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Running the Fax, Snail & Email Race…
By Jeff Zbar | October 14, 2008
Yesterday was Columbus Day. It was a day to remember the day in 1492 when Chris sailed the ocean blue, and (re)discovered a land [props to Leif Ericson] — after stopping in the Bahamas to play some black jack at Atlantis — and paved the way for Sam Walton eventually to build a discount store on every corner.
Chris also came to be known as among those respected figures without whom certain Mondays would days during which a flood of mail continued to pour across people’s desks, leaving them poorly focused and disorganized.
I like Columbus Day. As with those days named for Washington and Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, Father Time and a few others, my phone rings just a little less often, the email pings a little less frequently, and there’s no mail to fetch, sort and file. I can focus on my work knowing no bills will arrive, and no one will hassle me with nonsense that keeps me from my appointed rounds, which namely include organizing yesterday’s mail, email and phone messages.
Life in the home and home office is an endless armada of organizational strategies, some of which float, some of which flounder. Just like a float plan, a sextant and a map, strategies and tools keep the home office straight and true.
- Organize with purpose. Be focused in your efforts to straighten up the place. Touch mail once (which means to deal with mail immediately after it enters the home), Return calls in batches (dedicate the right amount of time to make all your return calls at once, thereby limiting distractions), and Watch that clock (don’t let scope creep take over your organizational efforts.
- Use the tools. Label makers, file cabinets, file folders all help improve organization. Buy them and use them.
- Mimic efforts from one disorganized place to another. Use file folders in your cabinet - and your email inbox. The more one appears like the other, the better your organizational efforts will be.
Thanks, Mr. Columbus, for (re)finding the New World and having a day created in your honor, which enabled me to stay focused in my efforts. See you at Atlantis some time…
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