Stop Piling, Start Filing

We are all soooo inundated these days! Instead of piling things on your desk, file them in the cabinet! Remove anything you can safely eliminate from your desktop. Items that you use on a daily basis, such as a stapler, a roll of tape, or pen, get to stay on top of your desk.

What you keep on top of your desk is uniquely individual. Your goal is to maintain the optimal number of items on and in your desk; enough so you function efficiently while there, but not so many that clutter inhibits work. Hold onto items you use at least once a week, but don't store those supplies too close by. Recognize that your desk drawers are not for storing supplies per se. You may store a pad of paper, but not pads of paper. You only need one pad at a time, and the general principle is to have the smallest number of a necessary item as you can get by with.

The fewer things you have in vital work spaces, the greater the sense of control you have over your immediate environment. For instance, if you choose to use one of your desk drawers for file folders, then these files should be as thin and potent as you can make them. Once your desk and flat surfaces are under control, you also gain a heightened sense of control over your time. Such a deal!

You may wish to place sentimental and familiar items, such as pictures, plants, and motivators near your desk, but not on it. Install items such as full spectrum lighting or ocean-wave music that support your productivity, efficiency, and creativity, near your work space, not on top of it.

From now on, manage your desktop as if it's one of the most important elements to staying organized, because it is.

Institute a Replacement Policy

Here’s how to institute a replacement policy: If you bring in something new, something else that you don't need anymore has to go. (Be honest, most of what you're retaining is obsolete or
confirms what you already know).

In your office, regard all of the pieces of paper in your information kingdom as mutineers, capable of overthrowing the whole kingdom at a moment's notice.

Intelligent Design

Items that you use at least twice a day, such as a dictionary, thesaurus, or style handbook, should be within arm's reach or in a nearby drawer. Other items that you use less frequently may be stored in an adjacent drawer, or in a filing cabinet that's not in the way when you're working. Periodically consider different devices, such as computer trays, hanging lamps, and swivel mechanisms that could make you feel more comfortable and be more productive at your desk. Your work day is too important!

Mastery in Your Life

What does "mastery" of information overload look and feel like for me? As author of Breathing Space, people ask me.
* Keeping my desk clear, because clear spaces are an invitation for me to create.
* Having my email inbox periodically at zero because I've allocated everything.
* Maintaining a few key subscriptions via mail and a few online services.
* Focusing on the handful of key indicators that tell me how I'm doing.
* Staying in touch with knowledgeable peers, people who can share with me
* Forsaking megalomania – developing the ability to let go, not be on so many lists, not receive so many subscriptions, not have handle to much information.


How do we each to whittle down the number of choices?
*If you have too few choices in life, if you’re socially or economically disadvantaged, at any given time you tend to feel stressed and anxious. You don't have a lot of control.
* If you have too many choices, too many places to go, too many people to meet, and it's like this all the time, paradoxically, you also feel stressed and anxious. You get to the point where too many choices leads to a condition that Alvin Toffler called "future
shock."
*In any given field, if you have 12 trade magazines, you want to immediately narrow down the field to maybe 2 to 4 and form a smaller subscriptions list. It's possible for you to not only stay on top, but to also feel more comfortable.
* Who are the best and brightest in your industry or your company? What are they reading? What have they selected and why? That's usually a pretty good indicator that those publications are highly viable information sources.
*When the number of choices starts to climb, your quest is to narrow the field to a manageable few.

BookMooch is

Here’s a Breathing Space idea worth pursuing! BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books. “BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want. Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish.”

Now you have no excuse to hang on to stacks and stacks of books you’ll never touch!

What to Tell the Junk Mailers

Please remove my name, and all its variations, and remove all of my contact information from any and all of your databanks, mailing lists, shared files, etc.

I do not want any mail, including solicitations, flyers, brochures, catalogs, announcements, circulars, postcards, promotions, faxes, or email at any time, ever, from you or any of your associates, affilitates, subsidiaries, vendors, or clients.

Thank you

Trashing the Plane

Even on flights of three hours or less, upon departure it's hard not to notice how badly passengers have trashed the plane.
As you proceed down that long, narrow aisle, you can see quite clearly that people have left food wrappers, crumbs, empty cups and cans, magazines, newspapers, and personal belongings.
Sure, flight attendants are supposed to pick things up before the plane lands, and
ground crews come in and clean the cabin after the plane lands. Still, is that any reason for 100 to 300 passengers to leave the place a total mess?
What does it say about our ability to control our environment when we can't keep a plane interior clean for a couple hours' ride? What have we become?