i always sort papers into catergories and clean out what needs to be thrown away and saved as im putting them back into the filing cabinet

I hope you would have heard of 5-S practice. This is one of models used to increse productivity. Try this.

The 5-S practice is a technique used to establish and maintain quality environment in an organization. The name stands for five Japanese words:Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke [Osada, 1991]. The English equivalent, their meanings and typical examples are shown in the following table:


ENGLISH | MEANING | TYPICAL EXAMPLE
Structurise | Organization | Throw away rubbish
Systemise | Neatness | 30-second retrieval of a document
Sanitise | Cleaning | Individual cleaning responsibility
Standardize | Standardization | Transparency of storage
Self-discipline | Discipline | Do 5-S daily



The 5-S technique has been widely practiced in Japan. Most Japanese 5-S practitioners consider 5-S useful not just for improvising their physical environment, but also for improving their thinking processes too. Apparently the 5-S can help in all stratas of life. Many of the everyday problems could be solved through adoption of this practice.

5-S implementation requires commitment from both the top management and everyone in the organization. It is also important to have a 5-S Champion to lead the whole organization towards 5-S implementation step-by-step.

CGA has assisted organizations in orienting their workers to adopt Quality at their work place as an everyday practice and develop an understanding of various concepts of 5S.