Cures for Incurable Disorganization

Organization ideas for out-of-sight, out-of-mind people

Does this sound like you?

You can think of a dozen different file names for one document. Do you file the dental bill under D for dentist, K for Keller (your dentist’s last name), B for bills to pay, I for insurance claims, or even T for teeth? Some people slice and dice filing labels so finely that they forgot which slice has the information or document they’re looking for.

Your computer desktop looks like a ream of paper and folders exploded in it, and your email inbox is jammed with completed, unfiled emails.

You have stacks and piles in your office, sticky notes clutter your walls and surfaces, your apps for organization are as messy as everything else, yet you know exactly where anything is. Last month’s earnings report is six inches from the top of the stack closest to the fake ivy plant in the southeast corner of your office. Heaven helps anyone who moves something when you are away.

Some people are naturally highly organized. Everything has a place and is kept in its place. Organized people typically work on one thing at a time, put it away, and then take out the next thing to work on. Everything is labeled and has a permanent home. If this is you, this article probably won’t help you.

Other people are “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” people. If it’s not in front of them, they forget about it. If you’re organizationally challenged, take heart. You can impose order and still be kind to your need to have everything in front of you, so you don’t forget anything. You just need bread crumbs and visual reminders.

Here are tips to help you tame the untamable.

Color Your World

Keeping office files and business and personal emails may seem like a tedious job; however; simple color-coding can get rid of the headaches of organization while making it easy for you to find what you need — even if you can’t see it.

Color-coding lets you recognize items instantly and reduces the time you spend looking for the things you need. The key is to keep the colors consistent across all media — paper and electronic. This helps you recognize a file or folder by color rather than name. Since people recognize color faster than they do text, you will spend less time finding what you need.

Assign specific colors for the different types of documents and files — for example, green for financial documents and files, yellow for research, red for top priority, blue for articles, and so on.
Create folders in these colors for your paper and electronic documents.
Use the assigned color-coding for all documents of a specific type and place them in the appropriate color-coded folder.
Use the same colors for your email folders, calendar, task lists, and organization apps, if you use them.

Label for Retrieval

Afraid you might need that document or email one day?

No time to file — you’ll never find it again anyway.

The key to filing is to use relevance and legal requirements as the criteria for retention and to label for easy retrieval.

Relevance means that the document is useful for your work — not someday, but now. Generally, anything older than 12 months, either should be trashed or removed to archive files.

There may be legal retention requirements for certain types of documents, so make sure you know the rules and regulations that apply.

Filing labels should make for easy retrieval. Since you can think of several names for your files and may not remember the one that you used for a specific document, you want to use broad categories for labeling, such as All Insurance, All Health Records, All Tax Records, and so on. Within these broad categories, you can create sub-labels, such as Home Insurance, Auto Insurance, Dental Insurance, and so on.

Use this same process for ALL files, electronic, email, and paper. Instead of file drawers, create master folders for your electronic documents and email. The more consistent you are across media, the easier it will be to find what you need easily and quickly.

Organize Your Space

Space contributes to your productivity and efficiency. The information and materials you use every day should be within an arm’s reach of your computer. Items and information you use less frequently should be farther away. Create a “table of contents” that shows where everything is.

Electronic Desktop

The files and applications you use every day should be easily accessible.
Documents should be filed in a folder, not loose on the desktop.
Use shortcuts and aliases to quickly find files, software, applications, and websites you use frequently.
Maximize your portable devices, so you can easily, quickly access anything you need.
Keep color coding consistent.

Physical Work Area

Here are some tips for maximizing your workspace:

Keep on your desktop what you need daily and what you are working on at the moment.
Reduce knickknacks, extra pens, pencils, and clips.
Do not stack files on your desk.
Place items you use often and need at least weekly in drawers where you can get to them.
Files and supplies not used every day and items you refer to often, but that are not necessary to meet your primary responsibilities, should be filed in cabinets or placed away from your primary work area.
Books, manuals, anything can be stored upright need to go in bookcases.
Computer, printer, phone — all within easy reach.
Walls are not open spaces for sticky notes or reminders. Use your phone or calendar and color coding for reminders.

Clear Physical Clutter

Having piles of papers in your physical or electronic environment drains your productivity and lowers your self-esteem. It also gives others the perception that you are disorganized and scattered. Here are some tips to help you keep your work area clutter-free,

Eliminate “clutter” boxes and “miscellaneous” piles. Everything needs a place and a label.
Set aside 15 minutes a day to file anything that is not in an assigned place. If you have large piles of clutter to tackle, clear one pile a week until the clutter is gone. Do not forget the stuff you have piled on windowsills and under the furniture. Some people have such large piles, they clear by the inch.
Make sure you touch each piece of paper or document only once.
If you need to take action on a document or make a decision, do it now, and then file it or trash it.
If you need more information, get it now.
Create a follow-up system for anything you can’t do now.
If you need to read it, file it in a “To Read” folder. Carry this folder with you and read the documents it contains whenever you have free time.
Keep your work area neat and orderly going forward.
Apply this same process to your electronic documents.

Clear Electronic Clutter

Facing a jam-packed inbox every day can make you feel irritable and tired before you begin the day. Finding the one email you need in an overflowing inbox can be an exercise in frustration.

Set up a new folder in your inbox and label it: Pre- [today’s date]. Move completed emails from your inbox into this folder. Go through this folder when you have time and either move emails to more permanent, labeled file folders or trash them.

Take care of the emails still in your inbox and any incoming email.

Open them one at a time, take care of it, and then file or trash it.
Delegate it and then either file it, trash it, or move it to your follow-up system to revisit later.
Create a To-Read Folder for emails and attachments that need to be read. Open this folder when you have time, then read, file, or trash the email.

Remember, your email inbox is like a filing cabinet, and your files should have the same labeling and color-coding systems you use elsewhere.

Small Steps Deliver Big Results

You can’t cross a football field in one step, but you can get to the other side by taking several, small steps one after the other.

The Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement–kaizen–encourages us to take small, consistent steps that make a difference when added together.

Set organization goals that are easily achieved. Break down larger goals into small, easy-to-take steps to get the best result. Identify the step where you feel the least resistance about taking it and do that.

Experts estimate that people spend about 150 hours a year looking for misplaced information and items. That is about one full month of lost productivity. That’s a pretty big price tag.