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Writing Skills and
Handling Paper
Our lives and our businesses have been bombarded with
paper, reports, memos, correspondence, magazines,
newspapers, invoices, minutes, legal documents and
books. Unfortunately for us, some of the paperwork is a
fantastic waste of our precious time. Day by day our
offices and homes become the dumping yard for other
people's unnecessary paperwork. Those who have no method
or knowledge of handling paper will find that they have
become paper shufflers. They handle the same piece of
paper more than is necessary. Whether we like it or not,
no business can run without paper. Paper is here for
ever, so get organised.
"I have been paper shuffling all my life."
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1. |
Did you know that probably
50% of the paper in your home or business will
never be of use to you again and that it is
taking up valuable space and time? |
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2. |
Do you spend lots of time
looking for correspondences because you have
forgotten where you have put them? |
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3. |
Do you consistently have more
than one, two or three pieces of paper on your
desk that relate to different tasks? |
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4. |
Do you spend more than five
seconds looking for correspondence that is on
your desk because too much paper is in the way? |
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5. |
Have you ever been accused of
generating too much paperwork that is boring,
too long and very difficult to read? |
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6. |
Do you want to master the
handling of paper? |
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Managing
paperwork |
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1.
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Keep your desk tidy at all
times because this is the runway where all
paperwork lands when it comes into your office.
If the runway is cluttered then the plane will
not take off on time and all the passengers on
board will be disappointed. |
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2.
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Be ruthless with paper at all
times or paper shuffling will be ruthless and
merciless with one of your most precious
commodities - time. |
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3.
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When unwanted paperwork lands
on your runway (your desk) throw it away
immediately! |
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4.
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Organise and maintain a very
simple filing and storage system which allows
you to find any document within twenty seconds.
Once every six, or twelve months go through your
entire system and throw away unwanted documents.
Think for a moment, what would happen to a
beautifully well kept garden that was left
unattended for weeks or months. |
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5. |
Write down all of your
"things to do" for today and this week. Write a
brief note where you have filed specific
documents that relate to specific items on your
things to do list. |
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6. |
Make space for a Z file. A Z
file is where you put any incoming documents
that are not of use to you right now but may
become of use to you later. Once a month go
through these documents and do the FAT:
File it
Act upon it now
Throw it away |
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7.
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Keep your office and your
home neat and tidy at all times with all
documentation under control and in its rightful
place. Occasionally ask others for their
thoughts or first impressions on how your office
or home looks and feel. |
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8.
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If you continually receive
unwanted correspondence from the same place why
not write and ask to be taken off their
database. |
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9.
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Only write if it is
absolutely necessary, use the internal phone
rather than send a memorandum, do report
summaries instead of lengthy reports which do
not get read. |
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10.
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Review your systems at least
every three months in order to modify and change
to suit any new demands. |
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11.
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Purchase yourself an enormous
dustbin or paper recycling facility or both. |
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12.
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Remember, because of time
constraints most people do not read lengthy
paperwork, so keep it short and simple.
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Use the this technique when writing
to others:
Aim
Language
Layout
One to One
Techniques
Structure
Aim
If you do not have an aim your
written communication skills will suffer. Therefore your
first rule in writing is to establish your aim by
excellent preparation. Prepare yourself with these
questions. Why should I write? Do I need to write? What
do I intend to achieve? Is there an easier way to
communicate? What action do I want? Think carefully!
Once you have clearly defined your aim, ask yourself one
more question, am I writing to:
Persuade
Inform/Explain
Entertain or
Discuss?
Language
"Good Lord, what on Earth does this
word mean?"
"Unless you utter by the tongue words
easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken?
For you will be speaking into the air."1
Therefore, wisdom demands that you use short easy words,
sentences and paragraphs. Do not write to impress, write
so that your audience understands you the first time,
all the time. When your words, sentences and paragraphs
are short, your readers will love your writings. I used
a simple method throughout this book, so that even
little children could understand. The method?
Keep
It
Short and
Simple
Layout
As soon as I open an envelope and
take out the letter, the first thing that I see is the
layout. The layout is the visual impact that your reader
observes first. In most cases your layout will determine
whether or not your document will get the attention it
deserves. Collect information that is sent to you and
observe different layout techniques that attract you.
Remember, you do not always have a second chance to make
a first impression.
One to One
"Who the hell does she think she is
writing to, a university
graduate? Not even they would understand."
Always think of the readers by
putting yourself in their position. This is called
empathy. Am I making life easier? How would I feel if I
received this information? Is it interesting? Is it
important? Would I have the time to read this? Will my
readers understand the message immediately?
Techniques
Use techniques such as pictures, pie
charts, bullet points, double spacing, memory aids,
different letter sizes, fonts and bold or colour
specific and very important points. You are a creative
person, use your creativity. Throughout this book I have
used many techniques to hold your attention from start
to finish. My aim is that once you pick up this book you
would not want to put it down. Has it worked on you? If
it did, study the techniques in this book and others and
improve on them.
Structure
Finally, structure your writing in an
easy to follow, logical and user-friendly way. Make sure
that each thought builds upon the other.
If you wish to be taken seriously, you must keep it:
Simple
Challenging
Humorous
Orderly
Luminous
Applicable and
Reliable
Go on, be a SCHOLAR, you know you want to and
contact us
today.
"Who on Earth do you think you are impressing?"
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