As I started to collect all my “stuff,” in preparation for my GTD rehabilitation, I noticed that I’m hanging on to a lot of old magazines. Tons of old magazines. They all went into the recycling bin, save a few articles I clipped and filed. Amazing how much space that freed up in my small home office. Took only a few minutes too.

A quick kill. Makes me wonder how much real junk is cluttering up my life.

Zen Habits is a good place to start for de-cluttering and simplifying ideas.

My inbox is overflowing. I’m making do at work, but in my personal life, I’ve fallen off of the Getting Things Done bandwagon. Our large suburban home is full of clutter. My website is stale. My personal development projects and writing are stagnant. I’m living in the middle of half a dozen incomplete home improvement projects, and I’m having trouble keeping up with which kid is doing what which night of the week. I’m always in a rush, reacting to things blowing up, rather than planning and being prepared.

In some sort of a not-getting-things-done addiction cycle, I skip one, and then another, weekly review. And, like junk mail, the stuff keeps piling up. By then it would take a big sweep to get started again, which I convince myself I can’t do until I tweak my GTD system some more. At which point I give up and waste my evenings mindlessly surfing the internet, watching youtube, avoiding the piles around me, and feeling depressed about all of the above.

This isn’t about feeling guilty for not worshiping at the alter of GTD, it’s about not accomplishing the things that matter in my life. So, over the next couple of weeks I’m going to crawl out of my self induced pile. I’m going to use a simple system, and force myself to change only what’s broken.

Less fiddling, more doing.

A friend pointed me toward 43Folders, Merlin Mann’s website containing, among other things, his thoughts and experience using the David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology. After poking around 43Folders, and a few other sites, I sensed there was something compelling about this methodology and I bought the book. It’s a quick read, and surprisingly enjoyable. I’d imagine David Allen’s seminars are interesting. Anyway, here’s how I got started:

Collect My Stuff

Step one was to collect all my stuff and process it. I had papers and notes ”everywhere”: in my messenger bag, in my backpack, in my briefcase, stuck to my computer, sticking out of books, piled up on shelves, in the car, in my sock drawer, and so on. More than would fit in any desk sized inbox. So, I piled it up in a corner. I had lots of unopened mail and magazines. Tons of magazines.

Get supplies

I emptied out a two drawer filing cabinet and stuck it next to my desk. I bought a bunch of file-folders, some of my favorite pens, a heavy duty paper shredder, and a plastic inbox. The book suggests a label maker, but I decided to skip it as I’m sick of all the gadgets in my life. I don’t see anything wrong with hand-writing a label on the file-folders. If I was delivering them to professional presentations, I’d spend the thirty bucks on one.

I parked a big trash can and a box for recycling next to my pile. I got out scissors, a letter opener, and some paper clips.

Process My Stuff

Over the course of about three evenings, I processed this mammoth pile of junk. The rules were:

• Only touch something once.
• If it’s garbage, toss it in the recycling box or garbage can.
• If it’s something I want to keep, stuff it into a labeled file-folder, and file it alphabetically. That’s right, A – Z. Simple.
• If it’s an address or phone number, enter it into my address book.
• If it has a hard and fast date, and only if it has a hard and fast date, enter it into my calendar.
• If it’s something I need to give to someone, put it in a file-folder with their name on it and give it to them as soon as possible.
• If it’s something I can ”do” in less than two minutes, do it. If it requires more time, or can’t be done on the floor of my room at night, write down what I need to do or who I need to call on a sheet of paper and either file the item, or toss it.

The bulk of my junk was unread magazines, phone numbers, and unopened bank/IRA statements. I thought about organizing the magazines, but instead decided to eyeball the table of contents, tear out the interesting articles, put them in “To Read” folders, and recycle what was left.

Things like bank statements, I simply created a file-folder with a label like “ETrade: Statements 2004,” or “BofA: Checking Statements 2005.” Most of what comes in the envelopes is junk advertising.

If I came across, say, a flyer for a ballet performance I might want to take my daughter to, I made an entry in my calendar and filed it under “April 2005 Maybe.” All these “Maybe” folders, I stuck in a magazine holder box on my desk.

Sometimes I’d come across a note that required me to do something like call or email someone. I wrote down the action I needed to take on a sheet of paper and tossed the initial item. I neatly stacked up all these “action” sheets of paper on top of the filing cabinet.

Anything with names, credit card/bank info, addresses, or other private info, I ran through the shredder. I poured this metric-assload of confetti into paper bags and took it to a recycling center. It took up a lot less space shredded and even less space when I got it out of my house.

Three evenings later, my home office was a hell of a lot cleaner. I could find a pay stub or health insurance statement in just a few minutes. For the first time in my life, all my addresses and phone numbers were in one place. But, I now had this stack of papers, each with a single action, or to-do, on it.

Making Lists

Next I needed to set up what David Allen calls the right “Buckets.” I started two project lists, “Projects,” and “Projects_Work.” I also started a “Someday/Maybe” list, for pie-in-the-sky ideas, or projects I know I’m not ready to get started on.

I came up with the following contexts for “Next Action lists”:

• Errands – things to do when I’m out and about.
• Email – emails I need to compose and send.
• Calls – phone calls I need to make.
• Online – I’m online all the time, but this is mostly stuff I need to order, or google for/about.
• Office – stuff I can only do at the office.
• Chores – things to get done around the house.
• Agenda – who I need to talk to, and what I need to talk to them about.
• Tech – tech tasks I need to do. Steps toward completing an application or backing up a server.
• Guitar – what I’m practicing this week.
• Waiting_On – people or things I’m waiting for.

I also started a couple of ‘capture lists,’ lists for jotting down ideas before they evaporate:

• Writing – ideas for things I want to write.
• To_Read – things I want to read.
• Music – Hear a song on the radio I want to explore? Write it down here.
• Kids – stuff I might want to do with the kids.
• CoSprings – things around Colorado Springs my wife and I might want to do (restaurants, etc.).

Finally, I translated all of my single to-do’s into next actions, and placed them on the appropriate list.

Benefits

What once filled two drawers of a filing cabinet, and countless heaping piles around my life, is now mostly in one third of a file cabinet drawer. David Allen’s tip to forgo using hanging folders was worth the price of the book. They don’t add any value to a filing system. Just shove the folders into the filing cabinet and move on.

I can scan a few lists and instantly know what I need to get busy on whatever context I happen to be in. In the car? Pick up milk. At the office? Finish those use cases and clean up the build. Heard a cool book review on NPR? Add it to the To_Read list.

My reference material is easy to find, and it’s easy to file more stuff. I can scan my calendar and monthly “tickler” files to make sure nothing slips by. If you’re busy, and unorganized, I can’t recommend trying out Getting Things Done enough. Get it together, man.

–kenneth