How to Create a More Organized Mind And Desk

If you're trying to organize your mind to reduce decision fatigue and information overload, then you need to make sure that you organize the space around you.

Organised desk, organised mind

In many ways, our spaces are a reflection of the state of our mind - but actually the correlation works both ways and if you have a cluttered desk or home, it will make your mind more cluttered too.

When it comes to spaces that contain a lot of information and items, your desk is one of the most pressing areas for organization. Let's take a look at some things you can do to make your desk better organized.

#1 Throw Things Out

This is really how you start making any space more organized - you throw out anything that isn't 100% necessary. If it's a decorative item, then ask yourself if it really fills you with long-term fulfillment.

If not? Bin it! Otherwise, ask yourself when the last time you used it was and whether you really cannot survive without it.

The same goes for that drawer that's full of stationary. Do you really need that much stationary? Could that space not be much better used for other things?

#2 Create a System That Reflects Your Brain

Another tip is to create systems that you can use to keep your documents in order. And a great way to get inspiration for this is to look at the way our brains store information.

Specifically, our brains have three main 'compartments' for storing information. These are:

Working Memory - which is the information we're currently working with and doesn't necessarily need to be stored.

Short Term Memory - which is the information we hold for a few days. If it doesn't get used enough it will be thrown out, if it is important, it will be stored in long-term memory.

Long Term Memory - which is the information that we have stored permanently. Nothing gets destroyed here but access can become more difficult without practice.

So how do you create something similar to this?

Simple: you make one space for each type of information.

Your 'working memory' could be your noticeboard and desk itself. This is where you keep anything that you're currently working on and need immediate access to.

Not using it anymore? Then it goes into short-term storage - somewhere like a paper tray.

Then, at the end of each week, go through your short-term storage and move anything important to your 'long term storage' and throw out the rest. That's how you create a much more organized desk and mind.

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Information Overload in the Internet Age

information_overload_internet

 

In the movie "He's Just Not That Into You," Drew Barrymore has a dialogue to this effect: And now, you have to go through all this just to get rejected by seven different technologies - it is exhausting!

This reflects the time we live in. Information age - Age of Internet, emails, cell phones with ever-increasing features! Information Overload or Infomania has Dictionary definition: a continual and excessive quest for acquiring and disseminating knowledge and information.

As per Wikipedia: Infomania is the debilitating state of information overload, caused by the combination of a backlog of information to process (usually in email), and continuous interruptions from technologies like phones, instant messaging, and email.

On an average, how many sources for News do we use? Newspaper, Radio, TV, News web sites, Youtube, blogs, twitter, RSS feeds, the list goes on. most of the times, we get the same information from various sources. For communication, we use Email, Phone, IM, Text messages, Voicemail, Facebook, Myspace and so on. Not only that, we have multiple phones, email addresses and instant messengers.

Basex is a Research company for Knowledge economy issues and it has called "information overload" as the Problem of the year for 2008. Constant interruptions cost America around $650 billion dollars a year - that could have been the stimulus package!

One of the notions which comes out of all these technologies is that of multitasking. This is a typical office scenario. Any time there is a conference call, people get on the call, press mute button and start "multitasking". They may be replying to emails, reading other documents or even making a cup of coffee. When someone asks a question to a specific person, mostly the reply is: I am sorry, I was on mute. Could you please repeat the question? The phone has a mute button, we have discovered a 'deaf' button as well!

Another nuisance of emails at work is group emails. Someone sends out an email about a ball game to all employees at a site, for example. Thirty enthusiastic responders will 'Reply All' to say 'Count me In'. Five wise men will 'Reply All' to say please do not reply to all. And 4 geniuses will 'Reply All' to say 'Please remove my name from this chain'. You would have received 40 emails in matter of minutes. And if you have a beep or an envelope indicating 'You Have Got Mail', you would hate that feature and pull your hair.

There is a group called Information Overload Research Group and Nathan Zeldes from Intel is the chairman of the group. Nathan estimates "the impact of information overload on each knowledge worker at up to eight hours a week -- we loose one day out of 5!

On an average, a person gets 75 to 100 work emails a day, 50% of these are not relevant. We feel overwhelmed with where to look and what to do, how to find important information or tasks from the bulk - how to sort wheat from the chaff. Add to this the personal email pile -- spam, chain letters and recycled jokes, quotes and so on.

An example of home multitasking: TV is switched on with remote handy to flip channels, laptop is on lap, couple of IM windows are active, cell phone is right there.

Don't get me wrong. Each of these technologies has a great value to make our lives more effective and efficient. The email, chat, GPS, Internet, cell phone - these are all enablers. The fact that we can record a home video, review it on computer, send to family far away or upload on YouTube is really cool. The question is: How to deal with the issue of infomania?

First and foremost, take a stance and build some discipline:We are using the tools, not being used by them.

  • Just because it is possible, you should not be reachable to everybody all the time.
  • When you need to focus on something, turn off your cellphone, don't pay attention to incoming mails. In fact, incoming email indicator can be turned off forever.
  • Allocate chunks of times for email checking and replying. Handle each piece of information minimum number of times.
  • Politely decline meeting requests where you have nothing to gain or contribute.
  • Do not take your computer or work email device during vacation.
  • DO NOT subscribe to every news/blog/RSS feed service.
  • And lastly, meditate to regain your focus.

 

To conclude, Information revolution and information overload is going to continue in 21st century. In order to leverage this revolution for better, we need to pick and choose. And, we need to ask ourselves at the end of the day. week, month -- Are we adding value to our lives and our world? Or, are we getting exhausted coping with the technology created by others?

Bina Mehta is an IT professional with over 18 years of experience. She holds PMP certification from Project Management Institute. She serves as President of FairOaks Toastmasters Club and has achieved Competent Communicator. Her interests include Reading, Writing, Problem Solving, Public Speaking, Yoga

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Try something new for 30 days

Is there something you've always meant to do, wanted to do, but just ... haven't? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals. Matt Cutts is an engineer at Google, where he fights linkspam and helps webmasters understand how search

works

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7 Days of Christmas – 50% off the price of "Take Control of Your Paper"

Take Control of Your PaperAs part of my 7 Days of Christmas promotion, this eBook, Take Control of Your Paper, is available for the special price of just $7.00 (Normal price $14.95)!

This eBook will show you how to control your paper flow.

Techniques to use to control the flow of paper in your life.

How to tidy your desk most effectively, make it attractive, and implement systems so that it stays that way.

How to create a filing system that works for you.

Ways to stay on top of the paper avalanche.

Set up systems so that you can find the information when you need it, and you can keep control of what has to be done and when.

This offer is only available until 5 p.m. Thursday 19th December. Get it here >> http://bit.ly/1bwjHHG

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The Secrets To E-Mail Nirvana

Email

 
You crank up your computer every morning, click to your e-mail and--whap!--a slew of messages demands attention.

E-mail can be a great tool, but many misuse it, turning what should be quick, easy communication into a laborious, time-consuming management chore.

"Many people use the inbox as a to-do list, calendar and filing system," says Mark Hurst president and founder of Creative Good, a consulting firm in New York. "File some messages and delete most of them, but without a doubt, don't let anything stay in your inbox permanently."

Hurst says effective e-mail management is built on filters, filing and ruthless use of the delete key.
He offers this distinction to better define the problem: The number of new messages received each day is "volume" while the number of e-mails sitting in the inbox is "message count." The second is the key measure of effective e-mail management.

"A user who gets 100 messages a day may not be overloaded at all if the message count is low," Hurst says. "Conversely, a user who gets ten e-mails a day may be overloaded."

If the number of messages stacked in the inbox becomes too large and difficult to manage, you're overloaded. The e-mail system then becomes a black hole rather than a productivity tool and your output will suffer.

"If overload is the problem, then removing the load is the solution," Hurst says in a special report, "Managing Incoming E-mail." "Here's how to manage incoming e-mail: Keep the inbox empty--clear out incoming e-mails before they pile up or you lose your ability to manage them effectively."

But there's just one catch and, unlike catch-22, it's not the least bit philosophical.

"It may be a simple solution, but it's not easy," Hurst says. "Achieving simplicity--or emptiness, in this case--takes time and continued improvement. It's difficult but better than drowning in e-mails and becoming less effective. Only an empty inbox will allow users to take full advantage of the benefits of e-mail."

The first step is deleting all spam. Never reply to spam because the spammer will know your e-mail address is active and sell it to others at a premium. The result: more spam.

Next, read all personal e-mail from friends or family and save selected messages as needed elsewhere on your computer or print out important notes. It might be a good idea to check your personal e-mail account at work and use it to chitchat and exchange goofball jokes with your lunatic friends while reserving your company account for (gasp) work-related items. Admit it: This would sharply reduce the volume of incoming mail on the company e-mail system.

Hurst says messages should be sorted by date with the oldest message at the top of the list. Each message should be opened and the appropriate action--filing or deletion-- should be taken quickly. This will prevent the accumulation of a 500-message stack in your inbox.
Hurst says newsletters should be read or scanned quickly, but never filed because then you'll have two cluttering up your inbox when the next arrives. FYIs, or non-actionable information such as an answer to a question or notification of an event, should be read quickly, filed if necessary and deleted as soon as possible.

Hurst urges use of the "two-minute rule" for to-dos. If the task outlined in the e-mail takes two minutes or less to complete, even if it means getting out of your chair, do it immediately and delete the message.
If you're way behind in managing your e-mail, Hurst recommends a ruthless cleaning out of the clutter in the inbox to allow users to manage e-mail effectively with just a few minutes work each day. It may take several whacks to get through all the old junk, but once it's cleaned out, it's done and future management of the inbox can be handled in just a few minutes each day.

E-mail arrives throughout the day so it's impossible to keep the inbox empty at all times. Hurst recommends dealing with e-mails as soon as possible after each arrives or setting aside a few minutes several times a day to complete the task.

"Users shouldn't let an inbox go more than one business day without emptying," he says.
Filters will screen out most of the junk. For starters, Hurst recommends setting up your filter to accept mail from everyone in your address book. Suspected spam, including any e-mail containing viruses or unknown attachments, gets sent to purgatory--a folder for suspected junk mail from unknown senders. Any e-mail with three or more consecutive exclamation points gets zapped. Set the filter to automatically delete any e-mail containing raunchy words you'd expect to find in sexually explicit spam.

Have the filter kill any e-mail with "adv" in the message line. Expand the list of subject lines to kill starting with obvious pitches such as "Free Long Distance," "Find background info about anyone," "Quit Smoking" and "Be your own boss." Compiling the list requires some thought because many spam subject lines appear in legitimate e-mail such as free, mortgage, university, diploma and life insurance.
Software will thin the thundering herd of spam seeking to graze and fatten your inbox, but it's not the final, or best, way to manage e-mail.

"'Delete' is one keystroke," Hurst says. "I don't know what's easier than that."

Article written by Scott Reeves© Forbes.com Inc.™

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An easy method to keep your desk clear of 'stuff'

Last week I spoke at the conference of a very busy multi-brand Marketing Department on how to manage their office environment and overload of paper and information. Since their Manager had read 'Getting a Grip on the Paper War - Managing information in the modern office' last year she'd been trying to convert her staff, but decided when the book got lost on someone's desk that she'd better get me in to help reinforce the message!

I asked: 'Who regards themselves as tidy and organised....' (before I'd finished the question, most hands went up) ... with their desks?'

A laugh went round the room, most hands went down, and some folk looked embarrassed.

That's a typical response. Most professionals, especially highly educated ones, haven't been taught simple methods to keep the desk tamed, and so that wonderful stress-reducer - a clear desk - is missed.
Seems to me it's so obvious that it's slipped under the radar.

You're probably about now heading into the wind-up (or is it a wind-down for you) of the Christmas season, so here, to help you get through the mass of 'stuff' waiting for your quick action, is one very simple desk-management technique, excerpted from the book.

Chunk your 'put-away' tasks

A very powerful desk-management behaviour to develop is a 'Put it away as you go' habit, but don't be ruled by it. Chunk it.

What do I mean by that? Imagine yourself working at the desk. You finish with a file, or a paper out of a file. You know it's a good habit to put away as you go, so you jump up, walk over to the filing cabinet, and replace it. Or you've borrowed scissors from the receptionist. She's threatened you with early death if you don't return them, so the minute you're finished you do as you were told. Then, (if you're lucky and don't get distracted), back you go to your desk to start on the next activity.
Two possible things can happen here.

1. You spend many minutes per day jumping up and down, interrupting the momentum you'd created at your desk.

2. Because you've completed something and not yet begun the next task there isn't as strong a subliminal pull back to your desk. You're therefore more liable to be distracted by some interesting little by-way, a file that catches your eye, or someone else walking past.

To overcome that scenario, try this one instead. You finish a task and put the completed materials either on the furthest away point of your desk out of your immediate visual range, or even better (as long as it doesn't cause a traffic jam!) put them on the floor beside or behind your chair. The next time you stand up, instead of stepping over the seeming clutter on the floor you ALWAYS bend down, pick it up, and put it away.

I learned this technique as a mother, trying to stay sane raising six children. (Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that one day I'd share it with business people!).

Whilst the children were little, (and anyone who's lived with children knows they have a profound disregard for tidiness) I found that, in a drive to keep the house looking a few notches above a war zone, I seemed to spend all day putting things away! Eventually I learnt to make piles 'to be put away in another room' by the door of any room I was working in. Then, as I walked out the door I'd pick up the pile, quickly zip around the house by the shortest possible route (implementing my own time and motion exercise) and put everything away. It was vastly more efficient than running around the house with each separate item.

Apply the same technique in your office, no matter how large or small, and you'll gain great time-savings. It may seem a slightly untidy way of working but in fact it's very efficient.

Even though there is a slight delay, you are still putting things away as you go - whilst they're fresh in your mind. It's rarely longer than 30 minutes before you put away your current crop of 'stuff'. You never end up with an intimidating pile of filing (and I've seen some mountains!). Over a year many hours are saved - you don't walk around unnecessarily. If it's filing, you don't need to spend time re-familiarising yourself with the item or paper in hand, but it hasn't interrupted your flow of activity.

Bottom line - it saves you spending 'the rest of your natural life' majoring in minor things.

............................................................
Author: Robyn Pearce. You can contact Robyn at robyn@gettingagrip.com and her website is http://www.gettingagrip.com You can check out the back issues of these Top Time Tips or the Discussion Board.

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A simple secret to stop procrastination

There's an old saying that says...

"If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is eat a live frog, then nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day!"

Brian Tracy says that your "frog" should be the most difficult item on your things to do list, the one you're most likely to procrastinate on; because, if you eat that first, it'll give you energy and momentum for the rest of the day. But, if you don't...and let him sit there on the plate and stare at you while you do a hundred unimportant things, it can drain your energy and you won't even know it.

In Eat That Frog!, Brian cuts to the core of what is vital to effective time management: decision, discipline and determination. In 21 practical steps, he will help you stop procrastinating and get more of the important tasks done...today!

Brian is one of America's leading authorities on development of human potential. He speaks to over 250,000 people a year and has written over 25 books. Eat That Frog! is an international best seller, with over 500,000 copies sold.

We're pleased to say, however, that Simple Truths has taken a great book, and well...made it better! How? They have made it a little shorter; a little more engaging with great graphics; a little more "giftable" with an embossed hard cover, and of course, packaging that can create a "wow" effect! In short, they have turned a great book into a great gift for employees, customers, friends and family.

Here's a small sampling in Brian's chapter titled: Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything. Enjoy!

An excerpt from Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy

The 80/20 Rule is one of the most helpful of all concepts of time and life management. It is also called the "Pareto Principle" after its founder, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first wrote about it in 1895. Pareto noticed that people in his society seemed to divide naturally into what he called the "vital few", the top 20 percent in terms of money and influence, and the "trivial many", the bottom 80 percent.

He later discovered that virtually all economic activity was subject to this principle as well. For example, this principle says that 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results, 20 percent of your customers will account for 80 percent of your sales, 20 percent of your products or services will account for 80 percent of your profits, 20 percent of your tasks will account for 80 percent of the value of what you do, and so on. This means that if you have a list of ten items to do, two of those items will turn out to be worth five or ten times or more than the other eight items put together.

Number of Tasks versus Importance of Tasks

Here is an interesting discovery. Each of the ten tasks may take the same amount of time to accomplish. But one or two of those tasks will contribute five or ten times the value of any of the others.
Often, one item on a list of ten tasks that you have to do can be worth more than all the other nine items put together. This task is invariably the frog that you should eat first.

Focus on Activities, Not Accomplishments

The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous. For this reason, you must adamantly refuse to work on tasks in the bottom 80 percent while you still have tasks in the top 20 percent left to be done.

Before you begin work, always ask yourself, "Is this task in the top 20 percent of my activities or in the bottom 80 percent?"

The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you actually begin work on a valuable task, you will be naturally motivated to continue. A part of your mind loves to be busy working on significant tasks that can really make a difference. Your job is to feed this part of your mind continually.

Motivate Yourself

Just thinking about starting and finishing an important task motivates you and helps you to overcome procrastination. Time management is really life management, personal management. It is really taking control of the sequence of events. Time management is having control over what you do next. And you are always free to choose the task that you will do next. Your ability to choose between the important and the unimportant is the key determinant of your success in life and work.

Effective, productive people discipline themselves to start on the most important task that is before them. They force themselves to eat that frog, whatever it is. As a result, they accomplish vastly more than the average person and are much happier as a result. This should be your way of working as well.

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The Noguchi filing system

The filing system proposed and used by Noguchi Yukio is worth a look. To employ the system, you'll need to discard many conventional notions about how to store paper documents. Here's how it works:

You need a set of A4 (letter)-sized envelopes and some way to mark the outside of the envelopes. If you want, you can color-code them with markers.

Take every document and store it in an A4-sized envelope with the flaps cut off, as shown here.

Mark the title and date of the document on the side of the envelope, as shown, and the envelopes are stored vertically on a bookshelf.

Don't attempt to classify documents. The color coding is optional, and only there to help you find documents more quickly.

Add any new document to the left end of the "envelope buffer." Whenever a document is used (i.e., the envelope removed from the shelf), return it to the left end of the bookshelf. The result of this system is that the most recent and frequently used documents move to the left, while documents that are rarely or never used migrate to the right.

Over time, some of the files on the right side of the shelf will be classified as "holy files" which you will retain indefinitely. Remove these from the shelf and store them in boxes. If a "holy file" is in use, it is part of the working file group at the left. Thus, holy files are really dead files which you cannot part with. Get them out of sight into a box.

When you need more space, throw away any documents that you consider "unnecessary."

Read more on Noguchi's system in this article by William Lise, or on Noguchi's website.

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Focus: A Simplicity Manifesto in the Age of Distraction


by Leo Babauta

The author writes, "At the heart of this simple book lies the key to many of the struggles we face these days, from being productive and achieving our goals, to getting healthy and fit in the face of fast food and inactivity, to finding simplicity and peace amidst chaos and confusion. That key is itself simple: focus. Our ability to focus will allow us to create in ways that perhaps we haven't in years. It'll allow us to slow down and find peace of mind. It'll allow us to simplify and focus on less-on the essential things, the things that matter most. -> http://bit.ly/SAGcvZ