It is no surprise that organizational skills are closely linked to time management skills.  And it is no surprise that those who are highly organized are usually better at time management.  The word usually is used because there are some who just organize and never accomplish anything.  This is a form of call reluctance called over-preparation according to Dudley and Goodson in Earning What You’re Worth?  The Psychology of Call Reluctance.  Top producers are rarely over-preparers.  As a matter of fact, top producers are typically quite the opposite.

Organizing your office and your life would take a lot of stress away for most of us.  It is here that the maxim of one step at a time is so important.  Most of us wait for the pile on our desk to grow so high we must take a week off (or a few weekends) to organize a few times a year.  The key is spending ten minutes each day filing and putting things in their place.  All worthy goals are achieved in small steps.

There are many organizational rules.  The one I really like states that you must throw out one piece of paper in a file every time you add a piece of paper.  This way you don’t have files that grow to be 75% trash–with a life of their own.  With computers it is the same idea–every time you create a file–what file is no longer needed?  Barbara Hemphill, in her famous Taming the Paper Tiger series, indicates that the trash bin is a major organizational tool.

Here is one more suggestion that is very important to those who have been in business for a long time and remember what it is like not to have a computer at their desk.  You do not have to print out a copy of everything on your computer.  Make sure your computer has valid back-up systems.  Remember, the goal of a paperless office is why we became automated in the first place.