Business First of Louisville - February 26, 2007 http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2007/02/26/smallb4.html
Friday, February 23, 2007
Organize your electronic files like you would paper files
Business First of Louisville - by Tracie D. Utter
Question: Our boss has asked us to organize our e-mail and other electronic files in a more systematic manner. I have to admit that I'm not very organized and am not sure what to keep and what to get rid of, so I keep everything. It has really piled up. Any advice? Answer: It's not uncommon for people to have the best intentions when it comes to getting organized, but there always seems to be something that interferes with success. Examine what it is that interferes with your success, and oftentimes you'll find that it's fear. Fear accelerates bad habits. When information is involved, the tendency is to hold onto a document or computer file until you have time to read it. Most of us honestly believe we eventually will have time to read the information. The problem is our priorities and workload do not allow a lot of time for reading, therefore the information builds up and becomes clutter. And even though the files are not physical, hard-copy files, they still take up data storage space -- and even mental space -- because we know we need to get to them.
Nothing to fear? So what are we afraid of? When information is involved, it often is the fear of what you do not know. The fear of what you have not read and might miss. The fear that information will be needed because of some unforeseen circumstance. The fear that someone else's time or money is being wasted because an e-mail message will go unread. The fear that someone will question you about a current event and you might feel inadequate. Whatever the reason, acknowledge the habit and commit to change. Information is useless unless you can find it. The objective for being organized is to be able to find information quickly and use as little mental energy as possible in the process. Try these steps to getting organized. Set priorities, overcome emotions Read only what is important to you. Stay focused when going through email, searching the Internet or reading online journals. Keep messages and articles that provide future benefit and lend themselves to some type of filing system. Let go of the fear of losing information. If irrelevant e-mail -- non-work-related, e-mails you have already replied to, forwarded jokes, etc. -- clutters your in-box, admit that you probably will not need to read them. Consider your priorities, and if the information is not relevant, get rid of it. Next, find solutions that allow you to overcome emotions associated with clutter. Does the thought of going through years of built-up computer files feel overwhelming? As with any project, have an objective and break the process down into pieces. Define how to approach the organization project and take it a step at a time. Risk is low when organizing. Mistakes, although potentially timeconsuming, easily can be overcome and perfection is not required. Strive for long-term success
When getting organized, it's all about retrieval. It is critical that you be able to find what you file or failure will plague you.
Establish a filing system that makes sense to you. It's easier to explain your system to someone else than it is to attempt to adapt to one that doesn't work for you. So, for example, if it makes more sense for you to file e-mail under a person's name than an event that person is associated with, do it that way. Read e-mail when it comes in and file it in your Outlook folders to get items out of your in-box. Detach electronic attachments from e-mails and save them to an electronic file on your hard drive or server, just as you would file a hard-copy document. Keep it simple. If sub-filing documents is confusing, then just create a single file. Label an electronic filing system as you would a paper one, especially if the electronic files correspond with paper files. It is more efficient to use similar or the same label name. Sometimes the first solution is not the best, so give a filing system a chance. You can always change what isn't working.
And, finally, if all else fails, outsource. Acknowledge that maintaining paperwork is not a process you enjoy and look for assistance around you. There are a lot of people who truly enjoy the process of organization and maintenance. Tracie D. Utter is a CPA and owner of Utterly Organized in Prospect and a member of the Kentucky Society of CPAs Small Business Committee.
All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.