions about organizing the desk. In March, April, and , 1998, we posted articles about controlling paper at your desk. Still, the questions and comments keep pouring in. 

 We start off this month's Time Manager corner with four laws, you might even say "immutable" laws of keeping your desk under control. We then follow up with six steps for organizing your desk—once and for all. That is, once and for all, if you work to maintain your organization.

1. You have to go for the long-term solution, not the quick fix.
 If you just clean up your desk with no long-term solution in mind, it will quickly return to its previous cluttered state. This is what most people do, and so they get very discouraged about their ability to organize their desk.

2. Getting organized and then maintaining that organization requires effort.
 You can't expect your cleaned desk to maintain an organized state unless you continuously work to maintain its pristine, regulated state.

3. Desk organization is a great time saver!
 It's estimated that the average person spends 5 hours a week looking for things on his or her desk, including the computer desk top. What if you invested as much as half of this to keep your desk organized? You'd still save two and a half hours, and we don't think it will take you two and a half hours to maintain your organization. You can save a lot of time this way.

4. All paper can be divided into active paper (Things need to be done with it.) and inactive paper (You're finished with it, except perhaps to keep a copy on file for future reference or use.).
 This simple categorization of paper instantly makes your desk easier to organize.

1. Clear your desk.

 Put everything on your desk into one of six piles. You need more than six piles, and if you do, then add one or two more, depending on your needs. 

 • Paper or things you can throw away. (Throw them away!)

 • Paper that requires action. (Write in the upper right hand corner, what needs to be done, and by when. If you don't feel comfortable writing on the paper, then use a Post It Note.)

 • File. (You want to keep these paper for future reference.)

 • Transfer (These are things you need to give to someone else. Again, in the upper right hand corner write down to whom the paper goes.)

 • Read and clip (These are things you want to read at a later point.)

 • Don't Know/Maybe (You're not sure yet about these items.)

2. Prepare a blue print of your space. 

Put on your drawing or architect's hat and draw a picture of your desk, your file drawers, standing files on your desk. Draw a complete picture of every place you have to store things. You will write on this blue print where # 3 and # 4 items listed below are located.

3. Create an Action Guide Map for your Desk. 

On your desk, you need a place for the following categories of items that need action. Remember these? They are the second pile you created in step one. (Stacking files work very nicely to hold your Action Items.)

 • Do Now/Urgent. Put the things that you need to do something about today in this file, and make a note that you are going to handle this item on your Daily Plan. This way, you won't have to look in this pile again, because it will be keyed to your action plan.

 • Do This Week. Put the things that you need to do something about later this week in this file, and again make a note that you are going to handle this item on your Weekly Plan.

 • Don't Forget. Put the things you need to do something about in the future, and make a note in your Don't Forget Section that you are going to handle this item. If you do this, you won't need to look at the papers in this file until you are ready to do them. No surprises is good news!

 • Key Area or Project tasks. You need several files for your Key Areas or Project tasks. Again, write the action you need to take in your Daily, Weekly, or Key Area section. You always want to aim for not having to look at these piles. Rather, you can refer to your action lists.
 
 • To be filed. If you have an item that needs to be filed, write on the upper right hand corner where it goes, and put it in this file so you can do your filing in batches.

•  To read. Put all those things you want to read here, until you have read them and then filed them.

4. Create a File Guide Map

 Use all the rest of your space for filing. Set your files up according to your Key Areas. Organize items so that the things you need more frequently are readily accessible to you. Keep a copy of your File Guide Map so you can easily determine where things are located.

5. Move in.  

Now you are ready to actually move in. Clearly, this takes a lot of effort, but you should feel a lot more in control instantly after you've moved in. Then comes the disciplined part. You have to follow your Maps. Putting Action items in the Action files, and putting files where you have determined they best belong.

6. Maintainence.

Periodically go through your files and dispose of things you aren't using. Obviously, you need to do this or you will quickly run out of space. If you haven't looked at something in quite a while, chances are low that you will need it in the future. If you set up files based on the "I'll keep it, just in case..." philosophy, you'll never throw anything away.

Actually, controlling your desk is a lot of common sense. It's also disciplined work, and that is where most of us fail. But if you have your original system in good working order, it should reinforce keeping yourself in shape.
 
 

Janelle Barlow, Ph.D.
President
TMI, USA
 

Please submit your questions to Time Manager Questions and Answers. If you have questions, undoubtedly someone else has the same question. By asking a question, you'll help a fellow Time Manager user become more effective.
 
 

Previous "Time Manager Q & A Corner" pages: 
 

#1	Key Areas and Interruptions
#2	Daily Plans and Home Offices
#3	Result Statements
#4	Reading and Responding to E-Mail
#5	Sending E-Mail
#6	Filing According to Key Areas
#7	Setting up Files for the Whole Office
#8	Controlling Loose Pieces of Paper
#9	The Value of Time
#10	More on Results Statements
#11	Managing Time on the Road
#12	How to Get Time with Someone
#13	The Downside of Goals
#14	Thinking Types and Time
#15	Feeling Types and Time
#16	Intuitive Types and Time
#17	Sensate Types and Time
#18	What's Real about Strategic Planning?
#19	What Does Being Strategic Really Mean?
#20	How Perception of Time Influences Goal Choices

Please submit your questions to Time Manager Questions and Answers by fax or e-mail . If you have questions, undoubtedly someone else has the same question. By asking a question, you'll help a fellow Time Manager user become more effective.

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