|
Taming the Paper Tiger
by Barbara Hemphill
Kiplinger Books, Washington. D.C. 1994 Revised Edition.
Everyone can always some good advice on controlling paper. In spite
of all the electronic equipment around us, paper is going to be with us
for quite a while. As the head of IBM in Europe once said, "The paperless
office is about as far away as the paperless toilet."
Barbara Hemphill's book is chock-full of handy hints about organizing
paper, and in this revised edition of her book she also considers electronic
information and how to organize that as well. Getting organized is a process,
or as Hemphill describes it, "a journey...where the road is long and rough."
Even the best of us occasionally have a need to go through the accumulation
of paper and put it in better order so information supports us rather than
becoming a burden and impedance to efficiency.
Here are some of her choice tactics that can be implemented immediately:
-
"The stress level will decrease as the amount of paper in your wastebasket
increases." This is a notion to which TMI has long subscribed. If you are
going to err, it is better to err on the side of having thrown too much
away, rather than holding on to everything, just in case. "Just in case"
kind of thinking will keep your stress levels high and stop you from acting
on anything. Needless to say, Hemphill recommends throwing a lot away,
just as we do at TMI.
-
"The purpose of the 'To Do' list is to provide a consistent place to
compile notes to yourself, and in so doing to eliminate many pieces
of paper from your life." It takes practice, but once you get into the
habit of writing on your action plans, or recopying (Yes, recopying does
take a bit of time, but it will save you wear and tear in the long run.)
information onto your "To Do" lists, you will avoid missing tasks, reduce
your stress levels and make better decisions.
-
When you file something always ask yourself the question: "What word
would I think of if I wanted to contact this person?" At TMI, we tell people
to ask a related question to Hemphill's in our Time Manager classes: "If
I were looking for this paper right now, where would I look for it?" Then
file it there. Typically, people file things logically, but look for them
emotionally. So, start with the emotional question, and file your papers
that way.
-
Schedule regular time on your calendar for clearing your desk. If everyone
spent about a half hour clearing their desk on a daily basis, they would
save enormous amounts of time over the course of a week. Many people say
they don't have a half hour each day to spend clearing their desk. But
this same person probably spends five hours a week looking for paper or
files. If the paper is essential and you need it right away, you can easily
devote a couple of hours looking for that necessary document..
Read this book. Attend TMI's Strategic Planning for Results
with the Time Manager Planning system, and get yourself organized for 1998!
Tame your paper tiger.
Janelle Barlow, President
TMI USA
 Previous
"Owl Book Review Grove" pages:
#1 #2
#3
#4
#5
|
