It never hurts to review good ideas about controlling paper. This is particularly true because it is so easy to create it in today's world. Printers spit out beautifully crafted paper faster than you can blink your eyes; photocopies can not be attached to your computer, and can print reams of material in color and collate and staple it for you in one operation.

If you're not careful, most people will easily end up with huge volumes of people in today's electronic world. Here's five good ideas to help you bring the people under control.

•  Resist the impulse to print out your e-mails. If you are afraid your e-mail server will corrupt and you'll lose all your e-mail, then save your e-mail on your hard disk and back it up periodically. This is not to say that you should never print out e-mail, but it's the unconscious habit of automatically printing it out that is dangerous.

• Put destruction dates on paper. In the upper right or left hand corner, print a date at which time you will throw this paper away. Then whenever you see a piece of paper with an expired date on it, throw it away. Most of the time, you'll know a reasonable destruction date, and when you chance upon the paper again, you won't have to reread it. If it's past due, throw it away.

• Create a climate of trust by not saving paper that you think you'll need to be able to "prove" something happened, or didn't happen, or you notified someone about something. The paper trail that many people keep to be able to track events, is generally only valuable if you have to legally find fault. In most day-to-day business operations, this type of proof only takes up time and occupies paper.

• Work at being concise. Spend a little time learning how to edit your work for extra words, extra ideas, repeated words and repeated ideas. After a while, it will become habitual for you to eliminate unnecessary details. And you'll become a more effective writer in the process.

• When you are composing on a computer, don't print out draft documents for each editing change you make. Get into the habit of reading from your computer. It's not as pleasant as reading from paper, but it certainly conserves paper. 
 

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
#21	The Four Immutable Laws of Controlling Your Desk
#22	Decision Making and Cultural Groups
#23	Paperless Office: Fact or Fiction?
#24	Exit Planning
#25	Speed: Does It Free Up More Time?
#26	Time in the 21st Century
#27	Open Office Plans
#28	The Costs of E-Mail
#29	How Do Senior Level People Manage Their Time?
#30	On Saving Time
#31	Paying the Ultimate Price with Time By Not Getting Enough Sleep
#32	Telecommuting and Productivity
#33	How Much Is Your Time Worth?
#34	Goal Setting and Change
#35	Making Career Decisions

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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