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When walking the path to wealth, organization is a very important habit. Being able to find things when you need them effortlessly is a key component to anyone’s success. How many times do you personally go to look for a piece of paper-work only to find out it is misplaced?

This is something I do all the time. I have tried several different techniques when trying to organize but some just do not work. There are several on the other hand that make my life so much easier. I have adopted three habits that probably save me close to ten hours a month of free time. Not to mention the amount of stress it saves me from not having to look for keys, papers, phone numbers etc.

Below I have the three techniques that I started with. Remember that everyone starts somewhere and if you are to succeed at anything you have to take it one step at a time. So take a step in the right direction and find out what it takes to be organized.

 Step 1 - Your Keys

This may seem petty but don’t neglect this important topic. Eight out of ten people loose their keys at least three times a week. Whether they are on their way to work or they are just in a hurry to get somewhere, people lose their keys. It’s a fact of life and it has happened to me thousands of times. One simple technique I picked up from a book I read stated this: place your keys in the same exact place, every time you come home for 21 days and you will never loose them again. I personally hang them on a hook by my door and although it took me a couple of weeks to remember to hang them there, that is where they go every time I come home. You can put them in a basket or next to the sink, whatever you choose to do. Did you know that if you loose your keys and are looking for them a total of twenty minutes a week you have spent close to eighteen hours a year just looking for keys? This is almost a full day of your life wasted looking for something as small as your keys. Keep that in mind and remember that it is the little things that count.

Step 2 - Filing Folders

Always, always, always, always file papers and documents away. I personally have a filing cabinet that has every bill I have ever paid in it. During the year every time I get say, an electric bill, I pay it then it is thrown into the “electric” folder. Along with filing it I put the date it was paid so that I know when I sent the check. This keeps everything neat and tidy so that if the electric company ever calls to say I never paid, guess what? I have it documented with easy access as to when and how it was paid. This goes for all paper and documents. I have all insurance papers filed an placed in folders as well as all of my old pay stubs from previous jobs. This makes everything so nice so that I do not have to hunt for anything.

Buy a filing cabinet and organize every piece of paper that is sitting on your desk right now. Believe me, when you need something you will be thankful that all you have to do is open a drawer and there you have it.

Step 3 - Very Important, Important, and Not Important Folders

I have three folders on my desk that are labeled very important, important, and not important. Every time I have something that need to be done right away I put it in the very important folder and deal with it either that day or the following day. If something is fairly important I put it in the important folder and you get the picture. This saves clutter from my desk and also provides information as to what I need to take care of now and what can wait. I schedule a few days a week to clean each of these folders out and because of that I rarely have a mess anywhere regarding paper work. These folders are mainly used for documents and papers that do not require filing. Say you have a loan application you need to fill out you would probably want to place it in the “Very Important” folder. This way you do not forget and you have it ready to go when you need it. I also place customer information such as estimates and billing questions in there. This is just another simple task that has made my life a little easier.

Please, I urge you to practice these techniques. Like I said by just doing these three things I have saved myself countless hours.

Try one a week or use them in succession. What ever is easier for is what we want. Just remember that nothing will happen unless you take action. So take action, buy some folder and get yourself organized. Check back with other posts on organization and successful habit forming techniques.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 5:43 pm and is filed under Discipline, Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.