Organize IT

Several months ago I introduced the great filing system debate. My old filing system no longer worked for me because it was slow, complicated and did more than I required. So at the start of this year I tried a different approach, something that might not on the surface seem like it should work. Currently I’m using a just a two-level letter tray and I organize all my mail and paperwork into just two categories, active and reference. Below I’ve detailed how I use it.

I’m a big fan of the 80/20 rule, but much like my other fave – Parkinson’s law - how to put it to use isn’t very obvious. 80% of output comes from 20% of input. 80% of my time goes into 20% of my work. Useful knowledge, but what next? Then I started viewing it in terms of value. 20% of the stuff in my life produces 80% of the value. The books I’m writing and this blog are worth my time and energy because I enjoy doing it and who knows where it might lead? The amount of time I spend keeping my home tidy, though, is a waste.

I’m currently taking a big look at Parkinson’s law and hope to write something big about it in the near future. If you don’t already know, the law is a humorously intended adage originally articulated by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, which states that work expands to fill the time available to it. During my research I’ve come across several interesting posts on the topic so I thought it would be a great opportunity to collate them together. Hope they prove interesting. Why not share your links and experiences of Parkinson’s law?

On Monday I reviewed The Power Of Less and some of the insights in it inspired me to look at ways of dealing with my negative self-talk. Breaking your work down, focusing on one thing for a month… it  might seem commonsense in hindsight but I’ve never thought to apply it to habit building in such a systematic way. Go figure. Anyways, for the last month I’ve been putting these ideas to practise and today I want to cover how I’ve reined in my negative self-talk. At the bottom of this post I’ve also raised a question about positive self-talk. Interestingly, I stopped short of encouraging it. I’d been keen to hear your thoughts on that one.

I was keen to review The Power Of Less because Leo Babauta, the author and owner of Zen Habits, started blogging about the same time as me and it’s very encouraging to see him become one of the top bloggers and now a successful author to boot. The Power Of Less provides a blueprint for what I believe personal productivity actually is (you might call it simplifying, efficiency, GTD, Zen To Done… whatever). Essentially it covers how to streamline your life by identifying the essential and eliminating the unnecessary. This is encapsulated in six key principles, including setting limits, starting small and focusing on one thing at a time.