This year we’re focusing on giving you quick processes to apply to various aspects of getting organised and productive. I call them ‘Quick and Dirty’ because these are basic survival strategies for people who feel buried and aren’t quite ready for all the  ‘best practices.’

So far we’ve looked at email and paper. This month our topic is To-Do lists.

To review – here’s the formula we’re applying to our high-stress, low-on-time organising projects this year:

The Quick and Dirty Organising Process:

1. Get real
2. Get some breathing space
3. Get past the guilt
4. Get new systems
5. Get a new mindset
6. Get support

Quick and Dirty To-D0 Lists

This is a great process that you can walk yourself through anytime you feel overwhelmed, and you will love it. I encourage you to do it as soon as you can!

Step 1: Get Real

You’ve heard this before, and here it is again: There is not enough time in your life for everything you want to do.

You must learn to be selective and let some things go – or let them wait until later.

Step 2: Get some breathing space

Take out several sheets of paper or open a blank Word document, and set a timer for 15 minutes. Get away from other people and the phone, put on some music you like, and relax into this exercise.

Now write down everything in your head and elsewhere (lists? sticky notes? white board?) that you want to do. Big or little, long or short term, personal or professional…get it all written down. Just keep writing until the timer rings. Give yourself room to pause and see what your mind presents to you.

Get past the guilt

You will now be looking at a huge list of obligations, unfulfilled intentions and exciting possibilities.

It doesn’t matter that some are overdue or that you never seem to make progress on others. What matters is that right now you are doing something to address the challenge.

Get new systems

1. Prioritise. Take out 3 highlighters (or highlight /sort electronically) and colour code your list according to these categories:

• Must be done before I go to sleep today
• Should be done this week
• Can wait until next week

For the (many) items that don’t fit the timeframes above, leave them un-highlighted. They are most likely planned projects or just ideas at this point.

2. Systemise. Set up 3 lists in whatever format you want to use: sheets of paper, ring notebook, electronic notes, etc.:

• To Do Today
• To Do This Week
• To Do Next Week
• Other

Write the appropriate tasks on these lists.  Put a red star beside the 3 items on the To Do Today list that matter most. This is where to focus your best energy.

3. Use your lists all day long. Develop the habit of capturing things on these lists and reviewing/reorganising them frequently.

4. Reset your lists weekly. On Friday, Saturday or Sunday, repeat as much of this exercise as you need to in order to feel ready for the week. Remember to look through the ‘Other’ list at this time and see if you want to activate anything on there.

Get a new mindset

Understand that it may be possible to do all these things, but probably not all at once – and not all perfectly. Life is about phases, and success always includes imperfections.

Get support

When you’re ready to take this to the next level, come learn how to finesse this system even further, streamline that ‘Other’ list and make more progress on your goals and projects in our course: Maximise Your Time.

Sound good? Here’s what to do:

• Check out when we’re running the course in Hong Kong next.
• Email us to book a private course for 4-5 friends or colleagues.
• Contact a program coordinator to discuss an in-house training program.
• Not in Hong Kong? Ask about virtual training options all around the world!

Is your inbox full of email you might need but haven’t had time to think about or file away? Is it all jumbled up with mail you definitely don’t need, but you don’t have the time or energy to sift the wheat from the chaff?

Just sweep it all in to an archive file labeled “2009” and forget about it.  If you need to go back and look for something later then Outlook’s search function can do a good enough job to find it for you.

Right now is the perfect time to do this : a few weeks in to a new year.  Anything from last year can’t really be “pending”, so you can just lump it all together.  Your inbox will be slim and trim, searching will run quicker on the most recent items and your backups will run much quicker.

The key word is “archive”.  Don’t just create a folder in the inbox, as that won’t really free up any space.  On the  Outlook File menu, select “Archive”.  Choose the “before” date as Dec 31 2009.  Browse to the location you want to keep the archive file and create a new one called “2009”, or something meaningful to you.  The process may take a while to run, so find a time when you won’t be needing the computer to do this!

Repeat for the sent items!

Do remember to keep a backup copy of the “pst” file you created, perhaps on a USB disk or burnt to a DVD.  There shouldn’t be any need to change any email from 2009 now, so a single copy safely stored elsewhere should be good enough.

Richard Carrey, Technology Support Ltd

Technology Support Ltd provides computer support for small businesses.  They can advise on the best ways to adminster your email and backup systems.  Check out www.tecsupp.com

As I said before, if getting organised is one of your resolutions, you need to be smart in your approach. If you bite off more than you can chew and/or dig in without a rational plan, you may well end up feeling worse than when you started.

So, to review – here’s the process we’re going to apply to our high-stress, low-on-time organising projects this year:

The Quick and Dirty Organising Process:

1. Get real
2. Get some breathing space
3. Get past the guilt
4. Get new systems
5. Get a new mindset
6. Get support

Quick and Dirty Paper Organising

More often than you might think, I come across an office that has paper piled up on every flat surface, including the floor. After reassuring the client that it’s not the end of the world, we do a few really tough things in that first session.

I have to say, “Trust me…” a lot. But then…the sense of relief and optimism we both feel at the end is pure magic. Ready to give it a whirl yourself?

Step 1: Get Real

I know you’d really like to go through every piece of that paper and get all those tasks done, apply all those great ideas, take advantage of all those discount offers, visit every travel destination, read each article, write every thank-you note…and on and on and on and on…

But the thing is, that would take for-e-ver, especially if you don’t know how to process that stuff properly.

Plus, a lot of it is old news or stuff you wish you had done. What good is spending time on that? Looking at it all now is more likely to make you kick yourself than propel you forward.

Look around you. There is probably one pile that represents your ‘hot’ papers, in other words, the ones that matter most – and soon. Those are the only ones to pay attention to right now. Put those on your chair.

Step 2: Get some breathing space

As for the rest of those piles? Get them out of your way. Grab some shopping bags or file boxes, and load them up with all those piles, starting with what’s on top of your desk and continuing out from there.

Label the bags or boxes as best you can (if at all), and move them as far from your workspace as you can. Another room is ideal. Then turn your back on it all and return to your desk. This is the dirty part, but trust me…

Get past the guilt

I KNOW there may be things in there you need. Fine. You can go after them later, when your office is functioning again. You’ll be much faster and better at getting through that backlog effectively once you have learned to work systematically.

If you tell yourself you have to start getting organised by sorting through the backlog, you will never get there. Focus on managing today’s papers – and tomorrow’s.

Get new systems

1. Create a single collection point for all incoming paper. Most people use a letter tray, but just an area of your desktop will do. Move your hot papers from the chair to this collection point.

2. Set up some lists and learn to pitch/recycle the paper, keeping only the idea, or task, website address, restaurant name, travel destination, or other bit of valuable information that is represented by each item. Write these things down on your lists, and look through them when you do your planning.

You can set up your lists in a small ring binder with tabs or use an electronic system like Evernote or Mind Manager. You can also use the Notes function of your handheld device and/or the Notes function of your electronic organising program (Outlook, Lotus Notes, Entourage, etc.)

3. Create some action folders that stand upright on or near your desk. These folders will help you clear your In-Tray quickly each time you sort through it. Common examples:

• Discuss (with boss/team/spouse at regular meetings)
• Bills to Pay or Receipts/Expense Claims
• Database/Address Book Updates (Put business cards in here)
• Reading (Great for regular newsletters, etc.)
• Watching/Waiting (For things you’ve delegated or pending events)
• Idea Capture (A personal favourite – for great ideas you want to process into your idea/project lists later, say once a month)
• Review on Weekend (This is for stuff you don’t need to think about until you’re planning for next week.)
• Current Projects (one file for each of your main projects)

4. Now sort through your in-tray items one by one, and process them onto your lists and into your action or project files. Do this at least once a week.

5. If you come across items you need to keep for longer term reference, you’ll need a hanging file box/drawer or some ring binders…but that’s a project (and article) for another day! For now, put them in a letter tray marked ‘filing.’

5. Establish a regular time each day or week to deal with what’s in your action folders. Tie this to a reliable routine you already have, or set a reminder on your desktop calendar or phone until this becomes a habit.

6. Make a personal commitment to clearing your work surface each day before you walk away from it. At worst, put what you’re working on in your in-tray. At best, put it where it belongs.

Get a new mindset

Dealing with piles of paper does set off a lot of emotional triggers for people, but remember this: If you believe it’s impossible to get organised, you’re right. If you believe you can get – and stay – sorted, you’re also right.

And do you know what? If you work at that backlog over the next few weeks, bag by bag in little bursts, you’ll get through it faster than you think – once you have the right systems in place. In the meantime, it won’t be in your way.

Get support

It’s no fun to do big paper organising project alone, so I’d recommend doing whatever you can to recruit some help:

• Do you have an assistant, partner, helper, colleague or child who could help with your sorting – or filing?
• Is there someone who can help you get through some of the administrative work in your paper action files on a regular basis?
• Could your friends, family members or coach help you stay positive and keep moving forward?
• Can someone cover for you at work or at home for a few hours here and there so you can get this project done?

Good luck – and send me your before/after pictures so I can celebrate with you!!

On any given day, however, the master to-do list is too much. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and/or distracted. That’s why I use a distinctly low-tech approach to stay focused on my top priorities each day. That’s it in the photo. Yep – it’s a yellow sticky note on my computer (horrors!). The thing is, this is not like all those random sticky notes I see in so many offices. This one has a bit of architecture to help me be productive all day long.

At the top it says ‘Today.’ Right under that I’ve listed, numbered in priority order, my 3 targets for the day. I’ve chosen these because of their deadlines and the amount of time I have today to work on them. I will do everything within my power to work on these from top to bottom, one at a time. Even for me, this is not easy – but without this plan, I would be all over the place and finish up the day feeling like I had spun my wheels but gotten nowhere.

Under the Target 3 is a list of a couple of other things I’d like to get done as/when I get through the priorities.

Will I do more than 3 things today? Of course. Is it possible that I won’t get everything on my little sticky note done? Sure. But I know it will feel great to cross off even one or two of those high priority tasks, and this is motivating.

To help myself along, I treat myself along the way to a quick coffee break, a 5-minute Facebook indulgence, a stretch, or a phone call that needs to be made – only when I have finished one high priority task. Writing this post right now is actually a little reward for finishing the first (and yuckiest) thing on my list. That task actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be – which is often the case once you just make up your mind to get started!

Would something like this work for you? Give it a try today!

I know you don’t have a lot of time, so here’s a quick and dirty (but solid) process to help you tackle the clutter in your life, whether it’s electronic, physical or mental.

The Quick and Dirty Organising Process:

1. Get real
2. Get some breathing space
3. Get past the guilt
4. Get new systems
5. Get a new mindset
6. Get support

This month we’ll look at how to apply the Quick and Dirty Organising Process to email. In future articles, we’ll look at paper, time, goals and clutter at home. If you would like to see examples for something else, just let me know.

Quick and Dirty Email Organising

If I only have an hour to help someone with email overload, this is what we do. I usually have to get a little bossy. It’s not pretty, but it works every time. Ready for me to slap you around a bit?

Step 1: Get Real

Admit that you’re not going to go through all those emails in your Inbox anytime soon. This is boring, time-consuming and probably unnecessary in most cases. So let’s get that email clutter out of your way.

Next, recognise that most of the time you spend filing emails is wasted time. How many do you really reach for again? When you do look for one, how successful is your search? Exactly. Let’s stop all that silly micro-filing.

Step 2: Get some breathing space

Move all your emails from the Inbox to a folder called Inbox 2009. Going forward, unsubscribe or set Junk Mail rules for stuff you don’t want to see again.

Take all your email folders and put them into a folder called Folders 2009. You’re going to set up something new – keep reading.

Get past the guilt

Call this a fresh start, and ignore that Inbox 2009 folder.

If this is hard for you, block 30 minutes each week to systematically process all those old emails according to your new systems. If you miss doing this some weeks – don’t fret. Hopefully you’ll discover that the world doesn’t turn on your old emails. Look forward – not back.

Get new systems

1. Create some email action folders that will help you clear your Inbox quickly each day. The idea is to batch emails according to your next action. Examples:

• Reply Today (This tends to roll to the next day, and that’s OK.)
• Review on Weekend (This is for stuff you don’t need to think about until you’re planning for next week.)
• Discuss (with boss/team/spouse at regular meetings)
• Admin (All those fiddly tasks you hate to do. Blast through them once weekly – with good coffee or wine at hand!)
• Personal (Put photos in here too – to organise later.)
• Reading (Great for regular newsletters, etc.)
• Watching/Waiting (For things you’ve delegated)
• Idea Capture (A personal favourite – for great ideas you want to process into your idea/project lists later, say once a month)
• Done (For emails you’ve dealt with, don’t need to micro-file, but want to keep. They don’t live in the Inbox anymore. Going forward, most of your old emails can be deleted or stored here and retrieved using your search function.)
• Current Projects (This will probably have subfolders – but keep it simple.)

2. Wherever possible, set rules to get emails into these folders for you automatically.

3. If you find yourself reaching for some of your old folders, look for how to incorporate these into your new action-focused system.

4. Establish a regular time each day or week to deal with what’s in your action folders. Tie this to a reliable routine you already have, or set a reminder on your desktop calendar or phone until this becomes a habit.

5. If you do a lot of emailing on your handheld, make sure you have folder sync set up so you can clear your Inbox properly anytime, anywhere. This is a great way to use the time while you’re commuting, waiting for a meeting to start or sitting in the car waiting to pick up the kids.

6. Set a target for keeping your inbox count low, and don’t call it a day before getting down to this number. This is a bit like creating a ‘clean desk’ policy for yourself. Examples:

• Inbox Zero (nice, but not essential)
• No more than what I can see without scrolling
• A round number, e.g. 10 or 30
• Your age

Get a new mindset

Treat clearing your Inbox like a game. Set a timer and see how long it takes you to hit your Inbox count target. I guarantee it takes less time that you think it does. This is always a hugely empowering realisation for our clients who are overwhelmed by email. Go ahead – time it, and watch yourself get faster.

Ignore that voice in your head that says clearing the Inbox is not really working. Without processing your Inbox systematically, you are regularly robbing yourself of time to focus on the real priorities. Not convinced? Read this article.

Get support

A lot of your email woes are related to the habits that have evolved between you and the people you live/work with. You can make everyone’s life easier by establishing some shared best practices about how and when you use email. Suggest you have a coffee or a call together to brainstorm ways to be smarter about email together.

This does not have to take a long time or be very formal. Just make the appointment and start the conversation.

Now is a great time for you and the kids to make room for those new items coming your way this season. By doing this together you’ll be teaching them to take responsibility for their space and belongings. They’ll also learn basic organising strategies that will help them throughout the rest of their lives.

Here are some tips to make your pre-holiday sort-and-purge a success:

Make it an Annual Household Event

Having the children sort through their old toys each year in preparation for new ones is a great way to ease the pain of letting go. In homes where this is done yearly, the event is another signal for the children that the holiday season is nearly here. Knowing that they are making room for new toys adds to the excitement

Getting Started

Ask the kids to take everything out that needs to be sorted, and put it on the floor. Be prepared for some mess!  Make sure you have some boxes and shopping bags handy for items to go out, and then start sorting.

Sort the toys into 3 piles:

• To Stay
• To Go
• Not Sure (Keep this one small!)

Don’t stress too much if the ‘To Stay’ or the ‘Not Sure’ piles are bigger the first time round! Decision making can be a hard skill for many of us to learn.

Talk About Giving

Talk with your child about the value of recycling items and giving unused toys to children who will use and appreciate them. Many schools sponsor orphanages or children’s charities and have collection drives for toys and other items at various times of the year.

Create Objective Guidelines

Establish rule-of-thumb guidelines to make the sorting go smoothly. For example, you might agree that if an item hasn’t been played with since last Christmas, you’ll let it go.

Have a ‘Cooling Off Spot’ for Difficult Items

Box up any items left in the ‘Not Sure’ pile and put them in a cooling off spot that is accessible to the kids. Agree on a time frame for a final decision, e.g. “If it hasn’t come out of the box in 2 weeks or 1 month, we’ll pass it on.”

Take a Photo

Sentimental items are particularly difficult to let go of, but space limitations can push the issue. Suggest taking a photo of your child with the special toy, and then feature it in your family photo collection.

Have a Mini Garage Sale

A fun way to help kids move toys along can be to have a mini garage sale so they can sell any unwanted items to their friends. It can be a really enjoyable event, and they’ll have a great time making the ‘For Sale’ signs to put up around the neighbourhood. Another option is to join a community Car Boot sale where you can set up a small stall to sell your items.