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Reduce stress and increase productivity in just 1 day

By Bob Malloney

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 07Aug2009 Word count: 801 Viewed: 291 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

The recession is increasing stress levels for all of us. We are all expected to do more, with reduced resources. On top of that, what's around the corner? How bad will things get? It's easy to feel insecure.

Here are two simple things you can do today. Your brain is very clever, but it has limitations to its operating capability. If you can work within those limitations you'll be surprised at how much more you get done and how much better you feel at the end of the day.

Your conscious mind can only deal with one thing at a time, so only have one piece of work on your desk at any one time. If there are other things on your desk, then you will see these in your peripheral vision and they will distract you. Your conscious mind will be constantly distracted from the task in hand and operate less efficiently.

It's distracting enough if you actually know what's in that enormous pile of paper sitting on your desk or in the hundreds of emails sitting in your inbox; it's even worse if you don't! Remember, it's what you haven't done that causes you stress not what you have done.

So, task one is to clear your desk and PC. Make sure that you are absolutely ruthless. Ask yourself the question as you lovingly look at that piece of paper that's been with you since you were nothing more than a twinkle in your mother's eye, 'What's the worst thing that can happen to me if I throw this away?' and I bet the answer is, 'Nothing!' If the answer is anything else, then ask, 'Where else could I get this information from?' and, if there is somewhere, then throw the piece of paper in the bin or delete it from your PC.

So, you've cleared your desk and PC. What you must do now is introduce systems to make sure that you do not lapse back into bad habits. If you don't, in no time at all, your desk and PC will be cluttered again. That mess you've just cleared didn't all arrive at once in a big lorry, it came in dribs and drabs over a long period of time. Let's make sure that it doesn't happen again.

You need to ensure that every piece of paper or electronic message is dealt with straight away. So set up a storage system that organises your papers and mirrors the capabilities of the human brain.

Our conscious brain can only deal with one thing at a time. We know that we will be receiving papers and messages dealing with all aspects of our work, not just one, so we go to the next level of our brain, the pre-conscious for our system. Our pre-conscious brain can deal with about 10 things at a time so let's use a system that mirrors that. I suggest, to start with, 8 separate files for your papers.

How you physically store the papers is up to you. You may use clear plastic wallets, a concertina folder, dividers in a filing cabinet, files in your PC, it doesn't really matter. What's important is to store your papers in an organised way.

The 8 files I suggest you start with are:

* Do Now. As the name suggests you put into this file, things that need to be done immediately.

* Do soon. Into this file go things that you do not need to do immediately but do need doing within the next day or two.

* File. Things that simply need filing away.

* Read. We all receive papers that we just need to read, then file or throw away. Separate them from the rest of your papers and then set aside time in your diary to read them.

* Pass on. If you can. When you first receive a piece of paper, ask yourself, 'Who can I give this to?'.

* Pending. Only if you have to. A very dangerous file.

* Projects. Most of us have longer-term projects on the go. Let's get the papers about them separated from the rest.

* Others. Anything that doesn't fit into the above 7. Depends on what your job entails. Just like, 'Pending', this is a dangerous file for the hoarder.

The above is a simple system for organising your papers to help keep your mind clear for the job in hand. If you can, get rid of 'Pending' and 'Others' as quickly as you can. And if you receive anything that doesn't fit into any of your headings...then throw it in the bin. You're not going to do anything with it anyway; it will just clog up your papers. So throw it away now!

You'll be surprised at how much more you achieve each day and how much better you feel.

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