PROBLEM You're a list-aholic

SOLUTION You've got a list in your notebook, your mobile, your iCal... This basic organisational strategy - the list - can add to stress if you take the wrong approach. To hone your concentration skills at work, put all your "things to do" in one spot: a notebook OR a spreadsheet OR your BlackBerry... whatever works for you, but just one list. This will help you focus on completing one task at a time. Next, prioritise and cut your list. Knock off anything inconsequential (like "Clean keyboard"). Can anything be finished in less than two minutes? Do it now. Can anything be delegated? Pass it on. What needs to be deferred? Incubate it for action later on. Aim to leave yourself with a weekly list of projects to complete, then on Friday, set aside an hour to review your list and plan for the week ahead.

TIME SAVED: 30 min per day

PROBLEM You're drowning in a paper storm

SOLUTION Paper breeds, so stay on top of it with regular filing and chucking. "Organising is about making decisions with your time and the stuff you've got. With paper, the problem is sheer volume," says Lissanne Oliver, author of Sorted! The Ultimate Guide to Organising Your Life - Once And For All. She recommends a simple "sorting recipe" - rather than creating 30 piles of seemingly unrelated papers, go for just four: finish, forward, file or flick. Chuck the "flick" pile. Put documents you want to pass on to others in the "forward" pile. Make "finish" a small bundle of projects you want to wrap up now. And file papers in the, er, "file" pile... You know, in some orderly fashion.

For a user-friendly filing system, don't create 50 categories when just 20 will do. "It's not about 'Where did I put it?', but where you're likely to find it. Write a list of what your filing categories are so it's visual," suggests May. And think, do you really need print-outs, or can you store info online? "After you've cleaned, you always feel better, so then you can address the systems that lead to clutter."

TIME SAVED: 1 to 2 hours per week


PROBLEM Email is your real boss

SOLUTION Workers receive an average of 50 to 100 emails per day, with some poor souls working through 200 to 300, says May. "And 80 per cent of emails are rubbish. People suffer inboxification."

"Make friends with your delete key, and if you can reply straight away, do so, otherwise you end up double-handling emails," says Oliver. It's also useful to set aside time at the end of each day to clear out all the mail you'll never need to read again. A method that works for Harriet Pike, business development manager for an Aussie film distribution company Ronin Films, is to create "days of the week" folders and keep your inbox empty. If you don't attend to an email on Monday, move it to the Tuesday folder, and if something needs to be attended to on Friday, assign it to that day's folder.

To put a cap on emailing time, be disciplined and only check emails three or four times a day - say at 9.30am, 11.30am, 2.30pm and 5pm. If this sounds impossible, start at six times a day and cut back from there. "And don't crap on; get to the point," says May. Also remember that email isn't a good medium for resolving conflict or setting up meeting times. "Just pick up the phone instead of playing email ping pong," suggests Oliver.

TIME SAVED: 15 min per hour

PROBLEM You take work home

SOLUTION Leaving on time is all well and good, but if you can't switch off after hours, you may as well be at the office. If you constantly say you're tired, stressed or overworked, shake the cycle and take a break. It could be a three-day weekend, a mental-health day mid-week, or simply step away from your desk and find non-computer-based tasks like filing so you can return to your desk with a clearer mind. If you're consistently working in the evenings you either a) aren't managing your workload as well as you could (in which case, see the previous points) or b) you actually have more on your plate than one person can physically manage. In the latter case, approach your manager about getting help. Or try asking to officially do work at home when it's possible so you save time by not travelling. You may even be able to pre-approve out-of-hours "homework" to make it legitimate, then ask for reimbursement.

'''TIME SAVED: up to 3 hours per day


How does the WH team get out of the office at 5:30pm- find out here.

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