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Professors – Use a ‘Waiting For’ Folder to Increase Professionalism, Productivity, and Peace of Mind

22nd May, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments

So often what we have on our desks includes files, folders, papers, notebooks, phone messages, order receipts, and other documentation for which we are *waiting for* a response of some kind.  It creates both visual clutter and mental clutter.  It also derails our productivity.  You are forever poking around in the items that are on your desk (shelves, credenza, tables, etc.) looking for the item someone has dropped by to collect, that you need to give to someone who came by, or that you access when someone returns the call you made earlier today (or one day last week!)  Amazingly enough, there’s an easy solution to this swirling mass of materials…The *waiting-for* file.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create a file folder labeled "waiting for." You can use a regular manila folder, a colored folder, or a hanging file folder.  It doesn’t make any difference other than what is handy and what you prefer.
2. Start with your desk and what is currently ‘resting’ there, i.e., you are not currently working on the file, folder, paper, or other item.  Ask yourself, ‘Am I waiting for’ a response, an additional piece of information, a phone call, or any other occurrence before I can take further action on this project?’  If the answer is yes, put the item into your *waiting-for* folder.  If the item is too large to easily drop into the folder, then put a piece of notepaper into the folder labeled so that you can find the larger item when you need it.  For example, if I am just about to finish the table of contents for my course packet and I am WAITING FOR one of my colleagues to give me his handouts so that I can include them and finish the final numbering, I could put a note into the *waiting-for* folder that notes:  "When Jim brings by his handouts, put them into the notebook that is on the 2nd shelf and finish numbering the course table of contents."  That’s all you’ll need not only to retrieve the rest of the action item, but also to remember what your next steps are.
3. Continue going through your desk (then any other surfaces – or heaven forbid, enclosed places – where you are storing documents of every different type while you are waiting for someone else to do something so that you can then move forward on the task, project, or commitment.
4. Now, when some contacts you in person, by phone, or via email and gives you a phone number, a budget calculation, an answer, or other piece of information, you can immediately think, ‘Oh, yes!   I was waiting for that!’ and then turn to your *waiting-for* folder, retrieve the appropriate materials and then move forward.

This is what peacefully productive professors do – and I know you want to be one of those folks!

If you would like to access a multitude of other materials to support your quest for more peaceful productivity, join others (worldwide) who receive Meggin’s weekly emails (and see what is available for download at no cost at the following websites):

**Top Ten Productivity Tips   http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com

**Keys to Keeping Chaos at Bay   http://www.KeepingChaosatBay.com

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., "The Ph.D. of Productivity"(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!