The 4 D's of Effective Paper Management   By Maria Gracia   of Get Organized Now!

A recent article that I came across in the Wall Street Journal reported that the average U.S. executive loses six weeks per year retrieving misplaced information from messy desks and files.

The cost in salary and lost productivity is enormous.

Paperwork has been voted the biggest burden for businesses. Time spent mishandling paper detracts from the company's ability to service customers, increase sales and improve the bottom line.

It shouldn't ever take you more than 5 seconds to find a piece of paper you need. If it does, then your office and file organization needs an overhaul.

Start with the 4 D’s of Effective Paper Management:

Do it: This means that you perform the necessary items on this piece of paper today. Once you’ve completed these items, the paper should be filed, re-routed to someone else or discarded.

Delay it: This means that further action needs to be taken on this paper, but not right now. File it in a Reminder file or in your file cabinet. If necessary, write a date and time on your calendar when you’ll be retrieving this paper for further action.

Delegate it: This means that you immediately give this paper to someone else, whether this person is someone in your company, a client, vendor or someone else you outsource to.

Dump it: This is the greatest one of them all. It’s probably safe to say that a huge percentage of the paper that enters your office can be immediately discarded.

About the Author

Maria Gracia is President of Get Organized Now!.

Specializing in peak time and space management, she has over 12 years of organizational experience. Her broad range of skills covers planning, scheduling, peak productivity, records management, space planning, time and paper management, administrative services and computer oriented organizational systems.

Maria is the author of the book titled Finally Organized, Finally Free. In addition, she has written and published, T.A.S.O., the art of Time And Space Organization Newsletter, Better Business and a number of other informational products. Her works are enjoyed by individual consumers, small businesses and large companies such as the Walt Disney Company, Dell Computer Corporation, Microsoft Corporation and Metropolitan Life.

Maria provides solutions to help you organize your business, personal, home and family life with ease -- one solution at a time. You can contact her via e-mail : getorgnow@aol.com


Copyright © 1999 Get Organized Now.  All Rights Reserved. Re-Printed with permission.

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