Rapid Pickup Process

Dawn says I'm good at attacking a mess in the house (papers, trinkets, living room, clothing, a messy desk, etc) and very quicklymaking it look picked up.  Suppose its one of those obsessive compulsive tendencies.  Well I was reading David Allen's Getting Things Done and got all inspired by his "Breaking Projects into Short Tasks" flowchart.  So for the fun of it, I put my process in a little flowchart here.  Just sit down (or stand) in the middle of the mess and for each item:

Then when done:

1. Toss the “Trash” pile
2. File the “File” pile
3. Put away the “Put Away” pile
4. Time permitting, go through the “Process Later” pile

The key is to not spend more than a few seconds on any particular item.  Just a quick triage can make a general mess all straightened out.  When you get time to get back to the "Process Later" pile it's amazing how much has become trash (and thus can be quickly triaged again).

This general quick triaging technique works well for many other things too, like scanning new e-mail to reply to short mails and marking mail for followup that need more thought.  For TO DO lists it is about getting those little things done that just take a moment and coming back to the ones that need more time.  It also helps keep fresh in mind what's on your plate.

It may seam like a no-brainer "duh! that's obvious".  But that's the beauty of it!  So simple and effective.  The challenge is to keep focused and not get distracted until the mess is gone.  I enjoy the quick visible results with little effort.  Try it out for yourself and see if it works, who knows, you may even catch the 'pick up bug'.  :)

+10 pts, my grandmother used to say that when you put things at 90 degree angles it looks cleaner.  it works

Comments

• Anonymous
  November 29, 2006
  The insert tip is cool! I'm already getting used to it!

• Anonymous
  November 30, 2006
  Good word.  And remember Ammie's technique, always put things at right angles to each other and it will instantly make things look neat and organized (vs strewn all about).  Yes, we have a family of organizers!

• Anonymous
  November 30, 2006
  Great tip AJ!!!!  Thank you.  I don’t recall Ammie saying that, but that sounds just like something she’d say.  Come to think of it, I do this all the time, put things at right-angles, and it does make things look cleaner.  Also stacking papers largest on the bottom to smallest on top helps give a “natural” order.  

• Anonymous
  December 02, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 22, 2007
  In today's age of receiving dozens to 100s of e-mails a day, quickly processing these is critical.