| 1. | Breakdown: | Woe is me! I’m not maintaining a ‘Clear 180’. |
| Consequence: | The loss of focus and concentration. |
| Solution: | You want to create a workspace environment that gives you the greatest degree of focus and concentration, thus facilitating your workflow. The physical layout is essential to your concentration. You will be able to complete and dispatch incoming information with incredible ease and speed. Having clutter and chaos in your ‘180’ is like trying to drive down the freeway while dialing your cell phone and eating your lunch. Where is your focus? Your ability to concentrate on one project at a time without the distractions on your desk, or without worrying about what other tasks you need to do, is “key” to your productivity. Remember the phrase- “If I didn’t have the time to do it correctly the first time, when will I find the time to do it over again?” |
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| 2. | Breakdown: | Uh, oh! I’m afraid that I’m not dealing with one project at a time. |
| Consequence: | You are setting yourself up for mistakes, errors and omissions. |
| Solution: | If you are not dealing with one project at a time you are either multi-tasking or not focusing on the task at hand. Now imagine you are the patient on the operating table and the surgeon is not able to focus because he/she is distracted by actions in their periphery (‘180’) or perhaps that he/she is late for tee time at the country club. Is this too different from you sitting at your desk with a cluttered ‘180’? |
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| 3. | Breakdown: | Mama Mia! I’m not properly naming or maintaining my ‘home’ files. |
| Consequence: | The inability to efficiently file, hence retrieve information. By not having a manageable and organized “HOME” filing system you are sabotaging yourself. You are wasting an inordinate amount of time searching for where you have filed your information. |
| Solution: | In order to maintain uniformity, use your new e-mail folders as a guideline for your paper files. When you are trying to think of a file name, pause and think what is the key title – keep it simple. If the title of the file gets too general, you will find yourself spending time trying to remember what you filed it under. For example use ‘INSURANCE’ as a main folder title. Under this heading you can then sub-file ‘LIABILITY’, ‘VEHICLES’, etc. |
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| 4. | Breakdown: | Yikes, what’s so bad about my computer not being removed from my ‘180’? After all, I’m on it most of the day! |
| Consequence: | Loss of a ‘Clear 180’ for the focus and concentration required while doing both electronically-held as well as paper-based information. |
| Solution: | By moving your computer out of your ‘180’, a number of positive things happen: you have gained valuable desk space; you have created the opportunity for a ‘Clear 180’ by eliminating a huge distraction in your midst; you have actually gained another ‘Clear 180’ when you are facing your computer. |
