Special offer

TRAF, Processing Your Desktop, part of the September 2016 DeCluttering The Organized ExecutiveProject

By
Real Estate Agent with Woodland Management Service / Woodland Real Estate, KW Diversified #1 in Forest Land Mgmt

TRAF, Processing Your Desktop, part of the September 2016 DeCluttering The Organized ExecutiveProject.

 

Today we will be talking about a tip that I learned from Stephanie Winston 30 years ago and these four letters, TRAF, are still good to remember.

 

Shortly after graduating from college, in my ongoing quest to never stop learning, I joined the Fortune Book Club.  Each month they sent me a book of the month selection or the choice to choose my own book(s). 

 

I don’t remember if this book was one that I chose or one that was sent automatically in a month that I did not send the form in on time.  But I am glad that I came across Stephanie Winston’s book, The Organized Executive, and I learned a lot about how to be organized from her.

 

I still have her book on my bookshelf, or at least one of the many replacement copies, after mine were given to friends and staff over the years.

 

I hope these four letters will be helpful to you as well;

 

T – Trash. Throw it away or delete it immediately.

 

R – Refer. Forward or Delegate it to someone else to handle it.

 

A – Action. Do it Now or Create a new item on your to do list to deal with the item later.

 

F – File. File or archive the item for retrieval later.

 

 

 

 
  T - Trash. Throw it away or delete it immediately.
    Hopefully we got rid of most of this stuff when we did our pre-purge a few days ago, but as we all know there will always be more things that just need to be filed in the trash or given away.  Somethings just don’t need to be done or kept around.


  R - Refer. Forward or Delegate it to someone else to handle it.
    One of my favorites, anything that does not need your attention or expertise and can be done by someone who makes less money than you do, should be done by someone else so that you can concentrate on the important jobs that require your attention.


  A - Action. Do it Now or Create a new item on your to do list to deal with the item later.
    David Allen always says that if it can be done in less than 2 minutes, do it now, if it is more extensive, put it on your to-do list and schedule it with the other similar projects.


  F - File. File or archive the item for retrieval later.
    In the old days we filed a lot more, and I have buildings full of file cabinets to prove it, but these days with Google and everything readily available there are far less things that need to be saved and filed.  If it is something that you cannot readily find online, scanning it and storing it electronically may be a better option than a warehouse full of file cabinets.

 

 

 

 

 

Try this little exercise on your desk, mailbox or other pile of papers today and see if it helps.

 

 

Comments (5)

Gabe Sanders
Real Estate of Florida specializing in Martin County Residential Homes, Condos and Land Sales - Stuart, FL
Stuart Florida Real Estate

Excellent tips, Bob.  Something I've been trying to do myself with varying amounts of success.

Sep 15, 2016 09:18 PM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Yeah, this would be me on a daily basis. LOL

Organization is not a problem....I just may be too organized. LOL

Sep 15, 2016 11:02 PM
Kathryn .
Rentec Direct - Grants Pass, OR
Rentec Direct

Thank you for the friendly reminders on staying organized.

Sep 15, 2016 11:46 PM
William Feela
WHISPERING PINES REALTY - North Branch, MN
Realtor, Whispering Pines Realty 651-674-5999 No.

I work at this all the time as I is so easy to become drowned

Sep 16, 2016 11:38 AM
Donna Foerster
HomeSmart Realty Group - Parker, CO
Metro Denver Real Estate Assistant

UGH! I need to do this exercise in my home and home office! No time like the present....right?

Sep 17, 2016 11:31 AM