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Organization Labeling your files, piles or drawers can be a fast and easy way to organize your work space. It forces you to recognize multiple locations for the same things. Use the labeling process to group like things in one spot – the key to a well organized work space. To see if you are lacking labels, ask yourself this question. If someone new, say a temporary worker, came into your office could they easily find things? If the answer is no, it’s time to start labeling. I realize that some of you are pilers not filers. If you tend to pile, buy some inexpensive in trays to stack in a near by bookshelf (I don’t recommend your desk as it can look messy) and label each of them with your pile identities. For example, if you pile your reading, label a tray “reading”. Need to stack things higher than trays will allow? Don’t go there! If your tray is getting full, sort and purge! Do not let piles grow more than 3” in height or you’ll spend too long looking for things in the pile. If you find that one tray fills up fast – try to sort the contents into smaller sub groups. For example in your “reading” tray, you may want to break it down to the types of reading you collect such as “competitors”, “professional development”, “reports” and so on. Labeling machines are inexpensive and a fun toy for those who need to catch up on labeling or who create files constantly. MS Word also has label making templates for self-adhesive sheets of labels. The advantage to a labeler is that you can make one label very quickly. I own the Dymo QX50 which lists for $39.99 at Office Depot (although I bought it for $9.50 US + $10 US shipping & handling on eBay). It is simple to use and a good bang for the buck for straight forward labeling. The advantage to using MS Word and sheets of labels is that you can cut and paste repetitive content and change the font colour (if you have a colour printer) which will help you colour code things as well. Test your new found label system on some unsuspecting soul to see if they can find that report or article you need. The true test of a good system is one that is so straightforward that in makes sense to anyone.
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