Got Clutter Organizing for the Real World

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Got Clutter?Organizing for the Real World

• Janice Simon, M.A.
• Senior Educational Specialist,
• M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

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The average U.S. executive wastes six weeks per
year searching for missing information in files
or on their desks.

• -- Wall Street Journal

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The Brick Pile
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The Brick Pile
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What does organizing mean?

• Get everything done youre supposed to get done.
• Find everything you have.
• Sharpen your axe!
• Working longer and harder vs. more effectively
• Making Cancer History

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Hows your RAM Space?
What happened on Greys Anatomy ?
Did I email George?
Where did I park my car?
I need to write that report.
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Step One The Beginning

• Whats working?
• Whats not working?
• Whats the problem?
• Everything needs a home!
• Prime Real Estate

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Digging Pompeii

• Pick ONE stack on your desk.
• Attack whats visible first.
• Dont read entire files or documents.
• Make a FAST decision to keep, delegate or toss.

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What to Toss?

• Anything old and duplicate
• Anything broken
• Anything you havent used in six months to a year
• Have a trash can or box at the ready.

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Decisions, Decisions.

• Have I used it within the last year?
• Have I ever used it? Is it something that I
  inherited when I got this job/office and have
  never used?
• Will I need it?
• Who else has it?
• Will the world end if I throw this away?

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Incoming Paper and E-mails

• Throw it away or delete it.
• Read it.
• Act on it. Take care of it.
• File it. Put in tray to file later or put in
  electronic file folder.
• Forward it. Share it if appropriate.

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Finding a Home

• File Tray file weekly or every two weeks
• Hot Projects folder for each
• Keep daily use files and items close to you.
• Create Master File Index.
• Folder Tabs Left, middle or right

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File Mapping
House
Medical
File Category INSURANCE
My Car
Car
Life Insurance
Car 2
Claim
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File Mapping

• Insurance
• Car
• Honda Accord
• Claim for Collision
• Spouses Car
• House
• Insurance Policy
• Any claims
• Medical
• One file for each member of the family
• Life

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Maintenance

• 15 Minutes
• Regular filing
• Your new system Use it or lose your mind.
• Help the homeless!

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• Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.
• -- Spanish Proverb

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Where Does the Time Go?

• What are the biggest time wasters?
• The Candy Jar Factor
• Pavlovs Dog
• Screen Sucking

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Getting Started

• List unfinished business and to-dos.
• Unloading your brain
• Ruthlessly prioritize

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• If it takes two minutes to less to do, just do
  it.
• -- David Allen,
• Author of Getting Things Done

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Getting Things Done

• Commit to specific start time.
• Break large tasks into small ones.
• Schedule chunks in your planner.
• Reward yourself when completed.
• -- Harold Taylor

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Managing Interruptions

• Turn off e-mail alert.
• Having the CC talk.
• Send calls button.
• Close the door.
• Stand up!
• Speaking up!
• Managing ourselves.

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Myself, Interrupted

• Managing Ourselves
• Thinking time
• Set a timer (20 minutes) to focus on one task
• Meet regularly with staff and co-workers
• Golden Rule applies
• Extrovert vs. Introvert

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Where am I?
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Managing E-Mail

• Taking Action
• Keep e-mails in your inbox
• Mark anything unread as a reminder
• _at_Action and _at_Waiting for folders
• Lotus Notes Tricks
• Copy into feature for calendar and to-do
  features
• Sort by size or name

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Managing E-Mail

• E-mails youre keeping
• Create file folders
• Periodically purge
• Detach attachments

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Reducing E-Mail

• Think about who you are sending and copying
  e-mails to
• On websites, check the fine print.
• Speak up!
• Urban Legends
• Snopes

--- K.J. McCorry, Author of Organize Your Work
Day in No Time
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Feel Overwhelmed?
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Feel Overwhelmed?

• Attention Deficit Trait
• Tips to handle ADT
• Get adequate sleep, eat a healthy, well-balanced
  diet, and exercise
• Do a couple of tasks before opening email.
• Keep email hours.
• Talk face-to-face with someone you like every
  four to six hours during a day
• -- Overloaded Circuits Why Smart People
  Underperform by Edward M. Hallowell, Harvard
  Business Review, January 2005.

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Biggest Hurdles

• Procrastination
• Perfectionism
• No boundaries

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Procrastinate now. Dont put it off.

• -- Ellen Degeneres

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Procrastination

• Eat That Frog!
• What if you have two frogs?

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Perfectionism

• When is good enough actually good enough?
• Me? Delegate?

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Boundaries

• Say No!
• (But nicely.)

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Surviving a Meeting

• Action!
• File folder for each regular meeting
• Notepad, pen, agenda, notes

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Surviving a Conference

• Keep information and receipts in envelope
• Purge at the hotel
• File conference materials where you can find them
• Business cards
• What promises did you make?

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Surviving Vacation

• Take one. Please.
• Think Gilligans Island No voice mail, email,
  laptop, etc.
• Getting ready to leave
• When you get back

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Other Time Eaters

• Get organized! Disorganization and clutter eats
  up time.
• Putting systems in place makes it easier to
  keep clutter under control.
• Learn to say no!
• Save time in bits and pieces.

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Saving Time in Bits and Pieces

• Get ready for work the night before.
• Lay out clothes, cereal bowls, etc.
• Put things near the door.
• Pay bills online.
• Set up reading basket.
• Open mail by the trash can.

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More Bits and Pieces

• Make minor decisions quickly.
• Put deadlines on replies if appropriate.
• Keep a voicemail log.
• In planner, keep a list of people you talk to
  regularly and jot down topics you want to talk to
  them about as you think of them.

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There will always be more work to do, another
project to finish, another meeting to attend,
another report to write.
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Get Immediate Results!

• The Power of One
• Tackle one pile, one drawer, one closet, one
  purse or briefcase, etc.
• Rome wasnt built in a day.
• At the end of the day, find a home for
  everything.

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What is Your Brick Pile?
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The End of the Brick Pile
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Happy Organizing!

• Janice Simon
• jsimon_at_mdanderson.org
• 1515 Holcombe Blvd.,
• Unit 182
• Houston, Texas 77030
• 713-792-8061