While organizers love the sight of a clear desk, not all of your paper should be stuck away in a file drawer — those items that are accessed regularly or in the midst of some sort of “to-do” must be kept handy. But that doesn’t mean that you have to suffer with a bunch of disorganized stacks, cluttering up all of your available work surfaces!
What Is A Fingertip File?
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a mom trying to keep track of your kid’s classmates, soccer schedule, and PTA activities — or if you’re a corporate executive struggling to stay on top of your company’s products, vendors, customers, and staff. You need a good document management system for organizing commonly-used reference items within arm’s reach. That’s where the fingertip file comes into play.
A fingertip file is exactly what it sounds like, a place to store papers that you prefer to keep close by. You know the kinds of documents I’m talking about — those bits of information that you need to put your hands on at a moment’s notice (possibly even several times a day), and don’t want to have to dig through a file drawer to find. This includes phone and contact lists, printed schedules and calendars, directories and rosters, cheat sheets and important memos, pricing, product, and vendor lists, and blank forms you use all the time. The goal is to set up a distinct home for these sorts of “quick reference” items, outside of your main file drawer.
Fingertip “Options”
The nice thing about a fingertip file is that it can take any form you choose, depending on how you like to handle your paper. If you prefer to store reference sheets out of sight when you don’t need them, consider a “flip” style document organizer — a sturdy pressboard classification folder with fasteners at the top of each divider or a ring-binder and a set of clear plastic storage sheets. What if your fingertip file doesn’t contain a collection of loose pages, but a number of larger documents? Simple — set up an expanding file or set of hanging folders in a file rack, and assign a category to each section. You can organize your paper by the area of your life it relates to (school, church, marketing, billing) — or the specific document being stored (order forms, phone lists, memos). If the fingertip items you need to store are bigger than will fit in a file (product catalogs, professional journals, magazines), get a few magazine holders that sit upright on a bookshelf (one for each title) — or pick up a set of file bar catalog hangers to store your publications spine-up in a file drawer. And if you’re one of those people who needs to have things in plain view, consider a bulletin or magnetic board for your most important bits of information. Just be careful to clean out when it gets too crowded — an overloaded board is no more useful to you than a pile on your desk. The trick is to choose the system that best matches your work style and the type of paper you are organizing.
Tackling To-Do’s
The next step is to figure out a functional document management system for action items. I often feel that the number one challenge people face with paper is not the quantity (although there is way too much of it about) — it’s lack of motion. When you’ve got a good system for processing, a big pile of to-do’s is a piece of cake. But when any amount of paper lands on your desk and just sits there, it’s going to create problems. The goal is forward momentum — that’s why they call it “work flow,” rather than “work stop!” If you want to keep paper moving through your system (instead of stagnating and clogging up your in-box), you need to “verb” it — that means sorting according to the action required. Start with the nearest pile, ask yourself what you need to do with each item, then create a folder for each answer. You’ll probably come up with categories like:
Set these folders up in a file box or rack, placed in plain view. The goal is to give new paper a place to live until you have a chance to tackle it. Each day, take just a minute to go through the incoming to-do’s and file accordingly. Of course, you may have multiple steps to take with each item (like a credit card statement with an error on it — where you need to make a phone call, then pay the bill, then file it.) Just ask yourself, “What is the NEXT step I need to take to clear this item up?” You start by putting it in “to contact,” and you may only have time for that one step today. Then move it to “to pay” and it will be waiting for you on your next round of to-do’s (plus, you won’t forget where you were in processing that document.)
Rethinking The Way You Do Things
So how do you make sure that everything you put into a file comes back out again, and gets done on time? Don’t wait until you have time. You must make time. Schedule a regular weekly appointment with yourself (maybe an hour or two, once or twice a week) and block off that slot for “admin time”. During admin time, your goal is to go through each To-Do folder in order and try to complete every item inside. If you can’t complete that item for some reason, put it back in the folder and tackle it during your next admin period. And if you finish one step, but then realize that you have another step to take with that paper, make a note or attach a sticky so there’s no confusion later on.
Why would you worry about working through one folder before moving to the next? You will accomplish more in less time when you complete each activity in sequence (paying all of your bills at once, then making all of your calls, then doing all of your filing) — as opposed to bopping back and forth between different tasks. Take a “mass production” tip from Henry Ford — your work will get done faster and easier if you focus on one category at a time. Plus, completing a folder allows that weight to lift from your shoulders — you know that all the bills are paid or all the calls are made, and you can forget about those to-do’s until your next admin period. If you follow this system, you will never accumulate more than a week’s worth of paper at any time, you have no reason to miss a deadline or get hit with a late fee — and you don’t have to continually worry, “When will I get it all done?” because you know that any to-do’s will be taken care of during your next regular admin period. Is that genius, or what?
As you well know, Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management is ideal for indexing all paper files, but you can use the software to help you keep track of what is in your fingertip files and to-do’s also, especially if you have others that need access or share your files and projects.
About the Author
Ramona Creel is Professional Organizer, NAPO Golden Circle Member, and the original founder of OnlineOrganizing. A former Social Worker, she has always enjoyed helping people find the resources and solutions they need to improve their lives. Ramona now travels the country as a full-time RVer, sharing her story of simplicity with everyone she meets. She leads by example — having worked for more than 10 years as a Professional Organizer, and having radically downsized and simplified her own life as a full-time RVer. Ramona now considers herself a “Renaissance Woman” — bringing all of her passions together into one satisfying career. As a “Virtual Organizer”, she can create a customized organizing plan for your home or office. As a “Simplicity and Accountability Coach “, Ramona provides a proven program for making every area of your life a little bit easier — perfect for those who want to make the time and space to focus on their true priorities. As a Professional Photographer, Ramona captures powerful images of places and people as she travels. And as a freelance writer and blogger, she shares organizing techniques, travel tips, and social commentary with others. You can see all these sides of Ramona — read her articles, browse through her photographs, and even hire her to help get your life in order — at www.RamonaCreel.com. You can also follow her on Twitter, check out her Facebook profile, and subscribe to her blog feeds.
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