Get Out of the Chair

Do you look to your in-box with dread of not knowing what’s in there? Does your in-box take on a life of its own and you haven’t seen the bottom for 6 months? If so, here’s an energizing tip to get to the bottom of it.

What does that pile on your desk represent? Dread? More work? Overload? Probably. However there is another way of looking at it that I hope will motivate you to change your behavior. The “pile” is really an accumulation of delayed decisions and actions. Because of our dread, we procrastinate and cause further delay. Rather than a sign of too much work, it really shows us that we are avoiding work. As we avoid those piles, we inevitably delay responses to others which are waiting for us. Most pieces of paper clutter are sitting and waiting for us to get around to them. Here’s a tip for you to re-energize yourself and develop a world class work habit:

  1. Take 10 minutes a day to go through your paper in-box. Keep it timed so you can easily reinforce the habit.
  2. Stand up – do not sit down. Studies show that overall time saving is 4-5 times higher if you stand. By standing you will approach the task more energetically. Additionally, by not sitting down, you will get less distracted and less tempted to do in-depth reading or telephone follow-ups at the moment, thus keeping your focus on the task at hand: getting to the bottom of the pile. People tend to do everything more slowly when sitting down.
  3. As mentioned in previous articles, develop a system of trash, file, keep & follow-up. Be sure that you do not put something back into the pile. Move it on. Mark the item with your notation of the next step – for example, send to a colleague, call, schedule an action, etc. Be sure to never let it leave your hand without your notation unless you trash it.
  4. For items that have lots of text, sort them into a folder to read. Do not use this time as your reading time.

Using this technique will allow you to get to the bottom of that pile in no time. Let us know how this works for you.

For additional help getting through the piles:

Contact us for live training, or Click Here for Online Help

Phone: (800) 852-9703