Get Everything Done

I have a pile of papers, about 6" deep, mostly from work. There's some important stuff in there, I have to find by Monday, a lot of reference materials that I wish was organized, and there's useless junk.

I'd like a strategy to tackle this pile in 2 hours, so that I won't have to tackle it again in the future. I'm Doing this Tomorrow. Suggestions?

Alan

What worked for me was a system I adopted during the AF days. I had a huge amount of outstanding paperwork. I listed all the papers on A4 pages, starting at the bottom of the page & working upwards. The papers were stacked in the same order. Each A4 page was numbered & when a page was full, I placed a corresponding numbered tag on a blank page on top of the listed papers, in effect creating numbered & listed bundles. The effect was that I had a list of paperwork & by running through it in AF style I could easily decide what to do next & could quickly access it by going to the relevant bundle. It was amazing how quickly the backlog was tamed. I hope this helps.

Here's what I would do, Alan:
1. I take the pile and clear 3 spaces on my desk, one for "Monday Urgent", one for "Reference" and one for "Junk".
2. I pick up each item and put it in one of the three piles.
3. I quickly make one further pass through "Junk" and if nothing needs to be reclassified, I trash the junk pile.
4. I return to the first pile and put the items in approximate order of urgency or importance. I put a sheet of paper at the bottom of the this first pile and on it I write, "Well Done, Jim!". And I place the first pile on top of the second pile.
5. I write the word "PILE" in AF4 and trust that AF4 will take care of everything.

I guarantee this will work. I used to do it all the time. (Except, of course, for Step 5) I have not done it since Mark invented AF because AF seems to have obviated the need for such a strategy.

I would do exactly as Jim suggests, except I don'tthink his approach would take two hours. I would keep the two piles seperately and I would file as much of the non urgent file as I could until the two hours were up. Then I would make that pile my current initiative. Monday's urgent paperwork could probably be added to this after Monday.

I do much the same but I drop stuff right into the recycle bin as I work so eliminate one step. The other thing I do is that I sort as I go. My desk is big enough so that I can lay out papers in a long column, with just an inch or so of the top showing, kind of like playing cards in a game of solitaire ;-). So as I work down the pile, the column starts with one sheet and grows as each different kind of statement, for example, is added. When I get a second one that I already processed, I slip it in right on top of the first. When I'm done I have something I can just quickly slip into the appropriate file folders. I.E. all of the BOA statements are together, all of the Visa statements are together, etc. What I do NOT do is sort them by date as I go. I used to do that but unless the pile is small, it takes too much time and it is just as easy to sort the file folder by date when I NEED to look something up. Some folders are never accessed so it does not matter.

Basically, it takes one pass to trash what needs to be trashed and sort everything else ready to be filed.

Oh, and there have been times when I got so far behind that I filled my desktop. No problem. Just stop, file what you have, then keep going.

Good luck. It feels good to look at the in box and see wood ;-)

Why don't you do it GTD style:

1. Take a piece of paper;
2 Read through it;
3. If actionable - put into your system;
4. If trash - delete;
5. If reference - file.

Eugene,

That takes WAY too long. I found that to be the typical high overhead associated with GtD. I can flick through papers trashing and sorting in much less time than it takes if I have to DO something with each one. Despite the GtD creed, scattering your energy that way is costly. It is much better to sort first then work in batches of similar things.

It sounds really great, just do it if it takes less than 2 minutes. The problem is that NOTHING EVER takes 2 minutes. I'm sure you've noticed that as well. You make the call, you get put on hold, you are connected with the wrong person who only tells you that after asking you to recite every number in your life to confirm your identity before talking with you ... even if only to tell you they can't help. Then the next person who you wind up with starts all over, as if never talked with them before. In the end, the 2 minute task takes 20 and the important stuff does not get done.

Mike, not always. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Anyway you could skip 2 minutes rule (as I do) and just put actionable items into AD (DIT, WDM, GTD) system to do it when you're in a DOING mode.

Another way I should mention ... I just read Mark's GED. In it he talks about "halving". You meet this kind of thing in math and computer science where it is called, variously: bifurcation, balanced b-trees, or Newton-Raphson method, etc. As Mark describes it you sort through the pile once separating out one class of things from all others. Now you have two piles and you do the same again until you wind up with piles of one sheet paper. Then you file each of those sheets. Well, it sounds better when Mark describes it. You can read it in his GED book.

For my taste, it takes too long. It is undoubted a certain method, that is proven mathematically, but you end up handling each piece of paper many times. It seems to me to make more sense to make use of one's observation to take multiple actions as you go through the pile.

But there it is ... another system.

Good point, Eugene.

The big part of my struggle is deciding what to do with each page. If I should save it, where? If I should read it, when? If I should do it, do I make a big pile of do-its? I think that last one is a yes. If it's materials for a Big project, do I just make a Big pile for such or do I organize it? Do I distinguish actionable stuff from useful (for many actions) stuff, and how do I make sure I'll find it when I need it(er,want it,because I'm sure life wouldn't implode if the paper burned up; the project would just have another hour to remake it)?

If I should save it, where? -> Make A-Z reference

If I should read it, when? -> Put in AF, do when you do all the rest

If I should do it, do I make a big pile of do-its? -> Why not?

If it's materials for a Big project, do I just make a Big pile for such or do I organize it? -> Whatever you like.

Do I distinguish actionable stuff from useful (for many actions) stuff, and how do I make sure I'll find it when I need it(er,want it,because I'm sure life wouldn't implode if the paper burned up; the project would just have another hour to remake it)? -> too long a question :)

Thanks Eugene. Now can I get a second opinion? One that's not afraid of big questions :-p
That last q is the most important to my mind.

Alan,

In general, I like Jim's advise. It gets you quickly to Monday's important stuff and gets rid of the junk easily within the two hours you have.

<Do I distinguish actionable stuff from useful (for many actions) stuff, and how do I make sure I'll find it when I need it>

I assume the question above is about the other stuff. Actionable stuff should be added to your DYM or AF list. Include something to identify the paper and where it is filed. You might leave it in a specific To Do pile or actually file it.

To file and find stuff I like simple A-Z files. You CAN use hanging files if you want, contrary to GDT! You really don't even need a label maker either (but I like mine). Most things only have two or three ways you would file them and looking through 3 things to find what you want is easy. So don't waste time coming up with a perfect category or title for each file. You would do the Filing part as a separate task which would also give you a second chance to declare something as junk that you thought important the first time through.

Getting the filing done within your two hours might be a tight squeeze. But it really isn't critical. Perfect task for little and often.

When I start getting piles, I first throw it all in a box, put the box on the shelf or in the corner, and then add it to my DWM list: "Process box"

Sometimes I never get around to processing the box, and surprisingly that doesn't seem to matter.

But sometimes I know there is something in there that needs doing, which makes the "Process box" task "want to be done". So it "stands out".

Jim's approach works great for the actual processing.

As to Alan's last set of questions, here is what works for me:

<<<If I should save it, where?>>>

If it belongs with a project, put it in the project folder. Keep it on your shelf of "active projects". I use plastic sheets for grouping stuff into projects. For mega-projects, I put the plastic sheets into magazine boxes. When I need the stuff, I pull it off the shelf and spread it our on my desk. When I put it back, I put it on the leftmost end of the shelf. I have a recurring task to purge the stuff on the rightmost end of the shelf since it's gone stale.

Each project also has an entry in the task list.

The plastic sheets are these: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/741341/Office-Depot-Brand-Poly-Project-Files/

They are nice because you can SEE what's in them, and don't need to LABEL them. Saves time.


<<<If I should read it, when?>>>

If it's just casual background reading material, not part of a specific project or a specific action, then I have a "reading shelf" -- a couple of magazine boxes, one for work, one for personal. The newest article or magazine is leftmost. Process the same way as projects above. When the box gets full, purge from the rightside of the box. Have a recurring task "Reading shelf" where you pull something down and read it. Or just grab a few things every time you go out, and read in downtime (waiting for appts, etc.).

If the reading material is part of a project, something you NEED to read, then process like any other task or project-related material.


<<<If I should do it, do I make a big pile of do-its?>>>

If it's miscellany that doesn't attach to part of a project, I put it in a clear plastic sheet and then put that on the project shelf. "Miscellany on project shelf" then goes onto the task list.

If too many of these odds and ends accumulate, I throw them all into a single magazine box, my "odds and ends" box. "Odds and ends box" then goes onto the task list.


<<<If it's materials for a Big project, do I just make a Big pile for such or do I organize it?>>>

Organize it later when it's time to work on the Big project.


<<<Do I distinguish actionable stuff from useful (for many actions) stuff>>>

I'd put the latter in my reference files, or if I really need it for many projects, I'd make copies and put a copy in each project file. That's obviously time-consuming, so I wouldn't do that unless I've already felt the pain of not having it handy when I'm working on the project.


<<<and how do I make sure I'll find it when I need it(er,want it,because I'm sure life wouldn't implode if the paper burned up; the project would just have another hour to remake it)?>>>

I've been trying a simple filing system based on Mark's recommendations in DIT. I throw all the reference material that I want to keep into the front of my filing cabinet. Sometimes I'll stick it in a plastic sheet first.

Sometimes I want to group stuff together. So I use plastic sheets and/or accordion files. Put it's all filed together in order of time-last-touched, most recent in front.

For bills and receipts and stuff like that, it all goes into a single accordion file for the year. Rarely do I need to access any of that. No point breaking it up into separate folders, for each different company (phone, cell phone, electricity, etc.). Easy enough to find it in the single accordion file.

For taxes and things I know I'll need later -- I just have a single accordion file for each year for this.

Most other stuff doesn't need to be grouped at all.

When the file cabinet gets full, start purging from the back. Or move to the bottom drawer. Be careful about purging just because you haven't accessed recently. Some stuff you don't need now but WILL need in a couple of years.


Anyway, that's what has been working quite well for me. I used to do the GTD-style labels but it was too time-consuming.

My pile-tackling system is basically identical to Mike's. Depending on horizontal space available, I might sort things into bigger categories (all bank statements in one pile, all credit card statements in another, all utility bills in a third... you get the idea). Then I could pull the hanging file for each of those categories and sort/file them as a second step. But I definitely do this with the recycle bin within arm's reach.

It really sounds to me like you're over-thinking this. If there really is urgent stuff that you need to deal with in the next 36 hours, get through the pile so you can find that urgent stuff!

What Sarah said. My FIRST pass, if there are urgent things I need, will always be to leaf through the pile pulling out only TWO things ... the junk and what I need immediately. The junk goes right in the recycle and that reduces the pile significantly. What I need is a small handful of papers which I have after about 20 minutes. If I have no more time I go to work on what I need. If I do have more time, I can make a file for what I need (project) and that will go right in my inbox in a bright red folder. Then I will make a second pass as I described and get all of the paper processed.

If I have plenty of time, I do the whole thing in one pass, and that takes longer ... usually an hour or two.

I like the box idea (above) if I am not in a filing mood for a while. For some years I used the box method. The good thing is that once the box fills up, you can scan it and find much to throw away and make space for more stuff. As observed, you'll often never need anything in the box. If you do, it is only another 20 minute search.

Sometimes a nice A-Z file system is great. But you have to weigh the time it takes to set it up and maintain it against how often you need to find items. Look at it this way, the time it takes to maintain any sheet of paper is the sum of the time it takes to process it initially (open, handle, file) and the time it takes to retrieve it when you need it. So what you have is a "pay me now or pay me later" situation. The variable is how often you need to access the files. The more often you need to access the more you want an efficient retrieval system (A-Z file system, for example). The less you access, the more efficient it is overall to cut down on the complexity to facilitate retrieval and use a pile/file system (like the box mentioned above).

As to your specific questions, Alan, the BRIEF answer I can offer is:

>>> The big part of my struggle is deciding what to do with each page. If I should save it, where? <<<

Yes, that is the essential question.

>>> If I should read it, when? <<<

Later, if it will take some time. Have a "Reading" file. My system, as I don't have a TON of paper, is a few of those light cardboard pocket folders (they used to be called Pee-Chee but who knows these days ;-) They come in colors and I use several colors for instant identification:

BRIGHT YELLOW - "Time Sensitive - Urgent" These are short time bills and urgent letters and so on.

BRIGHT RED - "Important" - Things where date is not an issue (yet) but they do have to be done or there will be consequences.

GREEN - "Misc. To Do" -- Not urgent but I should get around to them soon.

BLUE - "Reference/Read" - When I'm traveling I carry that folder (well, all of them) so I can do that reading when I have down time ... in lines, in doctors offices, in the repair shop waiting for the car ;-(

>>> If I should do it, do I make a big pile of do-its? I think that last one is a yes. <<<

A big pile or some folders as above. One thing you need to decide is that your "in box" actually means to you. I have TWO inboxes. The first is "In but not yet sorted", the second is "In and I need To Do". My "Out Box" is really "To File" as I don't do much else with things once they are processed.

>>> If it's materials for a Big project, do I just make a Big pile for such or do I organize it? <<<

I recommend a project folder. If you are building a deck, have a "DECK" folder which has plans, measurements, articles, business cards, sales brochures, notes. These days much of your research will be on-line so you might want to name your computer folders and paper folders the same.

>>> Do I distinguish actionable stuff from useful (for many actions) stuff, and how do I make sure I'll find it when I need it(er,want it,because I'm sure life wouldn't implode if the paper burned up; the project would just have another hour to remake it)? <<<

I'm not sure what you are asking there. I'd just file things in a way I'd remember to find them in the future, no matter what it was for.

Alan:

This is a response after a quick read through the thread, i agree with Marty H's endorsement of Jim's solution and Marty's own emphasis on little and often. At least you get Monday's material isolated!

Filing systems can be like TM systems, we can fall into the trap of looking for perfection. I've tried so many systems, but have settled into an A-Z for drawer files. i also use a labeller, just makes things easier to locate visually. That helps my wife when she has to find stuff when I'm working abroad.

Over time, i may adopt that practice of the minimalist (see Norman U's thread) and capture as much as I can digitally. But that still means time has to be set aside for regular pruning which is why most of my important work and personal data are filed by year, on my HDD drive at least, makes it easy to archive on another external drive.

Every January, I rename the year's data for the year before last year as "Archive" with the data for that year ie this January I renamed "Data - 2008" to "Archive - 2008" and move it to an external disk drive. I also make DVD copies of the external HDD's contents to store away from my home office (I have an obliging neighbour).

Thanks all! I knew you'd come through. Here's my plan:

0. Take a nap.
1. Follow Jim and Marty to get a quick separation of everything.
2. Set aside Monday's action items.
3. Sort stuff (not Monday stuff) by project, but not sort within the project. (I have about a dozen permanent projects)
4. As I sort, if I see things to do, I'll type them in my system.
5. Sorting project piles goes on the todo list.
6. I'm starting some horizontal files for reading materials and such.

Somebody wondered if I'm overthinking this. Probably. But cleaning up this pile has been on my list for weeks, and the pile just grows. I'm wasting time not having access to the important documents. I hope to eradicate this pile problem (and regularly having to search through it) for good.

30 minutes in. Cleared out 1/4 of the pile. Or half. Hard to tell really, the rest is odd shaped.

Big junk pile, modest reading file, papers put into 10 project files. No sign yet of the important stuff I really need. Switching to other things for a bit.

Alan, well done a 1/4 (or 1/2) already is great. The law of sod means that the important stuff will be some of the last things you find, so don't fret on that. Good idea to do something else for a short while and come back. Keep going and let us know how you're doing later.

- Titch

Okay, I ran quickly through the rest of the stuff. Some got sorted, some got junked, some is in the reading file, and some maybe-important stuff got isolated. I still have a pile left that I will need to tackle over time.

You did pretty well then! Why not make the pile your current initiative and then tackle a little every day for a week and see if that sorts it. SeeMarks blog post 10 Feb 2010 "A couple of options for DWM"

I am starting this with a pile today, so wish me luck!

- Titch

Is it really halves or do you mean e.g. junk/not junk every page in one pile, and if it's half or not doesn't matter? If otherwise I'm not understanding you

I'd just flick through and weed out the wanted stuff leaving a pile of junk, rather than physically moving the junk to it's own pile.

Also place the wanted stuff face down into a few separate piles, then I can turn the piles over and they're in reverse date order.

Plastic wallets with filing holes are handy, these can also be chucked in a box.

Something I'd consider is to separate common items like bills, bank statements, receipts, pay slips from 'one offs' like tax forms, application forms, employment records.

I think by "halves" Mark means "splitting into two piles by applying a single yes/no criteria to each item". This might result in one of the two piles being quite a bit larger than the other, depending on the criteria.

I believe Seraphim is right, although one cannot have 'a single yes/no criteria' since 'criteria' are plural. He means 'a single criterion.'

(Sorry for being a grammar jerk. I would've sent Seraphim a private email, but he didn't register one here.)

ubi,

If you think you are about to be a jerk, either don't do what you are about to do or don't apologize.

Easy Norman, easy! :)