Attended couple of training sessions recently, this one that talks about the new organization system is the most useful one. I never happened to become a very organized person and ever thought will be even though I tried to find some better way, at least the suitest way to me, to improve this poor talent. This one might work for me. Well, at least worth to give a try.
The 6D Organization System
Laura Stack, http://www.theproductivitypro.com
The Physical "Tickler" File Organization System:
- Create 43 hanging files, 12 for the months, 31 for the days.
- Hang them in your closest, most accessible drawer (so you don't have to get up to get at it).
- Put the current month first, and the current day right behind it. Then the following days until the end of the month.
- Put the next month behind the last day of this month.
- As you pass a day, put that day's file behind the following month.
- Put the rest of the months in order behind the second month.
Use the 6D method for paper:
1. Delete
2. Delegate
3. Do it if < 3 minutes
4. Date/Defer
5. Drawer
6. Deter
Once you touch a piece of paper, use the "Super-Glue" method, i.e. it is stuck to your fingers until you decide what to do with it.
Different Types of Files
1. Tickler file (active/follow-up) - for things "to do"
2. Contact management file - likely contacts in Outlook, but also physical files or Rolodex, business card file, etc.
3. Client/customer files.
4. Project files - current files of projects your are working on.
5. Idea files - for things you don't want to throw away that might be good ideas for the future
6. Topical files (to read) - for information about specific topics that you may want to refer to the future.
7. Reference (permanent) files - for work completed in teh current year/period.
8. Archive (history) files - old files that you haven't touched for a year. You should go through your files each year and pull out anything you haven't touched in a year. You may be able to destroy them, or you may want to put them in a bankers box and put them in file room storage or offsite.
I just spent an hour or two to build the system...so let's see how it goes. Actually, it requires a lot of hanging files, which cost a bit of money.