New Year, fresh start to a more organised you!

Well it’s a new year so let’s make 2015 the year you get more organised and make your life simpler. Filing sounds boring, I know, but the reality is you often need to be able to find a document or file quickly and the tips below should help you to do that. You might be lucky to still have a few quieter moments until the full workload of the year starts, so take advantage of them and get your filing in order. Most people don’t enjoy this activity but spending a small amount of time regularly will make your life easier in the long run.

The principles below apply equally to hard copy or soft copy and if put into practice properly should mean you can quickly and easily lay your hands on the information you (or a client, manager or supplier) need.

Many people fall into the habit of saving things for “later” – you receive a letter or document and think “I’ll put that in a tray or folder or leave it in my inbox and have a closer look at it later”. For most people that elusive time “later” never comes! What you’re left with is a pile of paper, or a long list of emails, that you never get around to reading or attending to.

To avoid this, I have two simple rules for dealing with filing (of paper or soft copy documents).

1. Don’t keep unnecessary documents. Glance through the content of each document when it arrives and if it is not essential to your business (invoices, client agreements etc) or personal life (insurance policies, bank statements etc), then throw it away or delete it.
2. Work out a system of folders (both hard copy and on your computer) by category and in a sequence that makes sense to you and then follow it consistently.

Here are a few ideas that might help you organise your filing system,

• Work out a consistent naming system for your files and folders. You can divide a main folder into subfolders. You might choose to have a main “Work” folder, then divide it into different client sub-folders then within each client folder are sub-folders for invoices, correspondence, contracts etc. If you shorten names, try to ensure they still make sense and you can differentiate them easily. In hard copy you can even use different coloured folders to make it easier to locate and identify.
• Keep related documents together – for example, all the letters, reports, presentations, spreadsheets, that are related to a particular project should be together.
• Separate ongoing work from completed work.  Some people find it easier to keep current or ongoing work on their desk until a job is completed. Then, once it’s done, they move it to the appropriate location, where files of the same category are stored. Periodically, perhaps ever couple of weeks, it is good to get into the habit of moving files you’re no longer working on to the appropriate completed work folders,
• Try to avoid overfilling folders – this applies to hard and soft copy. Often files will be superseded, for example, a contract document you sent out for signing should eventually come back signed making the unsigned version obsolete. If you have too many files in one folder it is too hard to find what you need so break them into smaller groups of subfolders. An easy way is to separate by time. For long term clients you might have a subfolder for each year or even month you work for them. Likewise you’ll have your own business planning or sales which can be separated by year. But be wary of getting too small – there is usually little point in creating a folder for fewer than about five documents.

Once you have your filing system organised, you can then create some easy ways to take actions. In my next article we’ll take a look at some helpful ways to manage your time and ensure you act on documents when necessary.