Misplacing something is what almost all of have us have done at some point of time in our lives and in most cases the thing which is misplaced has never been that important and people do not treat it as a problem or a issue.  However if the thing which is misplaced is important and is needed almost immediately then it becomes a problem which needs to be addressed to.

In most cases misplacement becomes a serious issue only at workplace.  The examples are of a post dated cheque, bank guarantee or a important document getting misplaced.  While in some cases employees have the luxury or searching it with sufficient time at their disposal, the matter becomes critical if the misplaced document needs to be retrieved within a few minutes.  Here are some tips which can help the employee in retrieval of the misplaced document:-

1. The employee is advised to avoid searching it himself:- When the concerned employee who is the custodian of the document has misplaced it then it becomes harder for himself to retrieve it as he is under pressure of a feeling of guilt and negligence.  If the document is needed by somebody higher up in the hierarchy then it further complicates the matter as the employee searches the document under fear and his brain stops working under the feeling of fear, guilt and neglience.  Under this situation it becomes important for somebody else to volunteer and search because he would be searching in a cool frame of mind with no fear whatsoever. 

2. The boss also has a role:- The boss too has a role in retrieval of document.  The boss needs to calm down the employee and ask the employee to search without tension. This way the employee would be in a more relaxed frame of mind and would be able to retrieve the document faster than expected by the boss. Even if the matter is serious the boss should not show it as it makes the employee nervous.

3. The boss should concentrate on his own job:- The boss should not help the employee in retrieval as the employee is bound to suffer from a feeling of guilt with a over understanding boss.  The boss should give a casual expression to the entire thing and concentrate on his own work which would make the employee feel extra relaxed in searching the misplaced document.

While the above mentioned tips would be useful if the employee has support from his colleagues, the employee may also  findhimself in a situation where there is nobody to volunteer to help then it would be a good idea to stop the searching for a few minutes and relax himself in a place and try to recall things related to the misplaced document.  Recalling would mean sort of things like when and how was the document received by him and to whom it was given. There is every possibility that the employee may recollect where the document was kept and would be in a position to trace it out.

While in most cases misplacement happens at home as we deal in more papers at office than at home, there is a possibility of misplacing important papers at home like train tickets.  The same formula should be applied at home too as somebody else who is relatively under lesser pressure should take the onus upon themselves to search the ticket.