Get rid of the bits of paper

Using a diary or an exercise book (depending on how much space you need for a day), every evening date the top of a new page and write a "Control List" of 3 or 4 of the most important things you need to work on the next day as a reminder (include those things you must not forget). This is a general guide - we all know about interruptions and putting out fires and urgent jobs high on others' priority lists. Throughout the day, use this book to write reminders to yourself, notes, phone messages - everything you would normally put on a post-it note or loose bit of paper. As you deal with each item, put a line through it (eg. from bottom left to top right). Once you have dealt with all the items on a page, put a line through the page from corner to opposite corner. At the end of the day, when writing your Control List for the next day, deal with or carry forward any outstanding items from today's pages.

Proper Proactive Prior Planning Promotes Positive Palpable Performance Providing Peace, Preventing Panic.
~ Marg Cameron

Why write a Control List?

With the many and varied demands placed on us, and interruptions, we have a tendency to get sidetracked from the most important job of the moment.

Writing it down:

• clarifies your tasks;
• clarifies your thoughts;
• allows you to prioritise more accurately;
• helps you to know where you are up to at any time;
• tells you what you need to do next;
• helps you get back on track after interruptions;
• allows you to forget it till you look at the Control List again;
• frees your mind to concentrate wholly on the job at hand.

A System (Routine) written down:

• allows you to create habits;
• ensures you keep on track, even when you're having a bad day;
• tells you what step to take next;
• allows others to fill in when you are not there.

Work Smart AND Hard
~ Marg Cameron

Control Manual

If you do the same things on a regular basis or often, write down the process, in order, and do it the same way every time. It becomes a habit. It gets done no matter what else is happening. When you are not there, others can follow the steps.

Start this Manual (Procedure Manual, Control Manual, Position Manual, Duties Manual) by writing your current routine as you do it. You already have a full day's work to do before you start - remember that this is a work-in-progress and you shouldn't expect yourself to complete it all at once or even to take blocks of time out of your already busy day to complete it.

Take note of what you do during the day step by step, and add to your Manual as you go or as you think of items.

Take 10 - the 10 minute rule

Set a timer for 10 minutes and try to beat the clock... see how much you can get done before the timer goes off!

If you feel you cannot manage 10 minutes, do 5 minutes.

Something is better than nothing!
~ Marg Cameron

If you can, every 10 minutes switch to a different job from your important list. Or go for 10 minutes more if you feel you need to, and then switch.

If you need to continue to work on the same thing, set the timer for 10 minutes and when the timer goes off, check your progress - remind yourself what you are meant to be working on - ask yourself: "Is what I am doing now the most important thing I should be doing at this moment?"

At the top of every hour, take a break - do some stretches, make a coffee, get a glass of water, take a short walk, work on something pleasurable, do something for yourself.

Keep your tools within easy reach

If you use a stapler often, make sure it is easy to reach without thinking. The folders you use most often should be close to hand - within easy and comfortable reach.

Be comfortable

Being constantly too cold or too hot or annoyed by something, for example a repetitive noise or uncomfortable chair, can cause underlying stress that can be translated into irritability, depression, crabbiness, headaches, lethargy, lack of productiveness, etc.

Watch what you eat

Some people are intolerant to additives in foods and don't realise that that is the reason they feel lethargic or bloated or crabby after meals. Sometimes you don't realise how you feel until you don't feel that way any more.
Try eating only foods that are not processed for a while and see if it makes a difference.

Follow through

Filing usually takes a lot less time than we think.

Don't put it down, put it away!
~ Author Unknown

It is easier to file something while your mind is still on it because you know what it is about and where it belongs. It's easier to "follow through" rather than pick it up again later and work out what it is, where it belongs and what you should do with it.

Listen very carefully - handle everything only once!

Near the end of the day (eg. after 3pm) set a timer for 10 minutes and catch up on any filing you didn't have time for during the day.

Start from now! File from now as you go! Don't wait till you catch up! There will be time to catch up during the 10 minute end-of-day filing time after you have finished the day's filing, once the system is in place.

To File or not to File - THAT is the question!

Questions to ask before you File:
Does this NEED to be filed?
Do I really need to keep this?
Why?
Can I say exactly when I would need this?
Is this current and correct?
What's the worst that can happen if I throw this away?
Can I easily find this elsewhere if I need it? (eg. online)?
Is there already a file for this?
If not, is it worth its own file?
If it's not worth its own file, is it really worth keeping?
If it's irreplaceable and/or legally required, is the original in Secure Storage?
And the most important question:
Where will I (or anyone else) look for this?

Last thing every day (allow 10 minutes):

• clean off your desk - find a place for the things you are working on at the moment to keep them separated like they were on your desk - in folders in a drawer, standing desk file or in the front of the file cabinet - don't clump them all together or it could take hours sorting it all out again; and
• write down your important jobs for tomorrow.

It's a relief to come in next morning and see a tidy desk - you get to start the day with a clean slate.

Avoid Procrastination

Do it NOW!

If there is something you are not getting to, ask yourself why and keep asking why till you get to the real reason.

• you require more information?
• you believe it will take a long time?
• you believe you won't have enough time to finish?
• you believe you don't have enough knowledge to complete it?
• you just don't know where to start?
• the task just seems too big?
• you are not sure what the task actually is or what is expected?
• the instructions for the task were vague?
• you didn't understand the instructions and didn't ask for clarification?

Then ask yourself "What am I going to do about it?"

Once you know what the problem is, the solution usually presents itself!
~ Marg Cameron

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
~ Author Unknown

If the job you are looking at seems daunting, just remember:
We don't have to finish anything; we just have to start lots!
~ Marg Cameron

Solutions just hang around waiting to be noticed!
~ Marg Cameron

Do what you know! The rest will follow!
~ Marg Cameron

Be kind to others

To ensure that the office is a place you want to go to every day, be good to your colleagues.

Recognise them; praise them; congratulate them; notice the good things about them.

Whenever you think to criticise, STOP!!! Remind yourself:

No one is perfect - not even me!
~ Marg Cameron

If a person is crabby towards you, you may have been preoccupied when you last spoke to them and they may have picked up on this. Or they may be having a bad day. You don't know what issues people have to deal with in their "other life", the one you aren't a part of; their private life. They don't know what issues you face in your private life.

A dear friend once said to me: "Act as you would like to be treated and teach by example."