getting rid of paper
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“The real question is, why do you want it? What are you going to do with it? That’s where you’ve got to start; otherwise you’re going to waste a lot of money.” These are the words of Francis Carincross in her book The Company for the Future. She tried to answer the dilemma many of us face when saving paper.TRANSCRIPT
Getting Rid of Paper
“Man’s best friend, aside from the dog, is the wastebasket.”
Mark Twain
Productivity Partners, Inc. 913-649-0878 888-482-2688
“The real question is, why do you want it? What are you going to do with it? That’s where you’ve got to start; otherwise you’re going to waste a lot of money.”
These are the words of author Francis Carincross in her book The Company for
the Future. She tried to answer the dilemma many of us face when saving paper.
We’ve been talking about a ’paperless society’ since the early 1970’s. But the truth
of the matter is there is more paper now than ever before. In fact, a Xerox survey tells us
we will have 50% more paper in 2005 than we had in 1995. And we don’t’ know where it
will go from there.
Letting go of paper is harder than it seems on the surface.
Many companies have tried to go paperless, citing increased productivity and lower costs
as the gain. But employees are still ordering filing cabinets. Why? Because most of us
have an emotional attachment to the paper. Yes… even work related papers. You
know…those marketing pieces you worked so hard on and there’s no reason to throw
them out…
There is the fear that if you toss it, the day will come when you need it.
Consider that most of us don’t know what is inside our file cabinets to begin with. Is all
that paper really bringing you value? Would you lose your job if you didn’t have many of
those documents? It’s a feeling. A fear that if it gets tossed, we’ll somehow miss it or
suffer the consequences.
But let’s face it.
There are 18,000 pieces of paper in a full four-drawer file cabinet and we only use 20%
of them. Re-read Ms. Cairncross’ words at the top of this article. If you can answer these
questions honestly, you could probably start clearing out your filing cabinet, eliminating
waste and clutter along the sway, and save time by only maintaining what you actually
need and use.
Organizing and maintaining a filing system is one thing.
But the truth is that you put papers in file cabinets because you can’t seem to make a
decision about the paper’s true disposition. Maybe it’s time to consider a company-wide
records retention policy and an annual clean-out day.
The outcomes if you ignore this piece of advice?
Paper clutter, time mismanagement, reduced productivity, wasted money and stress and
a lot less piece of mind.
And let’s not forget those digital files. The keyword here is…delete.
Productivity Partners, Inc. 913-649-0878 888-482-2688
Productivity Partners, Inc. 913-649-0878 888-482-2688
Productivity Partners, Inc. specializes in helping employees overcome the 24/7
time management and organizing challenges they face in order to improve
performance, increase productivity and reduce stress.
PPI assists individuals, teams, and entire companies in gaining confidence and
control when it comes to paper, information, time, space and choice management.
Offerings include:
Onsite workshops
Online workshops or webinars
Assessments
Coaching
Consulting
Presentations
Products
Cynthia Kyriazis started her business in 1992 after 25 years experience in
multi-unit operations management. She is an organizing and time management
coach, consultant, trainer, speaker and author. Cynthia is past Secretary of the
National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), 2008 President of the
International Society for Performance Improvement-Kansas City chapter (KCISPI), a
national speaker, and consultant to the American Coaching Association. Cynthia can
be reached at [email protected]
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