Never Have This Folder In Your Filing System

 

A friend of mine recently asked me over dinner, “If you could ban any one thing from offices, what would it be?”  Without hesitation I answered, “Miscellaneous folders.” You think you’re doing yourself a favor by slapping a quick “Misc.” label on a folder just so you can clear your desk, but these are the black holes of filing systems.  Once something goes in, it never sees the light of day again.

The dreaded “Miscellaneous” folder wears many masks.

- “Various”

- “General”

- [your name here] For instance, a “Kacy” folder.  Heaven only knows what’s hiding in there. . .

- [a year] Hmmm, “2006” That says a lot. . . .

- “Current” Current what?  Current when?

I’m apparently not the only Office Organizer who has a bone to pick with this pseudo category.  A recent New York Times article featured a Massachusetts based Organizer who agrees.  Nancy Black says “If you really want it, you can have it,” she tells clients, ‘but don’t tell anyone I helped you with it.”  Ditto.

7 DAY CHALLENGE:

Do an audit of your files and piles this week to see if you too have been harboring any black holes.  I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you realize that at least 90% of its contents are trash. By now, nothing remaining is worth acting on.  “Trash or file” should be your motto as you power sort through this one.