Clean Out Your Boat!

1. Clean Out Your Boat! Organizing the Paper Angela Hinkelman

2. Topics we will cover today • Managing Paper • Calendar Tips • To-Do Lists • Prioritizing • Email Tips

3. Three Little Boxes… • Inbox • A place to throw anything new • Today’s mail • Memo • Parent Notes • Phone Messages • Set aside a time to go through your inbox. • Outbox • Items that need to go somewhere else • Outgoing mail • Items to take home • Pending • Papers you will use later that same day. • A paper you need for a 3:00 meeting

4. Tickler File • A way to organize your million papers! • 43 folders = 31 days in the month + 12 months • Here is what your file cabinet would look like…

5. Other Paperwork Tips • "Chickenpox" - each time you pick up a paper without doing something with it, put a red dot on it.  See how many dots you get on it before you do something with it! • TRASH -  T - Throw it away R - Refer to someone else A - Act on it S - Save it and file it (where you can find it) H - Hold off (read it later when you're not busy)

6. Streamline Paperwork • Broad headings (detailed headings make you forget where you filed them) • Chronological order • Clear labels (avoid numbers) • Loose-leaf notebook for large files • Avoid constant filings

7. 168 hours • Everyone – Millionaires, Celebrities, Executives, Teachers, Clerks, Parents, Children – has the same 168 hours a week. • What do you do with your 168 hours?

8. Calendars • Choose paper or digital and stick with it. Only keep ONE calendar. • Have some form of calendar with you at all times. • Smart phone or paper calendar in your bag • Set reminders. • Set time on your calendar when to PREPARE for something. • When you think it, ink it!

9. Remembering Important Info • 5 subject spiral notebook • Date the top of each page and put the topic. • Possible Uses: • Meetings with boss • Meetings with clients • Project notes • Planning • Phone call notes • Conversation records • Student notes • Notes from Professional Learning

10. Types of To-Do lists • Legal Pad • Binder • Spiral • Post-its – ON SOMETHING • Desktop Stickies - http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/ • Other stickies: http://www.sticky-notes.org

11. Qualities of Good To-Do Lists • Write how long it takes to do each item. • Assign each item a priority. • Add items to your calendar. • Build in white space. • No back-to-back appointments • For big projects, break it up into small pieces and schedule the chunks.  Don't skip lunch - you need the fuel and you need the break. • Work on hard tasks during your “prime time”. • Try never to schedule more than 60% of your work week at a time.  20% of your work week will be an extension of your to-do list.  20% of your week will be tasks you don't even know about yet.

12. To Do List Tip • On your To-Do list, the "ugly frogs" (hard or unpleasant tasks) fall to the bottom and get moved to tomorrow.  This happens every day.  Do the ugly frogs first. • “Swallow your ugly frogs first!”

13. Prioritizing • Time log for a week. • At the end of the week, do you spend your time on the most important items? • Four Quadrant Activity • 1 Urgent / Important • 2 Not urgent / Important • 3 Urgent / Not Important • 4 Not urgent / Not important

14. Minimizing Distractions • Every time you ALLOW YOURSELF to be interrupted, you add 8 minutes to your task. • Shut your door • Find quiet time to work • Plan time to handle small tasks instead of stopping them to tackle them as soon as they cross your desk.

15. Managing Email • Don’t respond immediately. • Take the "pop-up" off so it doesn't distract you each time. • Set up folders and filters to give you a clean inbox. • Set up a schedule to read email. • Is email is the most effective way to communicate? • 55-38-7  Sort by sender or sort by subject line.   • Be careful about Reply to All. • Be careful about Bc.  The only person you should Bc is yourself or a list of recipients. • Set up group or team rules for email communication. • Have a clear subject line. • Color code.

16. Reflect • Inside / Outside circle • What is one thing you’ve learned today you will use? • What is one thing you still need help organizing that we haven’t covered today? • Give a suggestion to your partner.