I know I’m not the only one who gets giddy about tackling tough organizing projects! There’s nothing like the thrill of the “after” moment, when you know a space will function a hundred times better than before.
I even relish the small but mighty projects I tackle each week in the 10-minute Tuesday challenge. But this latest project was especially close to my heart.
As a teacher, organizing the principal’s office is the ultimate treat. I get to be in the bigwig’s office all day and actually help them? Don’t tell anyone that the principal in question has been my dear friend since we were 9 years old. Relations aside, she is still a principal and in need of organizational help. Here is my cue to enter with label maker in hand and a dream in my heart.
My friend arrived on the job, and subsequently the office, mid-year. The office and file cabinets still contained belongs of the former occupant, with more recent items squeezed in wherever space could be found. My friend didn’t want to throw anything out in case she needed it; but all of the disorganized paper left an unsettling feeling. By not knowing where items were at any given time, she never felt in control of her workspace. She needed a concentrated time to go through all the papers and decide what was necessary to keep and what could be tossed.
It was kind of silly how excited I was the previous day and morning of our big organizing adventure. After a quick pre-assessment where we noted what was working for her in the space and discussed her vision for the space and her working style, we were off and running.
Start with the Most Recent Paper
We started with paperwork because that was her greatest area of concern and as a school principal there is A LOT of paper. Paper can become overwhelming pretty quickly, so it was important we did not take everything out all at once to start the sorting. Always start with more recent papers first. You’ll recognize these papers more quickly and as you sort them you’ll start to notice themes that you can use as the foundation of your filing system.
Sort Like with Like
No matter what you are organizing, the first step is to sort like with like. We started with the papers on her desk since she knew they would be the most recent and began to sort. My friend is decisive and quickly determined what categories the paper belonged in. As she sorted like with like the file categories of her new organizing system quickly emerged.
When she did run into trouble, I simply asked her, “What action do you need to take next?” She could easily tell me what the next step was and her Action File categories were made based on the next actions she decided she would need to take.
Create Action Files
Most of the current piles of paper belonged in the action files. You know a paper belongs in the action file when you hear yourself saying, “I need to do this….or I need to call that person…. or I need to order that item.” The paper requires an action from you before it can be tossed or filed as a reference. (Many of these tips and more great resources for organizing paperwork can be found in Taming the Paper Tiger at Home
, by Barbara Hemphill.
Once her current papers were sorted into action categories, out came the label maker. Have I mentioned this is my favorite thing? I will invent things that need labels just so I can use it. Each action was made into its very own hanging file.
Action files need to be within arm’s length of your working space. If you need to stand up from your chair to get into your action files, the system is not going to work. The desk had a hanging file drawer perfect for action files. That is all that went into this drawer, no reference files.
The beauty of the action file system is when you need to make calls, or pay bills or make copies, you can grab that particular file and do it all at once and therefore be more efficient in your use of time. This is true in an office setting as well as at home. Everyone will agree that time is limited and one of the best ways to combat this is with organization.
Keep a running Task List
Through all this sorting, a to-do list was close at hand. As soon as you come across something you need to do, write it down. Without a to do list, you can quickly get derailed. You are going through paper and you find one that needs your action and you think, “I can do this real quick and then toss the paper.” Then you complete that task and you remember one other step that needs to be done and all of a sudden you have stopped organizing. In fact you have forgotten all about the organizing until you look over and see all of your paper sprawled across your desk. An hour has passed and you lose all your motivation just looking at the mess and realizing you didn’t make any head way. Don’t go down that path of misery- keep your to do list close at hand.
Tell yourself that you are only organizing, not getting tasks done. If you organize first it will make getting tasks done feel like a breeze instead of sitting down and feeling overwhelmed. Take out your to-do list and write down the tasks you discover/remember while going through your papers. Write it down, no matter how small it seems or how quickly you can get it done now. STOP, DON’T DO IT! Write it down. (Can you tell I am passionate about this point?)
After the current papers were sorted and placed in the action files, it was time to move on to paper in the file cabinet. This took more time to sort though because these were not current papers and therefore needed to be read through a little more carefully to see if they should be kept for reference. During this type of paper sorting, we made sure to take lots of breaks so it didn’t become too monotonous or overwhelming.
As we sorted we kept a list of broad categories that we eventually divided out even more once all the papers were sorted. Papers were placed back in the file cabinet with their new reference labels sorted in alphabetical order.
Frequently used notebooks for active projects/committees are kept on top of the filing cabinet for daily access.
After recycling bags and bags of paper, the office had a clear desk but most importantly systems in place to process the constant flow of paper in and out of the office.
How do you take charge of your paper? Do you clean off your desk at the end of each day? At the end of the month? Never? Share your paper challenges and we’ll tackle them together.
what a transformation! awesome!!
Yeah! I am so glad you found a useful tip!
Wow this is a great post. I love to see how people keep up with paper clutter and I really like the idea for "action" labels. Thanks for sharing
Great ideas, and I love that you showed photos of what you achieved. Very inspiring.