Get the Cow off Your Desk And the Monkey off Your Back

It’s All About Paper Flow And Time Management

by Valerie Simpson
A to Z Organizing Pros® 

Has something like this happened to you recently?

It’s time for an important meeting. 

Or perhaps you’ve just received a phone call you’ve been wanting and expecting.  There’s a big business deal on the other end. 

Your boss walks into your office and says “I need to see the Acme Report right away!” 

You look at your desk, and you don’t have a clue where anything might be.  The agenda for the meeting?  The letter and proposal that prompted the call?  The report?  All you can see is the Cow sitting there. 

The Cow doesn’t actually look like one, but it might as well.  Your desk is covered with piles and piles of paper.  You haven’t seen the bottom of the pile for weeks.  You know what you need is in there—somewhere.   You heave a big sigh and start to dig away.  The Cow looks at you, and laughs. 

At times like this, we’re convinced of one thing:  organization is important.  To our credibility, our performance, our promotion, and even our job security.  They’re all at stake, even when we eventually find what we’re looking for. 

I talk to people like this all the time.  As a professional organizer, I get the 911 calls.  My clients will put up with the Cow for a long time, and usually send out the distress signals only when the emergency arrives. 

Stephen Covey mentions this situation in First Things First.  He calls it the Tyranny of the Urgent.  Keeping things organized has always been important, but it’s not urgent.  So we go on doing other things, ignoring (or trying to ignore) the ever-growing Cow occupying our work area.  

Then the fateful moment arrives, and we need something—NOW!  

Check out my website for more information about why we procrastinate and how to over come it. 

You can wait until that moment, and then pick up the phone (when you find it) and call someone like me.  Or, you can take a few moments every day to eat that Cow, just a few bites at a time.  Eventually it will disappear, if you’ll start and stick with it.   

Let me talk to you about that, and tell you how to do it.  We’ll deal with the Cow first, then look at ways to prevent it from coming back. 

Consider what the Cow costs you, in productivity.
How much do you earn annually?  $50,000?  $100,000?  $200,000?  More?  What do 15 minutes a day of lost productivity (the time you spend looking for things you should be able to reach instantly) cost?  At $50,000, it costs more than $1,500 per year.  Double that for $100,000.  A $200,000 earner wastes more than $6,000 of that in the search process.  That’s a lot of waste.  How could you spend that kind of instant raise? 

First, make a commitment to yourself:  you’re going to invest those 15 minutes a day, every day, in deconstructing the Cow.  Each day you spend at that will reduce the time you spend looking for things.  When you’re finished, the lost time drops to zero. 

One bite at a time.
If you’re going to eat your Cow, begin with a small bite.  The first step requires some office supply inventory you’ll need to gather together or buy.  Banker/storage boxes.  New file folders.  Hanging folders.  Markers.  I have a list of specific items you’ll need for the project, and I recommend specific types or brands of some of them for different reasons. 

I’ll make this easy for you.  Go to my website, www.AtoZOrganizingPros.com and go to my link “SHOP”.   You can do all your shopping for what you need there, using my recommended products, and have them shipped to you.  

Sweep your office
Take the first step and decide the most important place to start. Then begin there and work your way around the room sorting and putting things where they belong.  

Have you heard the term “OHIO”, not the state? Well, that stands for “Only Handle It Once”. To accomplish this I recommend using the “D-FAT” system: 

• Delegate—When you can have someone else do it. Let them do it!
• File—When the document belongs in your file, put it there (or in your out/file tray), and get it off your desk.
• Act—When you can complete it in less than 5 minutes, do it now.  Take that action, and get it off your desk.
• Toss—When you don’t have any further use for it, throw it in the trash, shredder or recycle bin and get it off your desk (and out of your life).

The Cow turns into a Pile
Gather all your paper and folders into a huge pile.   

Assemble the boxes, but leave the lids off.  Stand them up on end and label each one with a Post-It type of note:  Current Business, Potential Projects, Creative Ideas, Personal, Marketing.  You’ll identify your own major topics and no doubt create others as you sort.   

Now you have a goal: to handle once each paper or file in the stack, and put it into an appropriate box.  Lay the documents flat on the bottom of the box (it’s open on the side, remember) and place them face down in the new stack. 

Look at your filing system.
What kind of files do you have?  Do you have your most important files at eye level, where you can find them easily?  Have you labeled them clearly, so you can see them the minute you open the drawer? 

If the drawers open to show the files arranged horizontally (across) instead of vertically (front to back), are they facing the direction that allows you to reach into the file drawer with your right hand, if you’re right-handed, or the left, if you’re a lefty? 

Do the “Simpson Shuffle”}
This simple step I developed amazes my clients and works spectacularly for them!  Most people take a new file folder out of the box, label it on the tab at the back, place it in the file and start filling it.   

Have you had difficulty finding a folder because you couldn’t read its label?  Perhaps some oversized papers blocked the tab.  Maybe you’ve just crammed too much in the folder.   

Or, have you had difficulty locating the front of the folder?  You see the back of it clearly, but all the paper in it makes you wonder, “Where’s the front, so I can place my most current document there?” 

Well, it’s time to do the Simpson Shuffle.  You’ll need a good-sized black marking pen or label maker for this job, because you’re going to re-label most of the folders in your drawer. 

Take the entire folder out of the drawer, and remove all the paper.  Now, invert the folder, so the label tab sticks out at the front of the folder, instead of the back.  You may have to re-label the folder on the new “front” side in your large black marking pen, put the papers back in the folder, and return it to your file. 

When adding new folders to the drawer, check to see which folder tab will work best. When you place a folder between two others, one having a left tab and the other having a right, the new folder should have a center tab. 

Now the label is at the front of the file.  Nothing will block your view of it.  And if you want to put something in the front of the folder, it’s as simple as sliding the new document in just behind the front cover, now the most prominent feature of the folder. 

The Simpson Shuffle is the major element in the Simpson Pull System.  This is exactly the process I follow when I’m working with my clients. 

The Rubik cube of colored folders
A word about folders: I would caution you about the use of colored folders. The mind sees the colors like we see a Rubik cube. Nice when they are sorted by category or department or in some cases, company. Not so nice when there is no rhyme or reason for the use. 

Most clients that have file system challenges have too many colored folders in their drawers. Changing from colors to manila or only one color, folders changes the dynamics of how the brain processes the information in the file system. 

The biggest challenge found with systems that use multiple colors is that when the user runs out of a particular color they grab whatever is available. Solution: Use all single color folders, preferably manila. And when you must use color to signify a difference in category or department, use a colored highlighter and mark the manila folder across the top of the tab. 

The only time I have utilized colored folders was for a client who ran five companies out of one facility. The agreement was that there would be no co-mingling of file folder colors between companies. 

Organize your file drawers
This is an ideal time to use boxed-bottomed hanging files if you have the ability to hang them.  This allows for easier movement in the file drawers, and keeps anything from becoming so bulky you can’t open the folder (or put something in) without removing it.  Check my site for the kind I recommend (several brands I absolutely do not recommend, because they’re just not sturdy enough to endure). 

Think about the best way to present your files to your (or someone else’s) eye.  Alphabetically?  By area or topic?  Chronologically?  A combination?   

As you rearrange the files, make sure each folder contains information you currently use or need.  If not, remove it from the active drawer and put it in an archives drawer, box or just discard it.  Make new folders as you identify a need for them.  And when a folder gets particularly large, just use the crease marks near the fold to create a boxed bottom folder or split the file and have two, making sure that they are both appropriately labeled. 

Sort the banker box piles into the file drawers
Now that you have your files Shuffled, Hanging, Removed, Organized and Fixed, it’s time to take your papers and piles and put them in the proper locations.  You’ll have them off your desk once and for all, and your Cow will be gone! 

Keep the Cow from returning
Of course, it’s easy for that belligerent bovine to climb back up on your desk.  All you have to do is let the paper start to accumulate again, without handling it and moving it along.  So at least once a week, take all the paper you have and file it again. 

Time and motion experts say we handle a typical piece of paper 8 to 10 times before we finish dealing with it.  The ultimate goal would be to handle everything just once, but of course that’s not always possible.  When you ask the right question, you’ll probably cut the number of times you handle paper in half.  Your paper should to flow across your desk. 

In order to flow, it has to move.  So here’s the question to ask, each time you pick something up: 

“What can I do with this paper to keep it flowing across my desk?” You’ll find a number of options spring to mind. 

I recommend that you use the OHIO and D-FAT systems here. Remember to keep the paperwork flowing, always in motion. 

I created a wonderful set of “active” desk files for the most critical things.  I call it “The Priority Folder System (The solution to your Inbox nightmare)” They’re brightly colored vinyl, guaranteed to last on the job as long as you do (even longer!), and you can create a system to make these things easily accessible.   

I labeled them (on the front side, of course, using the Simpson Shuffle) To File, To Do, Bills Due, Urgent, Pending and To Read.  

Keep these files in an easily accessible location.  You may decide to put them in an incline desktop file rack on your desktop, or in the front of a nearby file drawer in a hanging folder. Then when something arrives on your desk, handle it once and place it in the appropriate folder. 

The durability of these folders makes them portable, too!  If you’re headed out to a meeting, or leaving town and going to the airport, grab the folders you need and put them in your briefcase.  I particularly like taking the To Read file with me when I travel or go on appointments.  Too often, we neglect the part of the job that requires us to stay informed and current.   

How many times have you been waiting for someone or something and there you are reading a magazine that has no interest or value? Wouldn’t it be nice to have your reading materials with you so that you can utilize that “down time” for something useful to you or your career? 

You can buy these priority folders from me for less than the cost of today’s lunch.  I recommend you stop reading and order them now! “The Priority Folder System” click on "SHOP”. 

Think about how paper moves across your desk
Did you know desks are right-handed or left-handed?  So are we.  When you play golf, you wouldn’t dream of playing with the wrong kind of clubs.  Yet we tolerate the same sort of awkwardness with our desks and flow patterns across them. 

One of my clients owned a beautiful large desk from which he ran the business he owned.  This desk was long enough to serve as the landing area on an aircraft carrier.  It had graceful lines and a sweeping pattern toward an area for his computer and printer. 

There was only one problem: the computer area (where he spent the most time) was off to the right and he was right-handed.  That meant the entire surface area of his large desk was on his left side.  When I explained it, he said, “No wonder I had a Black Hole for paper over on to that side!”  He now understood why the small area in front of the paper drawer for his printer always had a pile of documents in front of the drawer, making it necessary for him to pick it all up and move it to refill the paper drawer. 

Maybe your desk isn’t that spacious.  Perhaps it takes the standard rectangular shape, and maybe your computer equipment is off to the side (or behind you) on a credenza or shelf.  You can still make your desk right-handed, or left-handed.  I’m going to describe what a right-handed person would do.  If you’re left-handed (as I am), you can simply reverse everything I say. 

Creating a paper flow
As you sit facing the work area in the middle of your desk, what do you see?  Do you have an inbox?  If so, it should be in the upper right hand corner of your desk. 

From there, your paper can flow to the work area in the middle of your desk (you’ll bring it there with the appropriate hand), where you can “execute” (love that word!) your work. 

Once you’ve finished, it can go to your outbox, which you’ll find in the upper right hand corner just under your inbox.  (Place your out box items facedown. This will keep your eyes from wondering to what’s completed. It will also make filing easier because you will file first things first.) What, you don’t have an outbox?  No wonder you have a Cow on your desk!  Get one!  (An outbox, that is.)

Some paper has no further use once you’ve “executed” it.  So it goes into your wastebasket off to your left.  

That’s all there is to it.  It’s simple and easy to set up.  Just think about paper flowing across your desk from right to left.  And reverse the entire process if you’re left-handed. 

Pile trays
Don’t even get me started on “pile trays”. I found that having only two stacking trays on your desk works best. One for “inbox and one below that for “outbox” or “to file”. Any more than that and they become pile trays that you will find yourself digging through just to find something. 

Another way to do all this
I have many professional organizers with whom I’m affiliated.  You may still want to hire an expert to help you do all this.  One of my clients hired me because he knew he would never set aside time to do it himself, but when he brought me in, he would work with me as long as I was there.   Perhaps you need that sort of incentive. 

Let me help you, or help you find a professional who can.  That’s another major part of my business. Our professional organizers coach you to draw out the knowledge you already possess and teach you how to create systems that work for you based on how you think and do. It’s always a work together partnership. 

The Cow and the Monkey
So the Cow is gone, hopefully never to return.  What about the Monkey?  No, I haven’t mentioned the Monkey yet. 

The Monkey works along with the Cow.  It jumps on your back and wraps its arms and legs around you.  It looks over your shoulder, and whispers in your ear. 

“You’re the most disorganized person in the world, aren’t you?” 

“You’ll never be successful with a mess of an office like yours.” 

“Why don’t you do something about this?  That’s just the way you are.” 

Once you’ve gotten yourself organized using these easy methods, the Monkey will sing a different song. 

“Look at that Cow.  Wait…where did it go?  Well, I guess I’ll be going, too.” 

Good luck to you in your career, and may you find no Cow on your desk or Monkey on your back!

Valerie Simpson is the President of A to Z Organizing Pros Inc.; a Phoenix-based firm that helps organizations large and small to find new ways to be more efficient, organized and productive. She can be reached at 602-674-2649