business habits

Save time, reduce stress, increase productivity – save your documents before you start

One of the biggest issues I find when I’m setting up systems and processes for small businesses is that no matter how well the systems and processes are designed, no matter how easy it is to use them, we still get people who save their my work to “My Documents” or the “Desktop”.

Why do they do this?  Well I figure it’s because its the easy and lazy way out; that when people create a new document or spreadsheet they start working in it straight away and only think to save it at the end of the day or when they have to run for a train or bus to go home or at some other time when they need to leave their desks – for a meeting say or to go to lunch.

At that time they look at the clock and think “Oh *<#^! where should I save this work. Oh I don’t have time to think about that.” So the item being worked on gets dumped in a hurry on to the desktop or in My Documents because that is the quickest thing they can think of.

Next time they go to look for that item, it’s not in the proper place in the directory structure or file plan. So they waste searching for it, and get frustrated along the way.

We all do that at some time. But there is a better way.

You need to learn a new habit.  OK  – I know! But don’t turn off and leave this page right now because the new habit I want you to create is actually quite easy.

When you create a new document save it straight away to the proper place in your directory structure.  Do this before you start putting any content into it.

Then next time you want to edit it or add to it, you can find it right away because its saved in the correct place.

Remember it takes time to create a new habit so you might have to do this a number of times before it comes naturally.  But it will be worth it and I can guarantee that it will save you time.  You’ll no longer waste time searching for documents you’ve saved “somewhere” and either ruining your eyesight peering at your desktop screen trying to find the title of the document you’re working on or scrolling up and down your My Documents folder searching for that document ( What did I call that document?)

Using standardised titles for naming your documents will help – that’s another story for another day.

Meantime the time you save by not searching for those stray documents so you increase your productivity and cut your stress levels

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It takes time to get into good habits

Over recent months I’ve been relating some of my experiences with clients who want help to organise the information they use in their business.  Sometimes it’s about getting their email under control; sometimes it’s their electronic documents causing them grief because they can’t remember where they saved an important document or spreadsheet.  I’ve also given a networking colleague some ideas for sorting out the stuff on her desk.

Let’s talk about her for a moment because her experience is so relevant to today’s blog on habits.  Jill had piles of paper, promotional folders and an array of spilt business cards on her desk when I first saw it.  It had been like that for most of her time in that business.  However in 3 weeks with some help from me she got it tidy and she loved being able to work so much more efficiently.

But – 2 months later she confided that she had been really busy and her desk had got messy again.  And I realised that although the strategies I had given her for getting out of the mess she was in, it had not become a habit to keep using those strategies.

And we all need to keep using those strategies or we will get swamped again; with paper; Or with emails; Or by not having and using simple rules for organising electronic documents.

So now I have some tips for creating a new habit around managing your business information and making it stick.

  1. It takes 3- 4 weeks to make a new habit run on autopilot.  So you need to commit a little time every day just for a month to keeping your desk tidy or your email under control
  2. Write a check list of what you plan to achieve in the month
  3. Take no more than 15 minutes each day (and every day) and tackle one task per day.  This helps you to build up the habit of sorting out one messy area at a time.  You get a sense of achievement without getting bored or fed up
  4. Make that time at the same time every day – so choose a time of day that you know you can commit to over the first month.  If necessary reorganise some of your other activities so you can make the same time consistently every day over that month
  5. At the end of the first week, check how different things look and congratulate yourself.  This will give you the motivation to keep going into the second week
  6. If you start to forget, take time at the end of a day to plan the task for the next day and create an alert about what you are going to do the next day
  7. Tell someone what you’re doing and show them your progress so they can help your keep motivated
  8. If you find yourself slipping think how much more productive you will be if:
    • You have a tidy desk where you can find everything you need very quickly
    • You can see all your emails neatly organised into folders
    • You know exactly where to look for that pricing list or draft contract and don’t have to recreate it
  9. Check back every week to see how you’re going against that checklist you created at the beginning of the month
  10. Think about the benefits of making this habit stick.

Go for it!