Finding the right balance invariably comes into conversation when I work with clients. This month I’ll share with you a tip for your work, yourself, and your environment.

No Time to Open All Those Emails
Here’s a quick tip to put into practice immediately, to save precious time when managing your emails. EOM — End of Message. Use this in the subject line to signal the recipient of your emails that they don’t have to open up the email. All they need to know is in the subject line of your email.

This works nicely for things like. “See you Friday at 11:00 am. EOM”, “Congratulations on a great job!. EOM”. Forward this email tip and get organized.

When time is limited, every second, or in this case, every click counts.
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I love this time of year. Everywhere, it’s green and fresh. It’s a good feeling to be outside. But wouldn’t it be great to feel that rejuvenated and well-balanced at your workspace? It can happen with green organizing.

The reduce, re-use and recycle mantra of the green movement applies very well for organizations looking to reduce clutter and improve how their office is organized. In practice, these can mean:

• Reduce the amount of paper you use. Many offices are going entirely paperless, keeping all of their data in electronic format. Using less paper saves trees, and records kept in network databases or online can be easily sorted and archived using automated tools.
• Re-use office supplies, furniture and equipment as much as possible. Used resources cost less and don’t require the expenditure of any new resources or energy to manufacture brand-new things. Keep an organized inventory of all your equipment and keep a spreadsheet of maintenance schedules to ensure you’re re-using as much as you can. This will help boost productivity and save money.
• Recycle your office materials, equipment and clutter. There are recycling programs for everything from paper and bottles to books and computers. It’s not just recycling depots — think about thrift shops, second-hand stores and non-profit agencies that will accept donations.

For more tips about making your office green, check out the One Day site.

An organized business may not be recession-proof, but as many of my clients have mentioned lately, it helps them keep the business running while undergoing cost-cutting and restructuring.

Many companies right now are looking at ways of cutting costs and even laying off staff. But the people who kept everything organized are no longer around, you can see the direct business impact of organization on a company’s productivity and bottom line.

After all, time spent searching through file folders, piles on desks and (in a worst-case scenario) the clutter in your waste-bin means lost productivity. Imagine if the average employee in your organization lost 20 minutes a day at that. The combined wages add up quickly.

If the key people who keep the office organized in your company are let go, files get lost, invoices go missing and important paperwork can get mixed in with clutter and garbage. The gatekeepers who knew where to find everything are no longer around to direct traffic. But it’s as important as ever to keep office processes streamlined.

As I’ve often advised colleagues and clients, having a consistent system for organizing can help mitigate productivity loss, even more when key people leave an organization. This means:

1. A filing system that works. Having a bunch of big metal filing cabinets might work for your office, but how is all this paperwork sorted? Do the files include post-its and scrap paper, not just official records? Do you separate out tax-related documents? Are the files updated regularly? Do some records get purged from your files after a period has elapsed, and if so, how does this take place?
   You need to have these processes in place to make the best use of the file storage you’ve got.
2. Train your employees to organize. Try to create an organization that doesn’t need to rely on gatekeepers. Train everyone in how your filing system works. Even if they’re not actually doing the filing themselves, they must be able to find information when they need it. Train them on what kinds of papers they need to keep and what quickly becomes clutter. Consider combining a 10-minute organizing party with a month-end staff meeting.
3. Keep cubicles and desks organized. Some people believe that a messy desk piled high with papers shows off how busy and important they are. Alternatively, some use it as a crutch to avoid extra responsibilities (ie. “You need me to help you with Project XYZ? Have you seen this pile on my desk?”) I’ve often found that the most productive and successful members of any organization have the cleanest desks.
4. Organize your office supplies. For everything from pens and stationery to scissors and staplers, have a central spot where you keep things. Keep certain items on strings to make sure they don’t wander off to another part of the building. Keeping better track of your inventory will ensure everyone has the basic things they need to do their work and also saves you reordering costs.
5. Get outside help to keep things organized. Outsourcing may seem counter-intuitive for some companies facing restructuring, but a disorganized office status quo can cost a business in productivity month after month. An organizing expert can be a cost-effective solution, helping all members of an office understand how to maintain an organized space.

I like Post-it notes. Whether you use the colored-paper variety or the tech-savvy digital Sticky Notes, these little scraps of data come in very handy for organizing your stuff. They’re great for remembering your dentist’s appointment or business meeting, or just jotting down a name and number while you’re on the phone. They work just as well on your monitor as on your fridge or tucked into your pocket.

And I’m not the only one who likes them. This month, I have entrepreneur coach and mentor BackPocket COO, Cameron Herold share his winning Post-it secret for organizing success.

Take a Post-it note and write on it the five most important tasks you have to do tomorrow. Number them in order of their importance.

First thing tomorrow morning, look at item one and start working on it. Look at the list every 15 minutes until item one is done. Tackle item two in the same way, then item three. Do this until quitting time.

Even if you finish only one item, you’ll be working on the important jobs you need to get done. The others can wait. The point is that you’re making progress, maybe even getting all of your tasks done on your list.

“That’s it, it’s pretty simple stuff,” Herold adds. “But it made Charles Schwab a $500 million fortune 90 years ago and if it worked for him, it will for everyone else.” Using this method will also work to cut down your email down to inbox zero, he notes.

Do you have organizing tips that have helped your company become more productive and successful? Contact info@outofchaos.ca and your tips could be featured in the next Chu On This…

SheTeam, the online business and marketing resource for women entrepreneurs, offers insights and practical information from trail-blazing CEOs, including Linda Chu. An innovative community, SheTeam encourages all female entrepreneurs to “Be in business for yourself. Not by yourself.” Sign up for the daily blog.

Business success can come from better organization, ensuring better workplace productivity. This month, I’ve called on Sean Simpson, Communications Director of Express Employment Professionals, the nation’s fourth-largest staffing company, which employs 350,000 people each year, to provide organizing tips that have helped his company achieve success.

“There is a belief that organization equals efficiency and it has the added benefit of being true,” Simpson says. “When you see a clean workspace, you can’t help but think that the worker is productive and gets their work done.” His company’s organizing tips include:

• Keep only your essential, frequently-used items on your desk. Your computer, telephone, inbox, stapler, note pad, and other items of that nature can be considered as essential. If you regularly use a printer or fax, keep those within reach.
• Throw out old materials. Don’t hoard old files that you haven’t used in years. Shred and discard these old materials to clear up space. Remember to double check files, such as financial records, before you toss them. Items like tax papers need to be kept for seven years.
• Tidy up before you leave each day. Make sure things are in order to ensure you can get off to a fast start when you arrive the next morning. People are a little more reluctant to tackle daunting tasks, but tidying up every day will prevent messes from growing too large and overwhelming.

Do you have organizing tips that have helped your company become more productive and successful? Contact info@outofchaos.ca and your tips could be featured in the next Chu On This…

The first month of the New Year is a great time to re-focus on your goals and start taking the steps to reach them. I’m feeling energized and ready to take on new projects, looking forward to upcoming events and speaking engagements for learning and networking.

But fulfilling those New Year’s resolutions and achieving their goals requires more than just good thoughts; in some cases, we may need to change our old behaviors that stopped us from getting what we wanted in the previous year.

The theory behind the GO System for organizing is that we have to rewire our brains by following better habits. It takes time, but the idea is to consciously use “good habits” until they take root. That way, even when you are stressed or tired, your new good habits will kick in automatically.

This applies whether you’re dealing with improving the energy in your residence, keeping your surroundings in order or organizing your workplace. Good habits could mean always putting new contacts in your address book immediately, making and using a new regular schedule for organizing and clearing your office files, or just taking 10 minutes a day when you get home to put things in order.

FreedomFiler’s self-purging filing system will forever eliminate the hassle of cleaning out and reorganizing files! Tested and proven by professional organizers, FreedomFiler’s easy folder names let you file and retrieve up to 20 times faster than typical home systems. Your kit comes with easy to follow pictorial diagrams. This product is a must-have for any home. Watch this video and see how the FreedomFiler can eliminate your piles. Contact us for discount code to save 15% on your purchase.

What are some habits that you’re changing in the New Year to be more organized and productive? Do you have a secret that has helped you change your bad habits and become a more organized person?

If you’ve got a success story, or know of a colleague who has successfully changed their old disorganized situation, leave a comment or email info@outofchaos.ca. Your answer could be featured on this blog or in the popular Chu On This… newsletter.

To ensure your home is a disorganized disaster in no time, follow these tried and true ways:

1. Buy clothes and never wear them. Put them away in your closet with the price tag on and find them 3 years later.
2. Enter every contest and subscribe to every magazine you won’t ever read. Just let them pile up on a corner of your table until ‘one day…’
3. Plan a weekly shop at Costco and purchase as if you were a family of 6, even though you are only 2 left in the house.
4. Don’t open your mail until you get a cut off notice. Leave mail and flyers in a pile in your entry-way so you can trip over them on your way in the door.
5. Keep everything because you never know when you will need that waffle iron that you got 25 years ago at your first wedding.
6. Bring back a souvenir from every place you’ve ever travelled because you can’t have too many shot glasses, ball caps, and t-shirts.
7. Downsize from your 4000 square foot home and bring absolutely everything with you to your condo apartment, including your lawn mower.

If mastering your disorganization is not quite the achievement you were looking to win the trophy for, you might want to consider some of these quick tips from our archives:

• Could Your Clothes be Worth Thousands?
• Clearing Your Clutter Without Cluttering the Landfill
• Sharing Through Clearing

What is the ultimate fail-safe product that will keep all your papers from conspiring into those endless piles?

Is there a magical secret process to keeping your desktop clear, preventing the mail from littering your kitchen counter, or remembering where you placed those season hockey tickets?

The secret to organizing is not a secret at all. It is truly about finding a solution that is customized to each individual’s needs. Although the dilemmas may be the same, the solutions may be as different as each person.
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