Remember all those predictions a few years back about the disappearance of paper? The futurists agreed that, as we traveled further into the digital world, we’d see less and less of the stuff.

They were wrong. Paper and its evil twin, paperwork, still haunt us and show little sign of going away. Since we must keep fighting the paper wars. I’m passing on a few ways I’ve learned to deal with the stuff over the years:

• First is an important paper-war rule: try to never handle a piece of the stuff more than once. When a memo or letter is in your hand, deal with it on the spot. Consider setting aside a daily 10-15 minutes to do nothing but deal with accumulated paperwork. Some papers are bound to need additional thought, time, and/or action. However, if you try to adhere to the “touch only once” rule, you’ll be amazed at how much paper you clear from your life.

• Keep only two paper trays on your desk. One is for incoming paper; the other for outgoing paper.

• Discard drafts of anything you write. You’ll never look at them again anyway, so why keep them around? (I also discard all but one digital draft of anything I write—in other words, I keep the current copy and one backup only.)

• Limit the length of routine correspondence to one page—or less.

• Don’t keep business cards. Enter the info you need into a contact manager and toss the card.

• Instead of sending a memo, make a phone call. It adds a nice personal touch and eliminates two pieces of paper—your memo, and the answering memo you’d have received and had to deal with.

• Do you have an assistant, or somebody who receives and then brings your mail? If so, ask that person to sort mail according to its importance—and to attach any related files, phone numbers/contact data, or other information you might need.

• Ask anyone who sends you a report to include a summary and recommendations, which will give you context, speed your reading, and allow you to make decisions more quickly.

• If you’re in a position of authority, ask yourself how many reports really need to be written. Maybe some report findings could be communicated in better ways; maybe the information in some reports doesn’t need to be communicated at all!

• Don’t keep more than a year’s worth of any magazine you subscribe to.

• If you haven’t read a magazine when the new issue arrives, toss it or file it—but don’t keep it around to haunt you and make you feel guilty.

• If you find that you’re simply not reading a particular magazine, don’t renew it.

• Consolidate your credit cards. Use only one (or two, if you need a separate card for business). This will reduce the number of monthly credit card statements you deal with.

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© Suzanne Rodriguez
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