September 2008 Press & Charter

September Billing Information

— Annual Inventory Affects Schedule

Please be reminded that our Billing Cycle will be extended for the month of September. Due to our annual inventory at the end of the month, the last day of the September billing period will be Saturday, September 27, 2008. Your statement will arrive at your billing address the week of October 1st. Please keep this in mind; we apologize for the inconvenience.

Please Note: INVENTORY

— Store Hours Affected

Please note a change in our store hours to accommodate our annual company-wide inventory. All stores will be closed Saturday, September 27, 2008, with regular hours resuming Monday September 29.

15 Principles for Organizing Your Business Life

By Dorothy Lehmkuhl DayTimer.com

1. Get Rid of “Stuff” Paper, publications and possessions require maintenance; maintenance costs time, energy, space and money. How long do you really need to keep your old project files, reference materials, association or business journals, etc.? Dispose of seldom or never-used items. Ask yourself, “What will happen if I let this go?” If the answer is “Nothing,” get rid of it. Remember: It’s okay to make a few mistakes; that’s a small price for the contentment of having less “stuff.”

2. Limit Your Reading Material Realize that you can’t read, know, or retain all the information your receive. (That’s why we have public libraries!) Set up a read folder or other limited space for holding unread information. Pitch the oldest material (read or not) when that space is full.

3. Touch It Once! Be decisive: Handle mail only once and move on. If later action is needed, put it in an action file. Indecision is “organizational death” - yet most people aren’t even aware of their inability to make decisions. Use the simple DRAFT technique - Delegate, Read, Act, File, or Toss - the first time you touch it. Draft spells death to ever-growing, work-in-process clutter.

4. Think Before Acquiring More Evaluate before buying/accepting new items. Get off mailing/routing lists which serve no purpose; drop subscriptions to periodicals you seldom read. Ask yourself if you really NEED this item - or are you simply acquiring it because it looks interesting, because someone passed it on to you, or because “it might come in handy sometime”? Accept as few papers and possessions as possible. For each item you do acquire, purge two!

5. Organize Before Increasing Space Adding storage space is often a disservice to yourself. The more space you have, the more inclined you are to be a saver. Keep things as simple as possible by retaining as few items as you absolutely need. Stamp out redundancies. Return supplies to your central supply area. Purge file folders and storage space before adding more.

6. Don’t Leave Things Out As Reminders Leaving items out as reminders is a common mistake which creates clutter and distractions.

7. Keep Frequently-Used Items Handy Keep within easy reach your current working papers and items you’ll need when you answer the phone. Don’t waste “up front” storage space with infrequently used items - store those further away.

8. Don’t Crowd Individual Files Folders more than 3/4" thick need to be first purged, then divided if necessary. If file drawers are stuffed, papers become mutilated, labels become hidden, and access is difficult. Leave at least 3" of extra space in file drawers.

9. Do The Best Task At The Best Time After selecting the most productive task, do it at a time when you can accomplish it most effectively. Do tasks physically or mentally difficult for you at your own peak energy times; this includes making tough decisions. Do jobs you enjoy most at low-ebb times. Don’t try to do difficult work against all odds when you know you’ll have lots of interruptions, for instance.

10. Be Prepared Like the Boy Scouts, plan ahead for everything you’ll need. Gather data and plan an agenda for telephone calls. For a report, assemble all the files, books, forms, copies, special writing equipment, etc., you’ll use. For cleaning out, collect extra folders, boxes, cleaning equipment, and trash containers in advance.

11. Don’t Leave Until You’re Finished If you find items to be delivered elsewhere, put them in a specific place and deliver them there only when you’re finished with your present task.

12. Do Only What You Set Out To Do Focus on your specified project. Resist the urge to be distracted by what your eyes see. Instead, like a boomerang, let your brain keep guiding you back to achieving your immediate goal. Put other reminders in an action file and do them when you’re finished with this task.

13. Break Your Work Into Units If a project seems overwhelming, “divide and conquer.” Break it down into manageable units and schedule the steps to execute it.

14. Empower Yourself Through Delegation Many people are reluctant to delegate. They find it hard to let go - to make decisions to give up a task - or are embarrassed to have others see their disarray.

Empower yourself with these strategies to most effectively use your support team - peers, employees, supervisor, assistant, etc.:
1) Know what you and they do best
2) Never delegate tasks that are not essential and should not be done at all.
3) Communicate clearly what, why, and when.

15. Take Time For Training Just having the right planner, filing system or computer software program doesn’t assure your success; knowing how to use them effectively is the key to being well organized. “I don’t have time for training” is short-sighted. Actually, you don’t have time not to invest in learning!

September 2008 Press & Charter

15 Principles for Organizing Your Business Life

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