A New Way to Handle Paper

American offices are in information overload. Did you know that a
weekly edition of the New York Times contains more information than
the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime during the
17th Century England?!

Here is an easy, practical way to deal with all that paper, the FAR system: File, Action, and Redirect. Use this system to clear off the top of your desk and to deal with incoming paperwork. Pick up each piece of paper and DECIDE if it needs to be filed, if it needs some sort of action (to be paid, responded to, etc) or if it needs to be redirected.

FILE
Your REFERENCE FILES are where you keep all of your papers that you need for reference: insurance papers, housing information, and medical records.

ACTION
Your ACTION FILES might include topics  like: "Write", "Call", "Pay", "Read", "Calls Expected", and "Pending". When you are going through your papers decide IF you need to take action and file accordingly. By putting your to do’s into files you can work on them when you have TIME. You can check your "Read" file before you go the dentist and catch up while you are in the waiting room. You could designate Mondays for writing letters, Tuesdays for phone calls, etc. The "Calls Expected" file is handy for storing information about a call you are expecting. If you have all of the information you need to discuss with your client but end up leaving a message instead, put all the information in "Calls Expected". Then when he calls you back you’ll have all of the information together instead of buried under paperwork on your desk.

REDIRECT
Redirecting paperwork can include throwing it into the TRASH or DELIVERING it to someone else. The key to paper management is to have a place for all the paper that crosses your desk, including a large conveniently placed trashcan and space for outgoing papers. What works for some people is to have three baskets at their desk –- Inbox, Outbox, and Action.

INBOX
The Inbox is the place where all of your incoming mail, notes from school, magazines, catalogs, letters, etc. get dropped off. You can TRAIN everybody in your family or office to use the inbox; if it doesn’t get in the inbox, it doesn’t get looked at. Once you get your desktop cleared off this is where all NEW papers will go.

OUTBOX
The Outbox is the box for redirecting anything that belongs to someone ELSE. At work these things may need to go to your secretary or your marketing director or to a client. At home it could be your husband’s catalogs, coupons for your wife, signed papers for your kid’s field trip. Having an outbox prevents you from getting DISTRACTED and sidetracked. If you stop in the middle of your sorting process to deliver, you may never get back to it. Having everything in your outbox allows you to distribute everything at once instead of making numerous side trips.

 

ACTION BOX
The Action box is where you put everything that needs IMMEDIATE attention. When you run across something that needs immediate action, put it in your action box and start on it as soon as, but not until, you are done with the SORTING process. Start at the top of your action box and work your way down. If you have a very full basket it will be more efficient if you sort your papers into categories: letters, phone calls, etc.

ELIMINATING THE PILES
The reason our desks and dining room tables get piled with papers is because we have no PLACE to put them. We’re afraid they are going to get lost. Having a usable filing system will eliminate that worry. Remember, no piece of paper is worth anything if you can’t FIND it.

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