Color Your Day a Success

Saving time and improving efficiency are priorities for any busy professional. Our color-coded organizational system will make getting through piles of paperwork a breeze.

The first step is to purchase four large color folders in red, yellow, orange and green. When you start organizing your mail, invoices, periodicals and reports, you will sort them into one of these folders each day. Every piece of paper that comes across your desk should be placed into one of these folders.

Remember these guidelines:

Red Folder - Priority items that include urgent or time-sensitive materials

• Empty the red folder every day.

Yellow Folder - Items to review before Friday

• Empty the yellow folder at the end of every week.

• If you can’t remove the items by the end of the week, either move them to the red folder or the orange folder.

Orange Folder - Relevant information or information of some interest, but not a priority

• On the first Monday of each month remove everything from the orange folder by either discarding, filing or forwarding them to someone else.

Green Folder - Invoices, tax-related documents or anything related to finances

• Check the green folder every Wednesday and move time-sensitive items to the red or yellow folder based on urgency.

• Empty the green folder every other Wednesday by either discarding, filing or forwarding them to someone else.

If you have multiple or large items to place into a folder, you might want to consider using color-coded bins or multiple folders in the appropriate color. For example, it is common to need more than one orange folder.

This system can also apply to email management by using the red, yellow, green and orange flags to tag and sort your emails.