I’m not really one to set a New Year’s resolution. I never keep
them, and, besides, I don’t think there’s anything all that wrong
with me.
But when my boss sent me a forwarded e-mail for a
”
story idea
”
with the title
”
National Clean Off Your Desk Day
– Jan. 12,
”
I couldn’t help but think of it as a subtle message.
I’m not really one to set a New Year’s resolution. I never keep them, and, besides, I don’t think there’s anything all that wrong with me.
But when my boss sent me a forwarded e-mail for a “story idea” with the title “National Clean Off Your Desk Day – Jan. 12,” I couldn’t help but think of it as a subtle message.
By far, of all the desks in The Dispatch editorial department, mine is the messiest. It’s a happy sort of clutter, though. I have all sorts of strange items pinned to my cubicle wall, like a picture of a giraffe, various cartoon strips, pictures of me singing with the band Shaboom, Otto the Auto’s Halloween Safety Tips and press photos we’ve never used, like of the 15-piece funk freakout band “Superbooty.”
I have what I’ll call dual-use folders (items sticking up out of the folder have not yet run in the paper, and items not sticking out that have). I have piles of press releases and story ideas, countless half-filled reporter’s notebooks and somewhere underneath I know I have sticky notes, business cards, pens, pencils, a dictionary and grammar books.
And with all that stuff, there’s one more thing I certainly have – no idea where anything actually is. Thankfully, in the e-mail of the press release was the phone number for Barbara Hemphill, an organizational expert.
Having written several books on the topic of cluttered workspaces, Hemphill seems like the most excited person in the world when it comes to talking about a messy desk.
For every question you can dish out, she can respond with mottos and catch phrases like “Today’s mail is tomorrow’s pile,” and “Clutter is postponed decisions.” She also has a list of factoids like, “The average person spends 150 hours a year looking for information. Is that how you want to spend your time?”
Of course not. But could she really get me to be organized?
“You can never convince anyone to do it,” said Hemphill, who is based out of Raleigh, N.C., but has trained professionals throughout the country. “If people like having a messy desk, that’s how they’re going to do it.”
Well, I like having all my goofy pictures up on the wall, but I wouldn’t complain if I didn’t have to go through piles of paper to find that e-mail I just printed five minutes earlier.
As it turns out, Hemphill said I could accomplish just that.
“Three questions: Does it really work? Do you like it? Does it work for others?” Hemphill asked. “If it doesn’t fit any of these criteria, then throw it out. You should have nothing in your life which you don’t know to be useful, think to be beautiful, or love.”
But there are some things on my desk I keep, you know, just so I don’t lose it.
“What’s the worst possible thing that could happen if you lost it?” she asked. “If you can live with that, than throw it away.”
Well, there goes some more junk.
Another one of those factoids for you: “Eighty percent of what we keep we never use.”
So I started trashing stuff, but that was just the start. My biggest problem was all this paperwork. And with each day’s pile of press releases and junk mail, it just got worse.
Hemphill had a few tips for this part, too. She has developed what she calls the “Eight-hour Miracle.” Within eight hours of a visit from her or one of her Productivity Trainees and Authorized Consultants, organization will become a way of life.
“At the end of eight hours, you’ll know what to do with any piece of paper that comes across your desk,” she said.
Since I didn’t have the money and Hemphill was getting ready to talk organization on a television program on the East Coast, I just asked for a few tips.
She told me that cleaning the desk is a five-step process, with the first step being to set a goal.
“If your desk was exactly how you wanted it to be, what would it look like?” she asked. “We need to know what success would look like.”
While my ideal desk would be one with a television set set to a sports game and a Playstation 2 with four or five assistants doing all the work, I worried that may not be the best way to keep my job. Basically, I told her of my dream of actually being able to get enough paper off my desk to see the desktop itself.
Hemphill factiod: “E-mail causes 40 percent more paper being printed.”
She said next step is to eliminate obstacles, such as space or any items that need to be purchased.
“I don’t have time is not an excuse,” she added.
Well, my other excuse was the lack of filing cabinet, which didn’t go over well.
“That’s a major problem,” she said.
So I acquired an unused filing cabinet from a much more organized coworker and built a frame for hanging file folders.
“The key to filing something is an index,” she said. “You put together all these files and name them, and all of a sudden you have a folder named “Car” and a folder named “Insurance.” So which folder do you go to when you’re looking for your car insurance papers?”
To combat this problem, she suggests creating two sets of numbered files – action and reference – using only hanging file folders (no manilla folders). The action files would be used to place anything you are currently working on. When finished, the files would be moved to the reference file.
All of these files are controlled by Hemphill’s computer program, called “Taming the Paper Tiger.” For each numbered file folder, you type in keywords for each item in the folder. If you miss a day of work and someone needs to fill in for you, all they would have to do is type a keyword of the project they were looking for and the program would name what folder the information was kept in.
“You’re filing in a way that it’s not on your desk, but it’s easily accessible,” she said.
Using the program, Hemphill guarantees customers that they can find any document in five seconds.
Next, she said to set a time frame for getting organized. It could take a day or it could take a month to get a system working. It all depends on the person’s needs, Hemphill said.
It was now or never for me, so I told her I was ready to start putting my workspace together right away.
The final two steps are to go through with the plan by setting up files and organizing, and then to maintain success.
While I can’t promise any success at this point, I do have a file system in place and a 10-minute phone call has started me on a path of cleanliness, and the title of messiest desk in the newsroom can go to someone else, for now.
If only she could just give me some advice about the clothes piled up in my bedroom.
For more information about Hemphill’s books or her organization company, visit www.4ptacs.com or www.thepapertiger.com.
