Organising paper work and our to-do lists are often disorganised and need better management. The first step to managing our paper work and our to-do list is to recognise you are disorganised and in need of help.
Tell tale signs you are disorganised:
- You are constantly frustrated because you find it difficult to locate your paperwork and other items easily
- You are forever stepping over and around your paper work at home and at work
- Your to-do list is overwhelming you
- You wish you could delegate the routine tasks to someone else but don’t know how
If you can relate to any of the above, you will find the following tips on managing your paper work and your to-do list helpful.
Organising Paper work
Here is a system for letting your paperwork flow throughout your home.
Paper work comes into our lives constantly from a variety of places, from our work life, our personal life and our children’s lives. We need a way to manage our paperwork so it doesn’t develop into paper piles all over our home and office. Organising paper work will bring calm and order to your home or office.
Step 1 – Sort your paperwork and choose a filing system
Gather all of your paper work and start sorting.
Decide on storage and use labels.
Step 2 – Take limits into consideration, archives and culling
Decide on the number of months or years of paperwork you are going to keep. The volume of paperwork you keep will be right for your circumstances. Refer to your lawyer and accountant for the best advice.
When you archive you will need to keep a record of your archives and where your archives are located.
Schedule time in your calendar to cull your files and your archives. This could be once or twice a year depending on the volume of paperwork coming in. Keep to the limits you have established previously and remove the rest. Keep in mind the 80:20 rule, we refer to 20% of our paperwork 80 % of the time.
Now that you have your filing under control, you need to set up your in-tray and action folders to help you sort your paperwork.
Step 3 – Choose an in-tray container and action folder system
After you have set up your in-tray you will need to set up your action folders.
Items from your in-tray are moved along to your action folders so paper doesn’t get stuck and form large paperwork piles in your in-tray.
Step 4 – Schedule time in your calendar to process your in-tray and action folders
For this system to work properly you need to schedule time in your calendar to process your in-tray. It could be once a week, twice a week or more depending on the volume of paperwork.
Your To-Do List
Step 5 – Create a master list
Start off by brainstorming your to-do list. You are more likely to complete items on your list when they are written down rather than trying to remember them from memory. This is your master list.
You may like to keep a note book by your bed or in your hand bag or briefcase for when an idea comes to mind and then add it to your master list.
Step 6 – Assign priorities to your to-do items
Next to your to-do items assign priorities. High priority items will be a 1 or a 2 and low priority items are a 3 or 4. Your high priority items are your must do cannot avoid items and your low priority items are your items for the back burner. To determine the priority, ask yourself, “what is the worst that could happen if this doesn’t get done, what and who is impacted?” This will guide you into determining whether it is a priority item or a back burner item.
Step 7 – Assign deadline dates to your to-do items
Step 8 – Back burner items – not urgent, not important items
For those items which are assigned a priority 3 or 4, create a list and when you have some down time start working through the list. You might dedicate about an hour every week or a fortnight to complete these items.
Step 9 – Check lists and delegating your to-do list
If you are waiting for information to come through to help you complete a project, create a check list and tick off items as they arrive, that way you can follow up quickly on any outstanding items required.
Delegate your to-do list
For the routine items on your to-do list you may delegate these items to an employee or hire a personal concierge/assistant to take care of the time consuming details.
Step 10 – Work your priority projects and lists
Work diligently to keep to your priority lists and deadline dates and avoid non important work.