De-Cluttering Your Company

Do you remember when they said our offices would be paperless by now?

Well, guess what? That just hasn't happened for most of us has it? If it has for you, my hats off to you!

We just had a scare, now that I look back on it. We thought we were going to sub-let our office to someone who needed the extra square footage that we do not need. We had four weeks to be packed, out of here and to find a new place. My assistant is a very good sport but the thought of going through all the files and deciding which ones we really need to keep with us, which ones can be stored and which ones can be tossed, even through her for a loop.

I realized I had presentation folders from seminars 10 years ago that I hadn't looked at since. I had old overhead presentation (Yep! The actual transparencies!) that I used years ago! Was the presentation really that good to keep all these years??? I think it is fair to say that I will probably use my InFocus and computer for any future presentations. There were 1998 sales reports and Broker's 1st year activity reports from the beginning of Sunbelt's days that really have no use or meaning to me now.

I think the obligatory catalyst for cleaning house is moving offices. Even though we didn't actually move and we have 12 more months here, I am beginning to sort through the files and putting them in 3 piles. Keep, toss, store (and mark on the box how long I must store them). By the time our lease expires we will be so lean I think we can probably get rid of 4 of the file cabinets and a credenza.

I encourage anyone reading this blog to do the same. It is quite liberating on one hand but sobering on the other hand. It makes me consider actually going paperless...