As summer wraps up, those of you who work from a home office and also have school-age children are probably eagerly anticipating being able to change your time management strategies and increase your office productivity. Having children around requires a great deal of multitasking. Daily business also requires a great deal of multitasking. The combination definitely equals stress.
Once the children are back in school you expect some relief. But then reality sets in and you are looking at backlogs of filing as well as overflowing inboxes, both paper an electronic. Your children get to make a fresh start every year. How often do you manage to totally clear the decks and begin again?
Organizing often gets put on the back burner because it seems there are more important things to do. Even though you rarely have free time, it is still the best practice to set aside one or two days and create some new systems before plunging into the next season of work. You will quickly recoup any hours that you devote to getting organized now. The alternative is working from a backlog that continues to nag at you, creates guilt at not getting it all done, and then builds up more stress.
Take the time now to make a fresh start. What strategies have helped you that could benefit others who are currently struggling with this seasonal backlog and change?
2 responses so far ↓
1 Ryan Bien // Sep 29, 2006 at 8:54 am
I do not have a solution, but an added complication. The home office is for both my wife and I. Our schedules do not match and organizing is next to impossible. What may be trash to me may be something she needs. We continue to work from stacks. Is this addressed in your book?
2 Denise // Sep 29, 2006 at 8:54 am
When you talk about a home office, it makes a difference whether that is the main business office for both of you or, literally, a home office. Home office space is usually pretty cramped, so the fact that you have different schedules is a plus. I would start splitting the home paperwork tasks–who pays what bills, who files, etc? Consider having a separate rolling cart for each of you if there is space to store those when not in use, for instance under the desk. If there is not enough room, try two plastic storage bins that hold hanging files but can be stored on top of each other when not in use. Have hanging file folders for your daily action items and to group like activities (all bills to be paid together, data entry, errands to run, filing). Use monthly folders for those items that you only need to keep for a short time, and when the next year rolls around, toss the papers in that current month’s folders. This keeps it in a retrievable spot but limits unnecessary filing. In all of these cases, MAKE A DECISION the first time you handle an item. My R-A-F-T process to do this is detailed in my book, “Destination: Organization.”
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