The 25 Minute Challenge

Four weeks ago we started a 15 minute weekly review and two weeks ago we added an in-basket to our office. As I mentioned in the in-basket post, it is best to process your in-basket regularly, I have found that the best way to do this is to work this into my weekly review. By doing this, your in-basket stays manageable and does not become that behemoth task that you avoid at all costs.

Let's take a quick overview of what our weekly review looks like now:

• Calendar review, and

• Processing in-basket.

For your calendar review, look at least 2 weeks into the future now; foresight is a good thing. The time needed for this task should decrease with each passing week, as you tighten up your agenda with these regular reviews.

For your in-basket, literally empty it all out and divide the contents into different piles ... perhaps receipts, reading, filing, delegating, to do, and my personal favorite ... trash. Firstly ... throw out everything you can. Secondly, manage the paperwork left over. Organize your receipts in preparation for the next expense account, and then go through the other piles; put what is to be read in a place where you can easily pick it up to read, pass on what can/needs to be delegated, organize what is left over for you to do, plan time to do it and, voila ... weekly review is over and done!