Last night I outlined the new process that I've been using that seems to work in terms of getting things done and not losing paperwork associated with tasks. While I stand by my new system of keeping a limited number of unlabeled files with the thought of going through them regularly (i.e. at least three or four times a week as time permits) one of my goals with this blog is to try to generate additional approaches or ideas that might be useful to others.
I can definitely see the appeal, for instance, of creating permanent "to-do" folders with set categories that are labeled accordingly. I've tried this approach myself a number of times, but for me what happens is that as soon as I've "filed" something in that way, I experience it not as a "to do" but as "done". What I like about my new approach is how the striped-pattern folders hold a special meaning for me, specifically, "this is something you need to do." And I like going through the folders often--at least every other day--and seeing what I can do in the time I have available. This is altogether a different approach than the old "standing folders" strategy, which I'll outline below.
The idea of "standing to-do folders," is to identify those categories that you often encounter in terms of tasks or to-dos. You then make folders accordingly. One advantage of this approach is that since these folders are permanent--unlike my new system where the content of the folders is undergoing a constant turnover--you can actually label the folders, which is nice.
To help you get started, here's a list of categories I might use, if I was using the standing to-do folder approach:
- Calls
- Correspondence
- Events
- Files to Make
- Numbers to Input
- Review
- Read
Even with this list, however, it's interesting to note that several items mentioned in yesterday's post don't really fit in any of these categories (i.e. the need to enable a PIN or to order airline tickets). The refusal for such tasks to fit into easy categories is another reason why I think the standing to-do folder technique failed for me. If any readers have had success with this technique, I would love to hear your story.