Hi! This is Cyril from Work Smarter Live Better. In this short segment, I want to show you a few simple question that’s going to really help you to De-clutter your world.
I’m at the moment working from home. It’s one of those days where I really enjoy the peaceful and quiet side. And it’s a nice environment, let me sit down.
When I go to my client one of the first things I do before discussing strategy, before discussing tasks and time management is de-cluttering their world, their desk, their soft files, their emails. It sounds so simple and for a lot of people to tell that’s not a big deal about how de-clutter my desk, my email, and so on. You will be surprised the amount of smile, the amount of people that shook my hand, the amount of word of gratitude that I received after just de-cluttering their world.
And one of the big issue is we want to keep too much. What if I need this?
So I want to show you some simple questions. You are in front of the pile of document, you are in front of many emails, you are in front of a lot of soft documents, and you don’t know if you should keep them. There are three simple principles actually to ask yourself.
The first one I call that ‘Be Honest’ and the question behind is “Will I need it?” The problem is most people stop at this question and they say I might, and because they might, they going to keep it.
Then I go to the second principle is be ‘Be Ruthless’ and there’s two questions behind this one. “When was the last time I used it?” so if you haven’t used this document for a little while, maybe it starts telling you something about it. And the second question is “What is the worst thing that can happen if I throw it in a bin?” Nothing dramatic, then you have an answer.
The third level is ‘Be Smart’ and the question behind is “Can I find it easily somewhere else?” If you can find easily this document; in as a soft document and if it’s a paper on the internet or intranet, don’t keep it. Don’t become the librarian. If after all that it has survived what I call my friend the bin, then you can keep it. Keep in mind that eighty-five percent of work you keep, you will never come back to it again. The problem is not the eighty-five percent, the problem is the fifteen percent that you really need which is hidden in your mess. De-clutter your World.
This is this week Work Smarter Live Better tip. I hope you enjoy the segment. Maybe continue a discussion with you down below. What is your number one tip that you can share with everyone about De-cluttering your world. Leave a tip and I’ll see you soon.
Cheers! Bye.
