Layout:
Home > I'm TRYING to get more organized!

I'm TRYING to get more organized!

January 30th, 2010 at 09:30 pm

I admit it - email and postal mail have had me overwhelmed for far too long. The problems are remarkably similar. A constant steady flow pours in, and I always left it in the inbox, while attempting to pull out and deal with the important stuff. Slack off a few days though...

So there mixed with spam and junk mail in an ever expanding mountain lay very important notices about important financial matters with close deadlines.

At work I have been quite happy with keeping a clean inbox for about a week now. I have read David Allen's Getting Things Done book quite a few times now, and probably one of the most important things he says is to trust your filing system enough to depend on it, and the only way that happens is with regular reviews. To that end, there is a very nice program for my Linux PC called Tomboy Notes. It is hyper text based so it is pretty easy to review. I have had a huge Word file at work for years now where I keep notes on day to day things in as organized fashion as I know how. So when I use it, I review it. So I hope to do the same at home with Tomboy Notes now.

Anyway, thanks for listening. I like to document things as I go along, since it helps me think. Of course it MAY also be a form of procrastination, eh?

3 Responses to “I'm TRYING to get more organized!”

  1. scfr Says:
    1264949456

    Good luck!
    My technique for dealing with junk snail mail at home is decidedly low-tech: Get the mail, sort the mail standing next to the recycling can in the garage (junk mail goes straight in the can unopened, except for anything like cc offers where the part that needs to be shredded gets carried inside and set on top of the shredder for some "batch shredding."

    Where I really need work is dealing w/ junk Email. I tend to save too much in my inbox to "read later." Perhaps I need to imagine myself standing in the garage as I look at my Email and be just as ruthless???

  2. boomeyers Says:
    1264996030

    I like to "document" too! Smile When I first bring up my email, I immediately go through and delete any thing that looks like spam. Then I run through and open each email and deal with it, leave it for later, or file it in my Yahoo folders.

  3. Jerry Says:
    1265407216

    When it comes to email, I like the idea that Tim Ferris talks about in his book. He ONLY looks at email for a specific period of time per day/week, and that is it. He thinks that people waste a ton of time on the internet and email. Frankly, I kind of agree that most people could use an idea like this. Most emailed stuff really isn't THAT important, and if it is then there are other more direct ways to contact someone - that offer more insurance of actually reaching them, too!
    Jerry

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]