Clean up your act -- get organized!
By Jenny C. McCune • Bankrate.com

The year's end provides a good time for small-business owners to get organized. That means clearing the decks -- and the desks -- and getting ready for business in a new year.

Worried that you're not up to the organizational challenge? The good news is that being organized is a skill rather than something innate.

"Some people are naturally organized, while others struggle daily to find a piece of paper," explains Lisa Kanarek, a home office expert and author of Organizing Your Home Office for Success. "You don't have to be born organized to be organized. The secret is finding the methods that work for you."

Here's how to become organized -- and regain your desktop -- in a few easy steps:

• Set achievable goals.
  If your office resembles a rat's nest, realize that it took time to get that way so it will take time to clean it up. "Organizing paper takes time and many times can't and shouldn't be handled in a single day," cautions Kanarek, founder of HomeOfficeLife.com.
• Start with a broad brush effort.
  Separate magazines, newspapers and newsletters into a "To Read" pile that's housed in a box or another receptacle -- instead of piling them on top of your desk. Divide the remaining paper in your office into three piles: "To Do," for items that require action; "To File," for documents that must be kept; and "To Sort," for papers that must be scrutinized before their final destination (file cabinet or wastebasket) becomes apparent.

One of the common mistakes business owners make is to keep more than they need. They'll hold onto every scrap of paper "just in case," Kanarek says. To help you reach the right decision about what to keep and what to toss, ask yourself these questions:

1. Will you refer to the paper again? If the answer is no, toss it.
2. If you tossed it, can you replace it? If the answer is yes, throw it out.
3. What is the worst thing that could happen if you toss the piece of paper and find out that you need it again? If the answer is nothing, consign it to the dumpster.

Make every effort to move everything off of your desk. Only keep items that you use daily or weekly. So yes, pens, tape, and scissors belong on the desk, but two weeks' worth of Wall Street Journals should be relocated to the "to read" file.

In terms of filing, start with hanging files subdivided by folders. It's important that you devise a system that's similar to how your mind works. "File a piece of paper under a topic that will be easy to find later," Kanarek says.

Also make sure that your filing system is something you can live with. That will ensure that you'll keep up with your filing rather than continually putting it off. Also feel free to overhaul your filing system if it's not working for you.

In addition to trying to reduce the paper in your office, be equally vigilant about your computer-stored documents and files. Routinely delete items that you no longer need. Move archived documents from your computer onto a floppy or diskette drive. (Even printing out documents that must be retained can work.) Not only will you find it easier to find files on your hard drive, your computer will work better and faster since it won't be stuffed to the top of its CPU with extraneous files.

Once you've cleaned up your office, keep it that way by setting aside time each week (preferably some each day) to get organized.

Getting things done
As part of your organizational campaign, also start a "to-do" list. Use anything from a computerized organizer such as Microsoft Outlook to a legal pad to record what you need to do. Choose what works best with your work style. For example, some people enjoy a paper list that sits on their desk and can be viewed all day long. Others prefer a software program that will set off pre-set alarms to remind you to do a task at a specific time.

Also, prioritize your to-dos. What needs to be done first? What carries a lower priority?

In addition to prioritizing, also set time estimates for your assigned activities. Try to be realistic about how much you can accomplish in a day and feel free to re-prioritize yourself should emergencies arise.

Most important of all, "refer to your list often," Kanarek says. "There is no point to having a list if you never look at it."

Try to avoid what Kanarek refers to as the "bouncing ball" syndrome, which occurs when you bounce from one activity to the next without getting a single project completed: The phone rings. An e-mail pops up on your screen. You drop what you're doing for something else that seems more pressing. In a word, don't. Try to stick to one project, and complete it before moving on to the next.

Follow these tips and you'll have a cleaner desk and a better organized mind, two things that can help you better compete.

Jenny C. McCune is a contributing editor based in Montana

-- Posted: Jan. 8, 2001