I will be giving information and tips about home-office and small business office organizing. My tips will focus on a variety of systems for paper management and file set-up as well as other organizing issues I see my clients dealing with.
Clutter is postponed decisions. That statement is a trademark of Barbara Hemphill, founder of the Productivity Institute. Every time you pick up a piece of paper and lay it back down without taking some action, you are postponing the decision to take action. Why do we do this and what can be done to stop it? Here are my thoughts.The main reason we don't make a decision about what to do with the paper is that we don't know what action to take. Or better yet, we may know the action, but don't want to take it at that moment. Perhaps the needed action is a phone call, or an email, or we need more information before we take action. Maybe we need to have input or some other information from...
Can you believe that 2009 is almost over? Just two months left. How did that happen? It happened while I was working on my new branding, taking an intensive, ten-week online course to become a certified productive environment specialist, networking like crazy, going to Canada for a vacation, and having my great nieces and nephew spend the night to watch the movie, ET.
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I have walked into many offices and seen post-it notes all over the place. Granted, they are a wonderful way to capture short pieces of information, but they add to visual clutter. I will admit that I have had a few (that number depends on your perception of a few) post-it notes stuck to my computer monitor, desk shelf, printer, etc. I have vowed to de-clutter my office of all post-it notes hanging around. Here is how I have done that.I bought a small notebook that was divided into sections. Actually each section divider was a pocket folder as well. It is made by Stuart Hall, 9 ½ in. X 6 in and spiral bound. There is a number on it, 5010, but I am not sure that is relevant. Any similar notebook will do....
I am sure that you, like me, have created many different kinds of organizing systems throughout your life. But how many of them do you still use today? I know that many of my original ones have been tossed aside for one reason or another. I really am not sure what made me give them up.
Since I have become a productive environment specialist, I have learned that there are four questions you need to ask yourself either after you create a system or to evaluate an existing one. Those four questions are:
Do you like it?
Does it work for you?
Does it work for others it may impact?
What is the recovery time needed if your system is not working temporarily?
Speak Now and Forever Get New Clients
Yesterday I
had the pleasure of hearing Elizabeth Hagen, professional organizer, speaker,
and author talk about how to get new clients by speaking to organizations. She
was inspiring, educational, and funny. Anyone who wants to find out about
organizing or how to become a professional organizer should visit her website (www.elizabethhagen.com). She has
books, programs, and CDs available at an affordable cost. Her book, Organizing
with Confidence, is a fast and easy read. It is loaded with forms, a CD,
and lots of action items to complete so that you don't procrastinate about
getting organized. I highly recommend taking a look at what she offers.
...
I am now in week #9 of the training, one more week to go. I have learned a valuable tool for assessing how productive someone is in their work environment. The tool is The Productive Environment Scorecard. It is a series of 15 questions to score from 1 to 10. Once the questions are answered, the scorecard is given to the Productive Environment Specialist (that's me). A free 30-minute phone consultation is available to the prospective client. The answers to the questions will help the Specialist and the client put together a plan of action for organizing. If you are interested in being evaluated on your work productivity, email me at Barbara@bzbeeorganizing.com or call...
It's like someone turned off the summer switch and turned on the fall switch. It was cooler this morning when I let the dog out. I could turn off the air conditioning and open the windows. Ah! fresh air.
As you begin the fall season of work, give yourself a productivity checkup. How productive are you in your work environment? Do you waste time looking for papers you need? Do you have a systematic method for purging papers? Do you waste time looking for phone numbers and other contact information? ...
I am in the fourth week of a ten-week training course through the Paper Tiger Institute to be certified as a productive environment specialist. I will be focusing on small companies, helping them to create a productive work environment. I will be licensed to sell products and services developed by Barbara Hemphill with the Paper Tiger Institute. I am now able to offer her seminar, The Art of Wastebasketry, to my clients. Some of the products I will be selling are her books, Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and one with the same title but it is for the home. I can sell her Swiftfile which is a tickler file for housing dated documents. Stay tuned for further...
I was working with a client in her home office. We were surveying what we had already accomplished and deciding what to do next when I picked up an object from the top shelf of her bookcase. I said, "What are you going to do with this?" She looked at me and smiled, knowing that her answer was important to our organizing tasks. She said, "I really like the colors, they are so bright and cheery." "But do you use it?" I asked. I knew the answer before she did. That conversation prompted me to show her a guide for making decisions as you are organizing.
Clutter is postponed decision making (Barbara Hemphill, The Paper Tiger Institute). I see this all of the time with my clients. They don't know what to do with papers, objects,...
Barbara Boone is the owner of Busy Bee Organizing Services located in Cockeysville, MD. She provides office organizing for small businesses, home-based businesses, and busy professionals. Her focus is paper management and file set up to help clients reduce stress and increase productivity. She has been organizing in the fields of education and business for over 36 years. Barbara is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, Business Networking International, and a board member of the National Association of Women Business Owners.
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