Well, have some of the ideas in my column made it into your life yet? Hopefully you have found some concepts that work for you. This week, I will talk to you about maintaining the paper management system I introduced last time.
The paper management system (or PMS, even though that's a hilarious acronym!) should NOT be hard to maintain if you follow some general guidelines. Here is the heart of using the system: - All incoming papers should have a designated home in your PMS or a designated home elsewhere. For example, I said last time that I don't keep and file coupons anymore; I use them the week they come. I put them in an envelope and stick 'em on the fridge with a magnet. This week, if you haven't got a spot in your PMS for a certain kind of paper, decide where you will put it from now on. (By the way, on the counter or the table doesn't count as a designated spot <smile>) Bills go in the bill basket. - Now that your papers have a spot, get into the habit of putting them there every time. You will be glad you did! - Don't rely on your memory or on the PMS itself to remind you that there are things in there needing your attention. If you put something in your to-do file, there should be a matching item on your to-do list. When you find yourself with 5 or 10 minutes "extra", check your list for what you can tackle right then, take out the item from the file (if necessary) and get it done! Some of the items traveling through your PMS do have a time constraint so it can also be helpful to write the last possible date you can do it on your list, too. - When papers come in, decide quickly if you can do something about it right then. If not, write it on your to-do list and file it where it goes. For example, if you get a party invitation that needs a phone RSVP and someone is online at that moment, write it down in the "to phone" section of your to-do list, along with the phone number and the date by which you should call, so you don't have to refer back to the invitation. If you are going to the party, put the invitation into your monthly file corresponding to month in which the party is scheduled and put the party on your calendar (along with "find a babysitter" on your phone list). If you aren't going, put that invitation in the recycling and smile! You've gotten rid of a piece of paper! Now, I'm not one for hard and fast "rules" about keeping things flowing smoothly but I have noticed in using my own PMS over the last year that I have done certain things to sabotage all my own good efforts. I'd like to encourage you to avoid some of these bad habits so you don't sabotage yourself: - Sort through your mail and incoming papers as soon as possible! If you can't sort through the mail when it comes, don't even retrieve it from the mail box until you can. It probably only takes 5 or 10 minutes to sort through a big pile of mail. If you come home from a meeting or conference, try to decide what to do with those papers NOW before they cause a conspiracy with some other papers. - Don't ever be tempted to stuff things into to wrong file your PMS "just for now" -- trust me, you won't remember where you stuffed it and you'll cause unnecessary problems for yourself - Go through your files on a regular basis to keep them from over flowing. To me, a regular basis means right before they get too stuffed to use! The naturally organized person would say to set aside a certain time each week to do this, but I've tried that and it never worked for me. I almost always remember to at least check through and clean out my monthly files around the time I have to turn my wall calendar to a new month. If you want, you could put a little reminder on your calendar, but be careful...sometimes long-standing reminders or notes become invisible to your eye as your brain just ignores them! As before, if you have a type of paper that is stumping you, use the talk back section. I'd also love to hear any other comments about this or any other of my articles. Treat your PMS as your trusty assistant and it should suit you very well...I hope yours works for you for your first year in it and beyond! ====================================================================<<< The SmartGroups Picture Album. The Best Discovery you'll make this month! http://ad.smartgroups.com/adclick/CID=0000000a2c8b020200000000 ====================================================================>>> -- If you want to share pictures, use the calendar, or start a vote visit http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/-JFC To leave the group, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Journey from clutter List Website http://journeyfromclutter.com Members Only Page http://journeyfromclutter.com/MembersOnly/MembersArea.htm Unsubscribe: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word 'unsubscribe' in the 'Subject:' field to be removed from the main list. To Unsubscribe from the Digest version of the list send the unsubscribe message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
