Learn How to be Organized at Work the FAST way!

When you ask people what their biggest frustration with their workspace is, they are likely to mention paper clutter! All the junk mail, bills, and reports to read – it can get overwhelming quite quickly! It doesn’t have to be this way though – the method in this article will help you get control of your paper clutter once and for all!

When a piece of paper comes across your desk, there are only FOUR things you need to consider doing with it – File, Act, Schedule or Toss – F.A.S.T. Keep the F.A.S.T acronym in mind whenever paper comes into you office and deal with it accordingly.

FILE

• Place any reference materials into a tray “TO FILE”.

• You can file on a weekly or daily basis depending on the amount of paper you deal with.

• A good rule of thumb for filing paper is that you should be able to find anything you file in 5 seconds or less. If you can’t, you should consider tweaking (or setting up) a filing system. Some Professional Organizers specialize in teaching people how to be organized at work, and many offer effective filing systems. The key is to find a system that will work for you, set it up, and use it!

ACT

• Place items that require action in a Tickler File System to follow up on the appropriate date.

• A good tickler file system has two key components. 1- an accordion file with tabs for each day of the month (1-31) and each month of the year (Jan-Dec), followed by a tab for Future Years. 2 - individual folders labeled for repetitive, specific actions, such as:

o Call

o Calls Expected – those calls that you are waiting on.

o Data Entry – anything that needs to be entered into your computer, for example, business cards.

o Discuss – regularly scheduled meeting notes, if you meet with several people on a regular basis, you may have individual folders with their names on them.

o Errands – this might have shopping lists, coupons, claim receipts, etc.

o Pay – unpaid bills.

o Photocopy

o Read

o Receipts or Expense Reimbursement – your un-submitted receipts.

o Write – thank-you cards, postage stamps, return address labels, letterhead.

SCHEDULE

Items to schedule in your planner (it doesn’t matter if you use electronic or paper, just as long as it works for you).
• Write all the necessary information in your planner (Example - name of person, event, location, phone number, etc.)

• File the paper in your tickler system for that particular day or toss it.

TOSS

Toss any item that does not immediately enhance your life! (NOTE: "Toss" just means "get rid of it". This could be by recycling, throwing away, or giving it to someone else who might find it useful.)

When trying to determine whether or not to toss something, ask yourself the following questions:

• Will this information be out of date by the time I need it?

• Can I easily find this later if I need it? (Google has made the storing of information nearly obsolete).

• Is this information already obsolete?

• Is it already too late to do this?

• Does anyone else care if I keep this? (You might base this decision on how close that person is to you. For example, you may choose to keep something - such as an ugly family heirloom that does not fit your decor – because of how you feel about the person who gave it to you.)

• Do I even want to keep this? (Not should you keep it, do you want to keep it?)

When it comes to already paid bill, am you keeping them just because, or does holding onto them actually benefit you? Consider the following:

• For business owners, keeping copies of paid bills for business expenses can be helpful if you get audited and need to prove legitimate expenses.

• For personal bills really think hard about what the benefit of holding onto them might be. In many cases there is none.

• Keep in mind that the bill itself will not prove that you paid it. You should always pay your bills by check or some electronic payment service, that way you have proof of actual payment.

• For most people, medical bills are not deductible because the payments make up too small a percentage of their income. You are only allowed to deduct medical bills if they total a certain percentage of your income for the year.

• If you are keeping bills to help you with your budget process, you might want to try a software program to help track your expenses. Once you enter the information into your program, you can toss the paper copy.

You will be more productive and less stressed when you learn how to be organized at work the FAST way. Gain control of your paper clutter and your success!