What NOT To Do: 3 Things You Must Avoid If You Want To Become More Productive and More Successful

Have you ever found yourself on the wrong track, when actually you thought you were on the right one? I find that many people have some misconceptions and confusion about the habits they have when managing their office and their day. When people find out what I do as a consultant, they want to tell me all the great things they’re doing to support their organization and productivity. And I love hearing it!

Sometimes, I’ll hear some fantastic habits and great practices. However, unfortunately, over the years I’ve heard too many people say a few things to me that are actually bad habits and are not supportive of true organization or productivity. Because I consistently hear these, I thought I would pluck three from the list and expand on why they are NOT the best approach.

You may want to avoid these in 2009 (and forevermore) and try a new approach and see what happens to your productivity. You’ll likely be pleasantly surprised…

1. What I hear: “I clean up my office on a regular basis, but it doesn’t stay that way for long!”

What NOT to do: Don’t just “clean up” your office!

What I find is that people get excited about “cleaning up” their offices, but they leave out the real work of getting a trusty file system in place or other trusted systems.

Nobody should have to “clean up their office.” It should be so easy to put things where they belong that cleaning up isn’t necessary anymore. If you keep up with your information, then only a little straightening up is necessary from time to time, but it shouldn’t be much. Certainly not a “clean up” effort.

When talking about ‘cleaning up,’ only a small piece of the work is completed. ‘Cleaning up’ isn’t the answer to getting organized. You must get systems and processes in place. Primarily file and e-file systems and then processes to handle all incoming information, papers, files, etc.

I worked with a client at the end of December and he was astonished at the disappearance of all his papers and files from the top of the desk and lateral file cabinets. He used the word “incredulous” in describing how he felt, so it must have been good. Our session together was a perfect example of what I see all the time.

I can guarantee that if you consider yourself disorganized and/or you are surrounded by lots of paper and files around you on your desk, on the floor, wherever, then 80-90% of what you have “out” doesn’t need to be.

Things, papers or files will likely belong in one of three other places: (1) Filed away in a drawer where you can reference it later because it’s useful information; (2) Stored outside of your office because it doesn’t belong in yours or you’re delegating; or (3) Tossed because it’s old/outdated/expired or useless to you.

Yesterday my client ended up with a tiny little pile on his desk that was less than an inch high, representing his true “action” items. These were only the actions represented by paper, not email or anything else. He was astonished at how much had disappeared. His comment as I left his office was “Wow, I don’t have anything to shuffle around anymore!” …and I was thinking “Exactly!”

I recommend that you take the TIME necessary to set up a file system that can hold your reference information so that it doesn’t need to be on the desk or anywhere else cluttering up your office. Beyond that, the tossing and the outgoing are easy, but it’s not done nearly enough. That’s a process that needs to be done every day.

I recommend that you make the time to go through everything that’s “out” and start sorting according to the 3 places it can go. Don’t just “clean up.” That’s not the point. Start creating useful files for yourself so that you can always find what you’re looking for when you need it. The point is to have a system in place that will support you always. Then get rid of the rest. You’ll find that you will be refreshed, rejuvenated and more focused on what’s important to you.

2.) What I hear: “I make lists all the time. I always write things down because my memory just doesn’t hold it all anymore!”

What NOT to do: Don’t make random lists of to-dos!

I find that a lot of people will take a minute to get some things out of their head by grabbing a pad or a piece of paper and writing down a bunch of things they know they need to do. Well, I’m glad they’re getting it out their head, but we need to take this a few steps further in order for it to really work.

First, I recommend using an electronic list, one that you can add to, delete from and change in a second. It’s trustworthy because it won’t be lost in the shuffle on your desk. To-do lists on paper are very easily lost among other papers and files. It can land in a pile and never come out again.

I’m always interested in seeing how many to-do lists I find with clients when we work in their office. In one instance I can remember finding 12 legal pads full of notes and to-dos in a client’s office. That’s not counting the many tasks represented by her papers and files, the post it notes, etc.

All of these sources of to-dos need to be consolidated. Not only that, but there needs to be a sense of priority connected with the task. I don’t mean ‘high,’ ‘medium’ or ‘low’ importance. I mean targeting a date on which you plan to take action. A to-do is useless unless you plan a date on which to DO it. I recommend that you assign target dates for when to take an action step on ALL of your to-dos, tasks, reminders, commitments, projects, etc. Your priorities will float to the top just by doing this exercise. And the dates are targets. They will change with your ever-changing days.

So keep using the list once you create it… ONE list only please. If you use it properly and diligently, it won’t let you down.

3.) What I hear: “My days are crazy. I don’t have much time between meetings and all the interruptions I get.”

What NOT to do: Don’t give away ALL of your time!

If you like the hustle and bustle of your busy day at work and you love the energy it creates, that’s great. But it can have its disadvantages.

Yes, it’s fun to have people come by your office and talk or gossip or tell stories. Yes, it’s nice to get email, instant messages and phone calls. These break up the work a little, but they are also incredible distractions. How do you know when it’s too much?

Well, it’s too much when you can’t complete the task that you started two or three hours ago and haven’t been able to get back to it since.

It’s too much when you are missing deadlines, follow ups or you’re late for meetings.

It’s too much when you’re always mentally losing track of what you were doing in the first place.

It’s too much when you’ve not been able to plan the rest of your day or the following days.

It’s too much when suddenly you’ve found yourself in a trap, behind walls of paper and files because you haven’t made the time to make decisions on them and keep them moving forward.

If this is you, then I recommend re-evaluating what you will allow to break your focus. The choice is yours. You can continue to go down the same path and get the same results or you can decide that there will be a time during the day that you shut your door, don’t look at email, don’t answer the phone, turn off the instant messaging and turn off the intercom. Do all of this at once because if you’re going to allow one thing break your focus, you might as well have all of them break it. A miss is as good as a mile here.

You will have to be available to others for the rest of the day, but do take some time for yourself each day for a little peace so that you can focus and something accomplished that’s important to you.

I wouldn’t give all your time to meetings either. If you’re in back to back meetings, when will you get your work done? And how can you be flexible enough to handle real priorities as they show up and not when they blow up?