the toa organizing awards

As I mentioned in a May post, many works influenced my current approach toward keeping organized. I thought it over briefly, came up with a list of examples, and decided (because why not) that the time was right for another pointless series of awards.

The TOA Organizing Awards

For helping me understand the possibilities of being organized…

High-Output Management by Andy Grove

Grove writes that the act of gathering and distributing information is among the manager’s most important functions. Those who are better organized with their time are able to spend more time gathering information. Therefore, anyone who wishes to lead effectively must constantly become better at time management.

For helping me understand how much time I should spend writing…

Daily Rituals by Mason Currey

As I highlighted in my thoughts about Ben Franklin, Daily Rituals proved critical in defining the appropriate length of time for work. After I read about the many creators highlighted in this book, I realized that most artists do not get more than four hours of good work done in a given day. Further, I noticed how most artists worked in one continuous block of time. I applied the lesson and blocked off the first three to four hours of my day for writing.

…and work, too, I suppose…

I also extended this idea to the workplace. I aimed to schedule four hours of real work each day. What was real work? For me, real work generally meant creative tasks like writing code, running job interviews, or teaching a skill.

Once I’d scheduled ‘real work’ into my calendar, I filled in the rest of my time with the brainless admin every employee must do to help run an organization (scheduling meetings, researching contracts, putting my handwritten notes into an electronic format, and so on).

For helping me sort email…

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

As I wrote about in my review for this book, Ferriss’s explanation of ‘batching’ email tasks together helped me a great deal when I was navigating my first inbox crisis. I’ve continued using this principle to group similar tasks together and cut down on the time I’ve spent repeating myself via identical email responses.

…and for helping me send it…

Tim Harford - 'Ten Email Commandments' (specifically, point #3)

Harford’s article extended Ferriss’s logic a step further by ‘batching’ emails into these four general actions. Here’s the way I use the concepts today:

-If I can throw it out, I delete it
-If it takes less than a minute to do everything the email requires, I do it
-If someone else can do it for me, I delegate it
-If I need more time or information to complete it, I defer it

Harford’s article was not the first time I’ve heard about this method. However, for some reason it was the first time I read about it and thought I should give it a try.

For teaching me how to safely put things off for later…

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

I remember two very good ideas from Rubin’s book. First, she recommends doing any organizing task that would take less than one minute. Her ‘one-minute rule’ is really helpful for mental clutter – by completing all the little tasks as they come up, I never leave home thinking about a long list of things I’ll need to do when I get back. (This rule is very similar to the ‘DO’ rule for email I mentioned earlier – same principle.)

The second idea was to always have an empty storage area (her specific idea was a shelf). This storage space is for leaving anything with obvious value that does not have a proper home yet. In other words, it should only be used as storage space during emergencies (to the extent that storage can ever be described as an ‘emergency’) and left empty at all other times. This rule is really helpful for visual clutter – by ‘quarantining’ all the unsorted items into a defined area, the rest of the space remains in its generally well-organized state.

For teaching me how to deal with paper clutter…

Tim Harford (again) - "There's magic in mess" (go to the first reference to Yukio Noguchi)

I return to my favorite economist for his insights into paper clutter. His recommendation is to forget about filing systems, folders, or binders – instead, he suggests making a pile on your desk of all incoming paper that has no obvious storage place. If you end up repeatedly going into the pile for the item, perhaps it should go into its own space. But if you go six months without touching the item, it probably means it can be safely thrown out.

I’ve been trying a modified concept at home by using an empty case of beer as my catch-all box for any paper I’m not sure of. I go through the bottom half of it when it fills up and I make a decision about each item. Anything I go into the box for in the meantime gets permanently removed and put into its own defined storage space.

For clarifying the difference between a to-do list and a calendar…

'Ditch the To Do List' by Jemar Tisby

This article points out the great lie of the ‘to-do’ list, at least in terms of being organized with time. The organized person uses a calendar and fills it – the disorganized person has an endless to-do list onto which tasks, goals, and obligations disappear forever.

A good example of this idea ties back to my email idea above. To ‘defer’ an email for later really means scheduling time to answer it, not just leaving it in the inbox indefinitely. In fact, email strikes me as a good place to start for those wondering about how to implement this tactic because for most people email quickly turns into a ‘to-do’ list anyone with your email address can indiscriminately add to.

For showing me how to organize long blog posts…

Lost In Translation by Ella Frances Sanders

Just kidding, reader. I haven’t learned how to do this yet. That word bracket was something else though, was it not?

Anyway, I think this is enough for today, organized reader. I have one more book to highlight and I think it is safe to call it the big winner in this unofficial ‘TOA Organizing Awards’ series. Look for this final post sometime soon.

Until then,

Tim