Many of us approach our workday with the same fears that Dorothy and her friends (the Scarecrow and Tin Man) had upon entering the dark forest. Somewhere, lurking among the shadows -- "Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my!" We, too, look at the myriad of memos, post-its, periodicals and lists and we are certain that there is something in there that's going to sneak up behind us and take a bite out of our...well, you know...

And then -- the lion strikes! Dorothy, et al. race around in fear, trying to avoid certain disaster. Mortal peril! What shall we do???!!! Suddenly, Dorothy turns and confronts that lion and finds out that he is, in fact, a coward, unable to stand up to her scrutiny with any power.

That clutter on our desk is the same. We build up an imaginary scenario in our own minds in which we are eaten alive by deadlines that we've missed and looming projects . We find ourselves confronted by a lion in the form of a memo we were supposed to respond to weeks ago. We race around in fear, trying to avoid certain disaster, knowing there are other lions and tigers and bears waiting to pounce...!

But then, if we confront these terrors, we often find out that they are, indeed, only "paper tigers". The problem with most of us is that we do not have a plan, a system in place for dealing with the information that comes to us each day. While that information comes to us in a variety of forms from a variety of sources, the technique for handling it is exactly the same. Because it doesn't matter what it is. There are only three decisions that can be made about anything that comes across our desk, computer or even our mind -- do we need to file the information for future reference; act on it because the ball is in our court; or toss it because it is unnecessary or irrelevant. When we use this system (also known as F-A-T: File-Act-Toss(TM)), we take control of our time, space and energy, putting fears, as well as items and information, in their place.

The part that trips us up most, however, is "Act". We most likely got into this (literal) mess because we were doubtful, if not fearful, of what to do with the information. As a matter of fact, one of the principles of a productive environment is: "Clutter is postponed decisions". Right now look at any pile in your office and you would have to agree that those items are there because you weren't sure what to do. And while making the decision is crucial, it's only part one; the second part is follow-through. We must make that phone, write that e-mail response, and schedule time in our calendar to do the research required for our project. That's when we become productive.

The absolute best way to keep from becoming a high speed casualty on the “information superhighway” is to have a system in place to handle projects and paperwork. The only way to develop such a system is to understand what your vision is and figure out your resources, obstacles and tools, and then maintain that system. In fact, this is known as the Productive Environment Process(TM).

So, how much more space, time and energy would you have tomorrow if you walked into your office knowing that you had a productive way to handle incoming information? Why not call your local Certified Productive Environment Specialist to find out?