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Blog: Surfing the Paper Wave
 Organize Your Files, Part 2 of 3
For those of you who have just joined us, we're in the midst of discussing the three main types of files: documentation, information and active. Last week, I described documentation files, which capture the major and minor events of your business or personal life. This week, the topic is information files—those files that cover topics of interest to you, either in your business or personally.
Information files differ from documentation files in that they provide interesting or useful ideas rather than establishing facts about life or business events. A good way of distinguishing documentation from information is to ask yourself, "Would I ever have to prove something by showing this?" If the answer is yes, you're holding a document. If not, it's a piece of information. I find it useful to separate documents from information because you are in two different modes of action when you use them.
In my business, I collect information for the topics I give workshops on: time management, paper organization, clutter control, student organizing and the like. An audio/video producer client collects information on the latest cameras, sound recorders and other equipment in his field. A real estate investor collects information about the different kinds of investments she can participate in and procedures for how to engage in them.
Here are some examples of personal information files:
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Decorating & Organizing Ideas
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Entertainment & travel – places you'd like to go or visit again
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Health & Fitness – for example, articles on nutrition and exercise
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Hobbies
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Humor
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Recipes
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Religion/Spirituality
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Thought-provoking pieces – "neat ideas"
Avoid creating a "Miscellaneous" file! It tends to become a black whole from which papers rarely emerge. Instead, look for more descriptive categories, and use the "organizer's rule" that eight entries make a file.
Information files lend themselves well to an alphabetical filing scheme. They are good to keep together, but they do not have to be stored in the same place as your documentation. My personal information files are in a different room than my personal documentation files. My business information files are in a different file drawer than my business documentation files.
As I mentioned last week, all of these observations apply equally well to electronic files (including emails) and paper ones.
posted on: 11/25/2007 10:30:00 AM by Suzanne Kuhn
category: Paper
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Surfing the Paper Wave
by Suzanne Kuhn
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About Suzanne:
Suzanne Kuhn is the owner of ACE ORGANIZING, offering affordable, customized, energizing organizing solutions to homes, schools and small businesses in the five-county Philadelphia area and central New Jersey. Although an organizing generalist, (she'll organize anything!) Suzanne has a growing specialty in paper and electronic filing systems and financial organizing. To receive her FREE booklet, 50 TOP TIME MANAGAGEMENT TIPS, email her at [email protected]
Suzanne's Website:
http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogList.asp?sort=organizer&schedule=41&name=Suzanne_Kuhn
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