Chapter 7

Setting Up and Maintaining a Productive Workspace

I wish you could've heard my staff and my wife when I started writing this chapter. They howled. Okay, I admit it: What I share here is easier to write about than to do. Nonetheless, even if you're not 100 percent successful with every one of the techniques, tools, and strategies in this chapter (I'm speaking from experience here, folks), adopting even some of them can increase your productivity and vastly improve your overall time management.

One study I saw indicated that most people waste an hour per day trying to find papers lost on their desks (at least, that's where they think the papers are lost) or files and documents misplaced in their computers. That's not so bad, you say. But an hour per day adds up to 260 work hours per year, or more than 32 wasted days per worker annually.

Multiply that by the number of executives, professionals, and sales and administrative employees in this country, and you're talking a significant loss of time. (And that doesn't include hours spent at home trying to find misplaced eyeglasses, scissors, library books, keys, needle-nose pliers, cell phones, gym shorts, earrings, pacifiers, and so on.) Think how productive you'd be if you spent all that time, well, being productive!

If your work area is a parking lot for everything from C-level “someday” tasks to hotter-than-hot, this-project-can-make-my-career assignments, you're the Titanic heading for an iceberg. Ask yourself the following:

If you can answer all these questions with truthful and unequivocal yeses, you can skip this chapter. Everyone else, read on.

Streamlining Your Workspace

“Don't touch my desk! I know exactly where everything is.” I've heard that line endlessly, and I've used it myself. If you're like me, however, most of the time, as you stare at the forest of papers on your desk, or the backed-up traffic of emails in your inbox, you are clueless. You may have known where that phone number was yesterday, a few weeks ago, a month ago — or even a few minutes ago — but more stacks have since been added to the mix.

It's not enough to know which chart, report, snippet of paper, or electronic file is on your desk or in your computer, whether it's on the left or right side of your desk, stashed in the catch-all drawer of your filing cabinet, in your email box, filed under a client record, or in a parked file. This is your career you're talking about. Get a handle on it!

Make way! Clearing off your desk

Repeat after me: My desk is not a parking lot. My email inbox is not a parking lot. My desk is not a parking lot. If you want to get your desk under control, remember: Less is more. The more pictures, notes, boxes, tools (staplers, paper-clip holders, books), and so on that occupy your desk, the greater your odds of being distracted and the more cluttered your desk feels.

You also have less room to spread out if you're consulting multiple sources of information, using a laptop or tablet in addition to your desktop computer, or studying oversized charts or graphs. What's more, a topsy-turvy desk translates into greater stress and the misleading feeling that you have all the time in the world to complete your projects.

Remove everything that isn't absolutely necessary from your desk. Be brutal. Here are some ideas to get you started:

As for your workspace, forget the Boy Scout be-prepared motto. It's a recipe for desktop disaster, especially if you're one who likes to prepare for flood, earthquake, alien invasion, and every other conceivable catastrophe. The cleaner and clearer your desk, the better you can use your time.

Assembling essential organizational tools

Having the right tools for the job is really the start of great organization. If you haven't already done so, get all piles off your desk, even if you have to put them temporarily on the floor. Then gather these tools:

If you are still attached to paper, then here are a few tips for organizing it all.

For more tools and tips you can use to organize your desk, check out Organizing For Dummies, by Eileen Roth and Elizabeth Miles (Wiley).

Setting up a timely filing system

Whether you are paperless or paper driven, you must have a workable filing system. Before you start going through your documents, think about how you're most likely to search for the documents you need. You can choose from numerous file-labeling strategies, but here are some possible categories:

You can choose to file by subject, client name, importance, or a number of other ways, but if time is of the essence, setting up a tickler filing system may be ideal. Tickler or reminder files have been around for ages. They make sure you remember to deal with delayed or deferred items at the correct times. Here's how they work:

1. Establish two complementary tickler files, one labeled monthly and the other labeled daily.

   Your monthly tickler can be as simple as a 12-slot expandable folder with the months written on each slot. Your daily tickler can be a 31-slot accordion file folder or even 31 hanging file folders, each labeled with dates 1 through 31. They are certainly old school, but they still work today. For a more modern approach, you could set those same parameters in your computer or tablet file system. Even using an app like Evernote can increase your ability to organize.

2. As you receive new documents, place them in the appropriate spot in your monthly file.

   If a document you receive in December requires no action until March, place the document in the March spot of your filing system.

3. When you enter a new month, move documents from that month's slot into the daily positions.

   When March rolls around, pull all the documents from your March tickler and place them in the appropriate days of the month in your daily tickler system.

Note: For many businesspeople, powerful software programs called customer relation management (CRMs) have replaced tickler files. Turn to Chapter 8 to find out more on CRM software and organizing computer files.

If your filing skills are truly abysmal, have someone who's a natural filer help you develop your filing system. I'm far more effective when I hand papers, reports, and memos off to an assistant. Whether a document is paper or electronic, I find I can also retrieve information more efficiently when someone else has filed it (because that person can help me find it!). Of course, only you can file some items (confidential personnel reports, salaries, information you want to keep personal, and the like). But as for the rest, use your team's strengths and gifts so you can make better use of yours.

Tackling piles systematically

To de-clutter yourself, you need to remember this simple rule: Put the important things where you can remember where they are and where you can get to them quickly. Here's how the de-cluttering process breaks down:

1. Figure out what you can get rid of.

   Here are a few simple questions to ask yourself:

   • Do you really need this? Really?
   • Is there value in saving this item? (If the answer isn't a definitive yes, toss it.)
   • What happens if you don't keep this?
   • What's the worst that could happen if you throw this away?

   

   Never throw away important documents, such as tax returns and business receipts. The IRS requires you to retain tax records and all supporting material for seven years. Before you toss, think carefully about whether an item has future value and whether copies are filed elsewhere so you can access them if you need to.

2. Condense the offending material into smaller piles by selecting items to go into a single master important pile.

   Many piles are simply files in disguise: documents that haven't been put away where they belong. By collecting the most important items into a single pile, you get an idea of how much time you need to dissolve this pile into nothing.

   At first, you may not be able to do much more than create your master important pile. After all, you still have meetings to attend, emails to respond to, and work to finish. However, the master file ensures that you tackle the important stuff first; the smaller, less-important items have to wait.

3. Schedule an appointment with yourself in the next 48 hours to rid yourself of your master important pile.

   You don't need to be in tip-top mental form to file. I suggest setting your filing appointment toward the end of the week, preferably in late afternoon when your energy level is low. Friday afternoons are a good time to file with comparatively few interruptions. (If you're struggling with interruptions, turn to Chapter 15 for help.) Don't worry about your other piles yet. Using the filing system you chose (see the preceding section), focus on the most important pile until it disappears.

4. After making your master important file disappear, go back to your remaining clutter and repeat the process.

   Start a second most-important master file and move all most-important items into that pile; then file them. Then make a third most-important master file. By now, you can probably see the surface of your desk, and you may even have a substantial area cleared.

Keeping Clutter from Coming Back

Not so long ago, a handshake or verbal agreement sealed the deal. No more. Today, you need paper or electronic document as a backup to confirm an agreement, assure mutual understanding, and even organize tasks. Documents have taken over people's lives.

Whether you're at home or at the office, maximizing your time means that all those documents have to quickly find their way to the proper place, even if that place is the computer, trash bin, recycle bin, or shredder. The key to controlling paper and electronic documents before they control you is to decide quickly where to put it all.

The best strategy for maintaining a clutter-free workspace is to avoid creating piles in the first place. You need to be more strategic in your work time to circumvent pile explosion. This section gives you two quick starts to circumvent the explosive growth of piles on your desk (or credenza, bookshelves, filing cabinets, extra chairs, window ledges, floor, or any other flat surface).

Handling documents and papers once

Those who master documents and paper have mastered single-handling. These people touch or read a document, email, or paper one time and then take action. They don't pile, table, ponder, check, reconsider, refile, or delay. They get rid of the document the first time they handle it or see it.

If you want to become a single handler, follow the five Ds: dump, delegate, detour, do it, or depot. Otherwise, you confront a less-productive list of Ds: dawdle, daydream, deliberate, and deceive — all of which lead to your demise.

Dump it

The dump-it principle is simple: Do you need it? If you don't, dump it or dispose of it. Say no to any of the following questions, and you can feel comfortable hitting the Delete button or sending it to the shredder or recycling bin:

Sort your mail over the recycling bin or waste basket. Everything that swirls into the bin or basket is no longer your problem.

Delegate it

Do you have an inner pack rat that wants to hold onto everything, including every paper that crosses your desk? One way to shut down this impulse is to delegate papers to someone else. Even if you know you could complete the task with two hands tied behind your back, that doesn't mean it's the best use of your time. Delegate and give yourself more time to work on high-value tasks while building the skills and confidence of people you delegate to.

Detour it

Handling every email, electronic document, or even sheet of paper once is a fantastic goal, but sometimes it's impossible. Maybe you need more information before you can delegate or dispose of the item, or perhaps the document raises significant questions that need to be answered before you act. If you can detour and park the email, electronic document, or paper for later follow-up, you've saved time deliberating now.

Don't park anything permanently! Create a detour file for delayed documents and papers, but be sure you get the information you need and deal with the issue. Don't let your temporary file grow into a pile hidden in a file.

Do it

Do it is the easiest and most straightforward of all the Ds. Take action, either to get the task done quickly or because there's a high level of urgency associated with it:

Depot it

A depot is a place where something is deposited or stored. You can find essential tools for filing earlier in this chapter in “Streamlining Your Workspace,” so you can establish an effective depot for papers you need to keep (and only the papers you need to keep).

Filing regularly

Because the task of filing is mundane, it's all too easy to allow other tasks, people, and priorities to creep into the time you set aside to deal with your piles and files, and in a few short weeks, the weeds can take over your garden again. Don't let that happen! Daily filing may not be necessary, but waiting a month or six weeks is too long. Make your time spent filing a priority. At the end of filing, your desk is devoid of piles, and you can begin filing once a week — for a much shorter time — and still keep on top of it. Keep up with your filing, and you won't find it so tedious. I realize that moving an electronic file by clicking your mouse is not heavy lifting. The hard part is making the decision to take action and deciding where to put it.

Schedule a weekly filing appointment with yourself and put it on your calendar. As you look ahead to assess your week and see your filing appointment, you begin mentally preparing for it. When you're prepared, you're more likely to keep your appointment with yourself, and when the time arrives, you'll be more efficient. You may find yourself throwing away more marginal items throughout the week and completing the task in less time.

When you're facing a few hours of filing, set a goal or benchmark. If you can't complete the whole project, break it down into a portion you can complete and commit to finishing that part without fail. (For more information on completing projects by chunking, see Chapter 16. Look for my Swiss-cheese or salami-slice methods.)

Taking notes that you can track

In business, most people overlook the simple skill of note-taking as a timesaving tool. Note-taking can be done both electronically, like on Evernote, or by the more traditional pen-to-paper format. I have to admit, my mind has been programmed over the years to connect with pen to paper. It allows the three-way connection between the brain, hand, and eyes to be more efficient. Most people think anyone with a pen and paper or note-taking program like Evernote can take notes: After all, everyone learned how in junior high, right? And if you're like most people, you probably take notes on whatever's handy: sticky notes, slips of paper, cocktail napkins, envelopes, or even important documents. Wrong approach! You can face significant time-loss and embarrassment when you later find out you lost the slip of paper where you took notes. This is certainly one advantage to Evernote.

Whether you're using specially designed and cut pads printed with “from the desk of,” a full 8½-x-11-inch pad that's a color other than the standard white or yellow, or a smaller white or yellow notepad, you need to use something that stands out.

If you know you'll need to file the notes, make sure you are able to scan a handwritten note for electronic storage, can easily find the note in your electronic note system, or go with large paper so you can find it later. When you finish writing, add action items to your priority list for the following day and then drop the notes into the appropriate file for record-keeping. If your action items make it to the A level during the next day's priority sort, all you have to do is pull out the file folder and find your notes there as you left them, safe and sound.

Although sticky notes are great for attaching quick reminders to your computer screen so you don't forget to buy ice cream and pickles for your pregnant wife, they're one of the worst places to jot down information. Here's why:

If you're not sharing a document with others, consider taking notes directly on the document rather than on a sticky note. You can take notes in the margins around the key issues in the document or use the white space at the beginning or end for summaries or more-general points.

Limiting the Paper You Receive

Many people receive more material via snail mail and email in one day than they can read in year. No one wants to miss news or seem out of it, but few people have time to read, let alone organize, the printed gridlock paralyzing their inboxes and mailboxes.

The question isn't how to handle the information, because you can't. All you can do is decide what's important and try to limit what you receive. You may have an information-overload problem if you

Here's how to cut down on the document overload:

Accounting for Ergonomics and Aesthetics

Not all time-saving techniques pertaining to your workspace are directly related to organization; elements such as comfort and positive energy also affect your productivity. Two of the most important and often overlooked areas are ergonomics (a fancy term for fitting the job tools to the worker, rather than vice versa) and aesthetics (how you decorate your space to make the place where you spend your time enjoyable and uplifting).

An ergonomic workspace increases your productivity, reduces your work hours, and prevents workplace injuries by placing your body at optimal angles and at distances where productivity increases and fatigue decreases. (Many work-related injuries can be traced to poor posture, poor work practices, and badly designed office chairs, desks, workstations, and computer keyboards.)

Likewise, aesthetics plays an important part in time management because it encourages you to be more productive. By surrounding yourself with things that inspire you, you help yourself keep all things in perspective, particularly the balance between your work and personal life so you can make better decisions and — on those days you feel like you're drowning — remember why you're doing what you do.

As I tell my wife, Joan, when she chooses her shoes based on style rather than comfort, ergonomics plays second fiddle to aesthetics all too often. If we're going to walk around town for an afternoon, and Joan wears her fashionable (and very attractive) slides rather than her walking or athletic shoes, I know that sooner or later, she's going to pay for her choice. The same is true in your workplace — so tend to your needs before making adjustments that are helpful but not crucial.

Setting up a proper workstation

Although today's desks are more likely to be designed to accommodate PCs, laptops, and tablets, many desks are still manufactured first and foremost for writing, note-taking, phone conversations, and getting organized.

The standard desk is a couple of inches too high for comfortable computer use, so if you spend a considerable amount — say, 50 percent — of your time on the computer, a keyboard at desk height can lead to problems with your back, shoulders, and neck. You probably know someone who's had carpal tunnel syndrome — numbness, tingling, and pain — in his or her wrists because of repetitive and incorrect computer use. That's only one ailment resulting from non-ergonomic work stations.

You probably spend the bulk of your office time sitting. To avoid fatigue and injury, invest in a good, ergonomically sound chair. Features to look for include the following:

Be sure you align your keyboard and monitor, too, instead of letting pieces jut left or right. I actually have two work stations in my office. One that's the standardized desk station; the other is a stand-up work station. This allows me to move and alter location based on my energy level, mood, and with whom I'm talking.

Decorating your space

Productive people create workspaces where they enjoy spending time. You spend many hours working, so make your work environment a place where you can focus and be productive for long stretches. You may have a strictly utilitarian view of your work area (it's Spartan but functional — what more do you need?). Or it may be important to you to dress up your space a bit. Whatever your preferences, keep them in mind as you begin planning your work area. Consider the following aspects of your workspace:

Here are a few points to remember as you personalize your space: