Paper Collection
I follow some aspects of Getting Things Done (GTD) and one of the most important concepts for me is having a reliable mechanism for collecting new things that need some sort of action, and then filing into appropriate systems to manage and review. I only have two review systems, Trac and Datebk on my Palm phone.
If a task is not added to one of these systems, its unlikely to be reviewed, and likely to be forgotten.
I'm generally ok with getting a tasked filed for digital collections (email/Skype etc.). Palm on a phone has greatly helped in quickly dealing with filing phone related tasks such as text messages and calls. My paper collection mechanism sadly such as mail, has been woeful. It's been one two many times, in which I've missed due dates because it's hidden in a pile of stuff (stack of papers) and not reviewed.
Being sick for most of last week, creating a system and sorting out paper was a good mindless yet productive exercise.
Inbox Tray
I organized it into three simple trays:
- Top
- Stuff that has not been reviewed and filed into my review systems.
- Middle
- Stuff that has been reviewed and filed as a task. This means that this stack of paper isn't a mindless pile of stuff. When I do my review and management of tasks I'll get to one of these in right order of priority and urgency.
- Bottom
- Filing and archiving. There is a low priority file or archive task attached to them, just needs to be filed to relevant folder.
Transparent folders
In the middle tray, pieces of paper often need to be grouped together. I refer to these as current project folders. Invoices with checks and receipts, contracts with amendments and so on. Transparent plastic folders are perfect for this task, as it's very easy to quickly put them in, and also see at glance what's in it (saves time on labeling). I use sticky notes within these folders for additional reference information.
When you're done with them, some like the one shown here, even have binding holes to easily file them into a proper binded folder.
Finally these plastic folders are a lot easier to deal with then binded folders when you need to pull them out and reference it quickly to take some action. You can easily pull them out of the tray, or have some sort of container within easy reach. The most important point here is that what is contained in these plastic folders and trays is not "stuff". Except for the top box, they're already organized in my trusted and often reviewed systems.
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