culprit of stress in 2010 according to new numbers from StatisticsCanada.

A pressure-cooker to begin with, the workplace is made even more stressful by  being disorganized.

“Canadians are in a constant time crunch and experience feelings of stress,  failure and frustration,” says Clare Kumar, a Toronto-based professional  organizer. “Today’s office workers must take stock of both their work habits and  their environment, and take necessary action to alleviate the tremendous  pressure disorganization has on their productivity and work-life balance.”

“By having the right tools in place, Canadian office workers can save at  least 15 minutes per day which works out to a week and a half per year,” adds  Linda Chu, a professional organizer in Vancouver. “This has a dramatic effect on  the health of businesses and their workers.”

Professional organizers say desks in disarray causes a drop of 20 per cent in  worker efficiency; costing the economy billions of dollars in lost productivity.  Studies show the average worker spends at least 400 hours per year searching for  paper documents. “This places tremendous stress on the bottom line for many  businesses that need to return to profitability, especially coming out of the  economic downturn.”

Chu recommends several steps to become more efficient and productive in the  workplace.

• Categorize. Sort through possessions and group them into similar categories  of information and tasks. Identify what things are, instead of getting  sidetracked by thinking of solutions.
• Limit. If space is a premium you may have to choose between what is  important – your space or your stuff. Limit your collections by regularly  reviewing and letting go of information.
• Evaluate. Focusing on what matters most is the key to prioritizing.  Continually evaluate information and tasks as they relate to achieving goals to  increase your efficiency and productivity.
• Allocate. Find a method to store information and possessions to be able to  find what you need, when you need it.
• Remove. Items that are no longer of value or no longer needed can be  removed from the workspace. Focusing on what is important will get you on track  to be more efficient.

see article in The Province

TORONTO, October 17, 2011 – For 62 percent of working Canadians, work, was identified as the primary culprit of stress in 2010 according to new numbers from Statistics Canada release last week. A pressure-cooker to begin with, the workplace is made even more stressful by being disorganized.

“Canadians are in a constant time crunch and experience feelings of stress, failure and frustration,” says Clare Kumar, a Toronto-based professional organizer. “Today’s office workers must take stock of both their work habits and their environment, and take necessary action to alleviate the tremendous pressure disorganization has on their productivity and work-life balance.”

To help Canadians make positive changes and take steps towards improving their personal productivity, ACCO Brands Canada Inc., a Canadian manufacturer of office products, is launching its fourth-annual Organize Your Desk Day, October 20th, in tandem with Small Business Week (October 16-22).

Organize Your Desk Day is a national program designed to assist small to medium-sized businesses help their employees organize their work spaces and become more efficient and effective every day.

“By having the right tools in place, Canadian office workers can save at least 15 minutes per day which works out to a week and a half per year,” adds Linda Chu, a professional organizer in Vancouver. “This has a dramatic effect on the health of businesses and their workers.”

Professional organizers say desks in disarray causes a drop of 20 per cent in worker efficiency; costing the economy billions of dollars in lost productivity. Studies show the average worker spends at least 400 hours per year searching for paper documents.

“It costs SMBs $120 in labour costs just to track down a misplaced document or $250 in labour to re-create it,” adds Chu. “This places tremendous stress on the bottom line for many businesses that need to return to profitability, especially coming out of the economic downturn.”

“Knowing where to begin is half the battle of getting organized”, says Chu.  She recommends following the five-step CLEAR method to become more efficient and productive in your workplace.

C – Categorize.  Sort through your possessions and group them into similar categories of information & tasks.  Stay on track by identifying what things are, instead of getting sidetracked by thinking of solutions.

L – Limit.  If space is a premium you may have to choose between what is important – your space or your stuff.  Limit your collections by scheduling regular sessions to review and let go of information and resources collected.

E – Evaluate.  Focusing on what matters most is the key to prioritizing.  Determine what goals are important for you to achieve and choose the tasks and information/tools that will help to get you there.  Continually evaluating your information and tasks as they relate to achieving your goals will help to increase your efficiency and productivity.

A – Allocate.  Finding a home and a method to store your information & possessions is critical to your success in being able to find what you need, when you need it.  Ensure that your workspace is clear for work, not for storage.

R – Remove.  Items that are no longer of value or you no longer need can be removed from your workspace.  Focusing on what is important will get you on track to become more efficient and productive in your workplace.

For more information about Organize Your Desk Day, visit www.organizeyourdeskday.com

About ACCO Brands Canada Inc.
ACCO Brands Canada Inc. is a Trading Company of ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE: ABD), one of the world’s largest suppliers of branded office products.  Its industry-leading brands include Day-Timer®, Swingline®, Kensington®, Quartet®, GBC® and Wilson Jones®, available from dealers of quality office supplies participating in Organize your Desk Day, such as: Grand & Toy, Staples, Basics Office Supply, Office Plus, Novexco / BuroPLUS, and Lyreco.

As many will agree, the creative spirit is a shy creature, one that retreats at the sight of unfinished chores, clutter, and disarray. In the arts arena, inspiration and creative energy is often explosive, with ideas tumbling over each other.

Chaos and creativity can be seen as hallmarks of a visionary artist. How does an artist set up the best environment for channeling inspiration into great art?

Some wonderful and easy-to-implement ideas are offered by Linda Chu, a professional organizer and productivity consultant. Linda is the founder of Out of Chaos an organizing company that effects change by giving people the tools and knowledge to get organized at work and at home. She teaches people customized solutions to manage their space, time, information, and piles.

“Becoming organized is not about a special set of services or products,” says Linda. “Organization is about adopting and learning a special set of habits.” Her first instructions are reassuring to those of us who tend to collect and save ‘stuff’.

Getting Out of Chaos by Linda Chu:

Keep everything – provided #1, you have the space and #2, you can find things in a reasonable amount of time and with as little stress as possible.

When your creative ideas and materials are crowding you out of your space (physically and mentally), consider creating yourself a personal library of information. Start with the area in your space that is stifling your creative juices. This area is probably causing you the most grief.

Use the acronym ‘SPACE’ as your plan of action:

S – sort through your piles and begin by identifying what you have. You will likely come across many unfinished tasks and collections of materials for future creative projects.

P – purge what is no longer of value to you or items that are no longer of use. If space is an issue, you may have to make the hard decision to let go of some items in order to make room for other ideas to blossom.

A – assign categories and group like items together & outstanding actions. These categories will be the start of your personal library of information that you can easily access.

C – contain and hold groups of information and possessions by choosing containers & organizing systems that support how often you need to access them. For example, taxes are not accessed daily, unlike your art supplies or camera equipment.

E – evaluate your space often. Your needs change, as do your possessions. Be clear about your intentions and goals for each item. Choose between your space or your stuff. Sometimes you cannot have both.

Remember that your piles did not collect overnight, so to tackle an entire room in one go may be too overwhelming.

Instead, consider my “15 Minute Sort, 15 Second Touch” approach to create momentum. Set your timer for 15 minutes. Touch everything in your disorganized room and within 15 seconds, make a decision as to which category or action this item belongs to (the decision might be as simple as Keep, Toss, or Donate). After your alarm signals 15 minutes, stop and reward yourself. Just don’t reward yourself by going out and buying more stuff . . .

“Access is everything”, says Linda. “If you cannot find something when you need it, what’s the point in keeping it in the first place?”

Linda served as President of Professional Organizers in Canada and founded the BC Lower Mainland Chapter of the same organization. For more information about Linda Chu and her company, Out of Chaos, visit www.outofchaos.ca.

Now that the clocks have sprung ahead, signalling a change of seasons, our minds are shifting to warmer, sunnier days to come. An exciting  prospect—if it weren’t for all those disorganized piles cluttering our path.

Eight in 10 Canadians are disorganized, especially those with children in the household. While the majority of disorganized Canadians have attempted to become more organized, their efforts have largely been unsuccessful.  Unfortunately, disorganized living can be costly—not just in terms of money, but also time and space. Here are a few tips to get more organized and save on all three.

1. Start with the area in your home causing you the most grief. Most likely, this area is the catch-all for all those unfinished tasks and items that did not have a home.
2. Identify items in your piles based on categories and outstanding actions. This might mean seasonal decorations, kids’ artwork/memories, or to-do’s like bills to pay, consignment, and laundry.
3. Purge, purge, purge. Be clear about your goals for each room in your home. If space is an issue, you may have to let go of some items in order to make room for your intentions.
4. Determine how often you need to access your possessions. Frequency of access plays an important role when developing an organizing system.
5. Choose containers and systems that are conducive to how often you need to access your possessions and information. Archive taxes must be kept but not accessed daily, unlike bills to pay.

Remember that your piles did not collect overnight, so to tackle an entire room in one go may be too overwhelming. Instead, consider my “15 Minute Sort, 15 Second Touch” approach to create momentum. Set your timer for 15 minutes. Touch everything in your disorganized room and within 15 seconds, make a decision as to which category or action this item belongs to. After your alarm signals 15 minutes, stop and reward yourself. Just don’t reward yourself by going out and buying more stuff…

Linda Chu is a professional organizer, productivity consultant and founder of Out of Chaos, an organizing company that effects change by giving people the tools and knowledge to get organized at work and at home, using customized solutions to manage their space, time, information and piles. Linda served as President of Professional Organizers in Canada and founded the BC Lower Mainland Chapter of the same association. For more information, visit www.outofchaos.ca.

Many of our homes harbour a “catch-all” room where literally anything goes — a kind of black hole of accumulated goods and  clutter.

In what may have originally been intended as a bedroom, den, rec room or garage, it’s where we place those objects we only occasionally use, unwisely hoard or would rather forget about. Collectively, they can accumulate until a once-useful space becomes overwhelmed.

If the space has been furnished for multiple uses — maybe it’s a home office, sewing room, guest bedroom, or a quiet retreat for games, music or hobbies — the accumulation of “stuff” may have sacrificed its uses and become a place of hopeless disorder.

“If your stuff is crowding you out of its primary functions, you’re rendering the room useless,” says Linda Chu, a Vancouver-based professional organizer whose business is aptly titled Out of Chaos. And you’ll know for certain the room is no longer serving your needs when, for example, you move the sewing machine or computer to the kitchen table.

“It’s convenient simply because it’s there,” Chu says of a room that is treated with an “out of sight, out of mind” approach. “It’s just one thing after another, and the pile starts. You tell yourself, ‘I’ll deal with it later.’ But it’s always ‘later.’ I call it delayed intension, meaning that for the moment, everything else takes priority.”

The challenge, then, is in determining how to sort out the mess, reclaim the room for its intended uses, and ensure that what’s stored there is accessible, and therefore useful.

What it takes, say the those with organizational skills, is careful planning, small, if regular, amounts of time, maybe a few organizational furnishings and — to prevent a recurrence of chaos — a modest infusion of discipline.

And, by the way, you needn’t hit yourself over the head because of the mess that’s been created.

“It can simply point to a busy lifestyle,” assures Elinor Warkentin, another space pro, whose Vancouver business is called Goodbye Clutter.

“A room that becomes a dumping ground is not necessarily a sign of failure. For many people, 80 or 90 per cent of their home is well organized. But for things that they aren’t sure where they should go, this is the one room where the rules don’t apply.”

Key to the rescue and ordering of an out-of-control room is planning, says Chu.

Begin by deciding how you want to use the room, and establish “zones” for those uses. Then make an inventory of every item: maybe seasonal sports equipment, Christmas decorations, games and puzzles, or family photos. Or a sewing machine that’s used only from time to time, or toys that visiting children will want on a regular basis.

“Sort and determine the usage,“ Chu advises. “Categorize. Measure. Be exact. Once you do that you will determine the volume of everything you have. And when you see duplicates, or an item you’re keeping for purely emotional reasons, revisit your intention and see if it has a place in your life now. Then purge. That’s de-cluttering.”

At the same time, remind yourself of the room’s intended purposes, and decide what items you will need access to. “If it’s not accessible, you won’t use it,” Chu points out. “How easy it is to access stuff will determine how useful the room will ultimately become.” It will also determine where and how everything is stored.

And don’t rush out and buy lots of costly containers, Chu emphasizes. “There’s a whole container storage industry out there willing to take your money, but it doesn’t mean that they will sell you what you need.”

Rather, determine the type of storage you need by considering the nature of the items to be stored, and the people who will use them. For example, says Chu, children relate better to an “open system,” one that requires little more than dropping something into a bin or pulling open a drawer, than a “closed system” that may entail a latch or lid.

Because when it comes to locating things, functional storage allows you to find what you want “in a reasonable amount of time — and with as little stress as possible.”

Home-outfitting stores sell bins and boxes of every configuration — often stackable — cabinets (both “open” and “closed”), myriad shelving systems and “modular” storage units with box-like “cubes” outfitted with decorative drawers or wicker baskets.

“Concentrate on function before you throw endless money on form,” advises Chu. In other words, know what you have and how you want it stored before you splurge on storage fixtures that simply look good.

Then label or colour-code those boxes, drawers, cupboards or shelves. “The more visual, the better the storage,” says Chu, using the analogy of kindergarten, where children learn (with the help of signs and pictures) where everything from boots to crayons is correctly stored.

Nor does reorganizing need to be time-consuming, Chu insists: “Do it 15 minutes at a time, five days a week, and you can get through the pile.”

Warkentin experienced household efficiency early in a large Manitoba farm family where her father’s well-ordered farm office doubled as a child’s bedroom.

Today she’s a “totally hands-on” organizer who gets down on her knees and sorts with her client, while talking them through the principles of organization.

Once a room has been sorted, and returned to its intended functionality, she suggests adding wall art that reinforces its primary uses — “subtle but strong” pieces that hint, for example, that this is a home office or a room for games.

She suggests adding personal touches with appeal, like a favourite mug to hold writing utensils, rather than an uninspiring office-like holder: “Because if it’s attractive to you, you’re more likely to put things away.”

Warkentin works with a client whose “catch-all room” is devoted mostly to shelves and drawers filled with quality paper objects, wrappings and future gifts for friends and family. Kept in good order, the room functions well.

“One of the reasons the room works,” says Warkentin, “is she’s clear about what she values, people and gifts. And she’s clear about what she wants to use the room for, and she sticks to it.”

Being disorganized is tough. It’s stressful. Maybe your home or office is full of clutter. Or the electronic clutter that fills your email inbox seems unmanageable. You get interrupted. You miss appointments. You don’t accomplish your goals. So how do you get organized?

Perhaps you recognize some of these challenges in your own home or work setting? Eight out of 10 Canadians classify themselves as disorganized, according to a Leger poll for Professional Organizers in Canada. Among this group:

• 91% feel that disorganization negatively impacts their lives
• 70% who work say their workplace is disorganized
• 43% report feeling stressed
• 39% feel frustration

Here are some solutions for becoming more organized and productive:

Time Management and Prioritization
Use a calendar and a single checklist to focus on what matters most at any given moment. Know what your high priority tasks are and make sure you schedule time for them or they won’t get done.

Be Clear On Your Vision and Goals
Figure out what you want to achieve in your organization, business, work, personal life.

• Do you know what your company vision is?
• What are the goals you need to accomplish to meet this vision?
• What are your short-term and long-term goals?
• How does your personal goals fit into your day?

Paper Information Management
Take an inventory of every item in your office and understand how you access each item. Next, purge the documents that are no longer required by business need or regulation and organize them according to a consistent process. Divide your paper files into active information requiring action, reference materials not requiring immediate action and archival materials. Make the high-priority files easily accessible, move reference materials away from your immediate work space and consider storing other materials offsite.

Managing Email
Process your email in batches. Schedule dedicated time to process emails. Turning off your email notifications will also help reduce your interruptions.

Work-Life Balance
Take back your time, starting 15 minutes per day. Ask for assistance. Consider leveraging your routine administrative tasks to an assistant (virtual or otherwise). Also, do not make yourself available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is up to you to educate your clients and colleagues. And turn off your cell phone and email after hours. If you respect your time, others will as well.

Use the ‘Decide in Five’ Model of Decision Making
Apply the following decision making model for correspondence.

• Delete: Delete messages that are not required, like junk mail inside an envelope. This includes opening an email, reading it and leaving it.
• Do (in two minutes or less): If you can complete a task in two minutes or less, then complete the task (like Nike says: Just Do It).
• Delegate: Even if you may be ultimately responsible for this task, you may be able to delegate a portion of it.  You can still manage the results, without having to do every task.
• Document (in your reference library): We often receive emails with information attached – no action required. Save the attachment in your hard drive or network drive.  You email inbox is meant to receive correspondence, not act as a storage vehicle.
• Defer: If you can’t Delete it, Delegate it, Do it in less than two minutes, or Document it. Then you can defer this action to your to-do list so you can prioritize your tasks.

Tech Savvy Organizing
Outlook Tasks is an electronic to-do list that can be used to manage all your to-do actions. It also has the ability to defer your emails by creating an action-to-do item on your Task List and giving it a date priority.

Just Say No. Then Say Yes
Saying “no” to one thing means you are saying “yes” to something else. If you have already made a list of your priorities, you’ll feel better about turning down tasks (or requests) since you’re working towards your goals in an organized way.

Linda Chu is presenting The Fundamentals of Time Management as a webinar on February 19, 2011. For more information on this and other professional development opportunities, please refer to BC HRMA’s online calendar.

The new Marilyn Denis Show aired January 10 and the contest is on! I’ve been selected as one of 3 finalists for their Wild Card spot as an expert on the show. The winner is by popular vote. Please click on the link below and vote me in as Marilyn Denis’ Organizing Expert. Forward this to your friends and colleagues in support of Out of Chaos, of organizing, of expert advice from Western Canada, of me… — just VOTE. See the media release below and link to vote for Linda Chu as the organizing expert.

WILL THE WILD CARD COME FROM THE WEST COAST?

VANCOUVER – 11 January 2010 — She’s made it to the final round ahead of nearly 3,500 contestants, Vancouver entrepreneur Linda Chu has one last challenge to become of Wild Card on a national TV talk show: get her fans and friends to cast their vote online.

A proud west coaster, Chu is one of three finalists from across Canada to win a spot as a Wild Card expert on the Marilyn Denis Show on CTV. “It’s been a wild process — no pun intended,” Linda says. “I had no idea I’d get this far. But I guess the show agreed that I’ve got a lot to offer. You don’t see too many Western voices on TV in Toronto and this is a great opportunity to represent my hometown.”

“My area of expertise is pretty unique,” Linda says. “I’m a professional organizer with years of business experience. They don’t have one of those yet for the show, so I like to think I’ll offer a unique voice.”

Linda has already been featured on spots on TV like CityTV Vancouver and national newspapers. “I get calls about things like avoiding procrastination and achieving better work-life balance, which a lot of people seem to be dealing with these days.” Her hands-on approachable manner (combined with a sense of humour) makes the daunting task of dealing with your clutter and disorganization almost fun.

Now her organizing skills will be put to the test, as she has to organize her supporters to get onto the television show’s website to vote for her.

The Marilyn Denis show is a daily entertainment and lifestyle talk show featuring Canadian and international celebrities and experts, established and emerging alike.

To vote, visit www.marilyn.ca/About/WildCardVote.aspx and watch for results on “The Marilyn Denis Show,” weekdays at 11 a.m. local time on CTV.

Keep everything . . . provided you have the space and you can find it.
Therein lies the challenge.

Whether you are a piler, a filer, or a stuffer, you may be running out of space. In this electronic age, our access to information in many formats has resulted in our offices, desks, computers, and minds becoming stuffed to capacity. Not only are we crowding ourselves out physically, we are overburdened and stressed with too many interruptions via email, voice mail, and paper mail.

Read full article…

This time of year, our homes — decked out in wrapping paper, skates and bowls of half-eaten cereal — look well lived in.

So what happens when the phone rings and guests are dropping by in 10 minutes? Lynn Fraser, an Edmonton life and executive coach and owner of Balance Your World, reassures us that the goal is not a perfectly clean house — just a warm welcome for your friends. After all, “your guests are coming to see you and the kids, and it doesn’t matter if your home isn’t perfect. A place that’s homey and comfortable is much more welcoming than a show home.”

Still, with a plan and some expert know-how, you can make a house presentable in almost no time (and keep your heart rate within normal range). Here’s how:

Tidy timeline

Linda Chu, the owner of Out of Chaos Professional Organizing Solutions in Vancouver, recommends focusing on the living or family room, kitchen and washroom. Don’t worry about bedrooms — your guests aren’t coming for a sleepover.

Pop the little kids’ favourite DVD into the player, suggests Chu, and give them a small no-mess snack so they’re occupied — this way, they won’t undo your work as you go (much). Meanwhile, you, your partner and big kids can zip around the house.

Give yourself three minutes for a sweep through the rooms. Grab a bin or basket or two and pick up everything that doesn’t belong: dirty laundry, excess shoes, toys, models of the Eiffel Tower. In the family room, stash books and mags into an ottoman or a drawer in your coffee table, if you have one. In the kitchen, the big kids can clear the counter and load the dishwasher. Don’t worry about sorting things nicely — that’s for another time.

Finish picking up in the bathroom and, while you’re there, take three minutes: Flush the toilet, close lid, close the shower curtain, wipe counters and replace towels. The key to a quick bathroom turnaround is a little prep, stresses Chu: Pack a set of clean coordinated towels and washcloths in a zippered bag (the kind comforters come in). Include kitchen and dining room linens, if you like. When company drops by, you won’t have to scrounge in the linen closet. After they leave, do the laundry and pack the set back up, ready for the next visitors.

On to the kitchen! You and your helpers have three minutes to wipe the table and counters, put out the garbage, clean under the table with something like a Swiffer WetJet (especially if your children are small and floors are sticky).

A minute left! Enough time, suggests Chu, to comb your hair. And take a big breath.

Desperate measures

What if you don’t have 10 minutes? What if friends just pop in? Try these quick tips:

• Grab a garbage bag and do a fast runaround, picking up what you can. Stash and sort later.
• Consider an alternative use of appliances, suggests Margaret Weeks, a home economist at the University of Prince Edward Island. Pop clothes and towels from the floor into the washer or dryer; your dishwasher will hide (er, hold) lots of dishes and pots.
• Put a fresh bar of soap in the bathroom — the room will smell nice even if you don’t have time to scrub.
• Focus on a welcoming atmosphere, says Fraser: Put on some holiday music, turn on the kettle for coffee, clean off the table, put out a snack, clear a path to wherever you’re going to entertain your guests, and remove the clutter from the front entryway.
• Remind yourself that if people are dropping by on the spur of the moment, they must be very good friends who’ve seen you through thick and thin, says Weeks. Smile, open the door and welcome them in for a cup of coffee.

Panic prevention

Streamline your tidying technique:

• Contain it To control clutter, you need storage — baskets, pretty boxes, plastic bins. Weeks also likes big tote bags and hampers for quick storage of toys, shoes and laundry. When not in use, stack and tuck them away.
• Give it a home If everything has a place, you can tidy in a hurry because you know where it goes.
• Hang it Install hooks or pegs at your entryway, suggests Chu. Guests can hang their coats on the hooks (rather than in closets you don’t want them to see).
• Multi-task with cleaning supplies Fraser mixes one-third vinegar to two-thirds water in a spray bottle for mirrors, counters, glass and fixtures.
• Teach your kids Keep clutter under control by picking up 10 things every day, says Weeks. Encourage your kids to learn the same habit (if you start right now, this will take approximately 24 years).

Originally published in Today’s Parent, December 2010

Heading into the new year may be just the time to look at order and disorder in the workplace.

Your desk is a mess. You can’t dig out your to-do list from the overflowing pile, never mind tick off any items on it. You have dozens of e-mails waiting to be read. And you keep getting distracted every time a co-worker stops to chat, your in-box signals another message has arrived or the phone rings.

Workers everywhere can identify with that. And it’s only getting worse.

Downsizing and layoffs have resulted in fewer workers but no reduction in the workload. Those who have kept their jobs are functioning in a state of semi-chaos, scrambling to bring order to their work lives. And far from helping us stay on top of things, technology has only made things worse, says Linda Chu, founder of Out of Chaos, a professional organizing firm in Vancouver. Business has moved to a 24/7 economy and workers are now always on. We try to multi-task and it’s not working, she says.

Disorganization in the workplace can range from merely annoying to nearly paralyzing, and it costs companies both time and money in lost productivity.

“Things pile up, people feel mentally defeated and exhausted, and the task of organizing seems impossible,” Ms. Chu says.

Heading into a new year may be just the time to look at order and disorder in the workplace.

You know you need help when
1 . You spend more than 15 minutes each day searching for misplaced items.

2. The pile of papers in your inbox is always more than eight inches high.

3. Your book shelves are used for storing items other than books.

4. You have more than 100 old e-mails stored in your computer’s inbox.

5. You are constantly asking people to resend their contact information to you.

Source: Professional Organizers in Canada website

Calculating the cost of chaos
Your messy desk or jammed e-mail box may not seem like a big deal, but it could be costing you, big time. Find out the real cost of chaos with Tennessee-based DME Consulting & Training’s “cost of disorganization” calculator (http://www.thegosystem.com/cod_start.asp)

Enter your company name, number of employees and average hourly wage to learn the amount of time lost each day to disorganization.

Three common saboteurs to workplace organization, and how to beat them
Clutter Control
PROBLEM: For many, the desktop has become a storage place. Next to the family photos, you might also find yesterday’s lunch leftovers and an Aspirin bottle, not to mention overflowing piles of paper. People are still more comfortable reading physical documents, so they print every e-mail, memo and report that comes their way. Without the time or a system to deal with the material, it, too, ends up in disarrayed piles.

SOLUTION: Make it a habit to always put things away. Toss the garbage and return useful items to drawers when you’re done. Create a system for dealing with paper by segmenting it into three categories: active files; archival materials, research or information on projects you might need; and reference materials, contact info, or items you may need for a future project. The only folder that should stay on your desk is the active file you need to get the job done today.

E-MAIL
PROBLEM: Besides the distraction of checking e-mail messages either immediately or shortly after they arrive, many people also neglect the delete button. These days it’s not uncommon to see 1,000 e-mails stored in an inbox, Ms. Chu says. “It’s a fear of out of sight, out of mind.” But the sheer volume of messages makes it overwhelming and mentally exhausting each time we go online.

SOLUTION: Check e-mail on a schedule and stick with it. For some, that could be three times a day, for others it could mean every couple of hours. “Then get rid of the crud,” Ms. Chu says. Use the functions available on your e-mail program to manage your mail. For example, set up folders and move mail you really need to keep into the appropriate location. Create a rule that sends subscriptions, such as newsletters or news alerts, directly to a folder. The key is to process as much mail as you can as it comes in.

PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY
PROBLEM: With the constant barrage of interruptions by managers and co-workers, the obsession to check e-mail and voice mail and the Web, and an overwhelming list of tasks to complete made only more onerous by belt-tightening and staff reductions, we’ve lost our ability to focus, Ms. Chu says. As a result, workers often reel from one task to the next without making any real progress.

SOLUTION: Develop a priority action plan each day. A to-do list is a useful way to declutter the mind and determine which items are a high priority. That means when a phone call, an e-mail or a co-worker interrupts, you can decide if the interruption is important enough to trump what you’re currently doing or can wait until you finish the task at hand.