Why the Only-Touch-a-Piece-of-Paper-Once Rule Isn’t Working For You

By |2013-09-09T17:25:22-04:00September 9th, 2013|Categories: Home Page, Paper Management|Tags: , |

Are you familiar with the only touch/handle a piece of paper once rule? Many professional organizers and time management experts recommend it. I don't. Their thinking is that, you don’t get anywhere by shuffling papers from one pile to another. True enough. Their answer is to make a decision on one piece of paper at a time before moving on to the next piece. You may decide to read, act, file, delegate, or toss, but you MUST decide!

Strawberry, Chocolate, or Manila?

By |2023-09-04T10:06:38-04:00March 14th, 2013|Categories: Home Page, Paper Management, Systems|Tags: , , , |

Today I want to boldly confront one of the most controversial issues of our time: file folder color choice. I know there is a school of thought, that says if your file folders are a variety of stimulating colors, they will encourage more use, but I want to make a case for the classic manila folder. There are reasons why it works.

The Stay Factors

By |2023-09-04T10:03:13-04:00October 15th, 2012|Categories: Home Page, Systems|Tags: , , |

There are two essential parts to being organized: getting organized and staying organized. Getting organized involves a lot of sorting, purging, and rethinking of your stuff. Sorry, there’s no way to stay organized without first processing out the excess. Once you've done that, however, there are certain factors that will help you stay organized.

To File Is To Find

By |2012-11-08T14:56:24-05:00January 31st, 2012|Categories: Paper Management|Tags: , , , |

It’s all too common to think of a file cabinet as a place to make paper go away. It’s not. It should be a safe place to store files where they can be FOUND reliably. Don’t put things you want to make a point of acting on in your file drawer. They will be out of sight out of mind. Instead, they need to be out where they are more compelling.

My Case Against Paper Clips

By |2013-03-22T18:59:13-04:00January 9th, 2012|Categories: Paper Management, Systems|Tags: , , , |

This isn’t the first time I have attacked a familiar office convention. There was the accordion file, the spiral notebook, and the rubberband.Today, I take issue with the apparently harmless paper clip. Let me start by saying I do use paper clips myself. I believe they have their place. It’s just that I find they are grossly over-used.

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