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A Clean Desktop: A Real Possibility! And then---Handle Your Mail!!
© Vicky
Campagna, PhD
To print a
pdf version of this article, click here
Professional organizer Eileen Roth has a great strategy for organizing
your desktop, which of course will simplify your life because then you
will actually be able to find things and get on with the job at
hand! She calls her system the REMOVE system, and it involves
categorizing all your mail into one of 5 categories:
Reduce
distractions by taking away all extraneous materials, from photos to
knickknacks to old mail that you meant to answer yesterday.
Everyday use:
your desktop should have only things you use
daily.
Move the things you use most often
to the side of the desk that corresponds to your dominant hand. Then
when you reach for a pen with your preferred hand,
there it will be!
Organize items
in logical groupings. All things of a certain type should be placed
together. For instance, all writing implements go together, all
fasteners (staples, rubber bands, binder clips, paper clips) go
together, etc.
View your
time: make time visual on your desktop by having a clock and organizer
right there.
Empty the
center of the desktop so that you have a space to do your work.
Roth goes on to encourage the efficient management of mail with the
RAPID system, which entails organizing all your mail into one of five
piles:
Read: all
mail that requires reading goes into this pile
Attend:
make another
for mail pertaining to events you plan to attend
Pay: Any
bills or requests for money to which you intend to respond should be
placed in this pile.
I:
This is where all the
mail that you judge to be important goes; all unknown mail goes here too
until you decide it belongs in another category
D:
Dump all mail that you can tell at a
glance is not something you want. Don’t even open it---just put it
in this pile----or better yet, put it right in the trash can!
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