Be More Productive, More Organized and Less Stressed

Lucky for me that two days before "National Stress Awareness Day", I met Lisa Zaslow who is the Founder and CEO of Gotham Organizers .GothamOrganizers.com

Lisa has a world of knowledge when it comes to making you more productive and organized.

Visit her site and for a quick and immediate take away, read her article below–you will definitely find some golden nuggets to put into action.

Organizing Paper: Do’s and Don’ts

Each year the

postal service delivers 200 billion pieces of mail. Another 2 trillion pieces of paper are generated in offices. There are about 300 million people in the county – you can do the math – that’s a lot of paper that each of us has to deal with! If you’re not managing paper effectively, it’s costing you time and money.

Follow these Do’s and Don’ts to keep on top of the thousands and thousands of pieces of paper you must handle each year.

DON’T throw your mail, unexamined, onto the kitchen table, saying you’ll deal with it “later”.

DO take 60 seconds to toss the junk mail and separate out the important stuff.

DON’T stuff your file cabinets so full that you need a crow bar to remove a piece of paper.

DO leave 1”-2” of space in each drawer so that you can easily grab files and to drop papers into them.

DON’T use your in-box as a dumping ground.

DO create a system to handle the papers that you don’t have time to work on right now.

DON’T use paper-storage products that don’t work for you or that you don’t like. If you hate files, there are many alternatives.

DO get products that you love and that work well. Choose pretty binders, nice new folders, good-quality attractive filing cabinets. If you like it, you’ll use it!

DON’T put away a piece of paper before you’ve determined if there is an action you need to take regarding it.

DO set up a date-based system to ensure that you fully process a piece of paper before it’s put away and forgotten.

DON’T hold onto papers that you don’t need. 80% of filed papers are never referred to again!

DOlearn which papers you can safely toss. For comprehensive guidelines on how long you need to save different types of paper – from ATM slips to warrantees – and all the info you need to create a great filing system, visit www.101FilingTips.com

DON’T keep making the same mistakes over and over again when it comes to managing papers. There is no need to keep paying late fees, miss events and sales, blow deadlines, and feel overwhelmed because you can’t keep up with your papers.

DO get help when you need it! Depending on your situation, you may need information on how to manage your papers, someone to work with you to create systems that you can easily follow, or someone to handle your paperwork for you.

Lisa Zaslow

is the founder of www.GothamOrganizers.com and a nationally recognized expert on organization and productivity. She helps individuals and businesses to be more productive, more organized and less stressed. Lisa is the author of “Can’t I Just Shred It All? 101 Quick Tips to File – and Find – Your Important Papers”, available at www.101FilingTips.com To receive Lisa’s Productivity Tips e-newsletter visit www.GothamOrganizers.comGet a daily quick tip by following GothamOrganizer on Twitter.