This is in response to Sue, who posted a question a couple weeks ago. First of all, thank you, Sue, for letting me know how I can be of help!! I totally welcome any questions or suggestions for blog posts (and not just for altruistic reasons; sometimes, I just plain run out of stuff to write about!).
Sue's question:
I'd like to hear more about focusing on what's important. I find that given time (sometimes only two weeks) more than 80% of the 'paper work' I've gathered becomes irrelevant.
Ideas about how to accumulate less in the first place would be helpful.
This is a great question in many ways. For one thing, Sue recognizes how much better it is to avoid accumulating stuff than dealing with stuff that's already piled up. Also, this question goes to the heart of paper management: figuring out what you truly need.
Of course, what's important and what you need are both unique to you, your work situation and your goals. But there are two general categories of paper-saving, and knowing which one you're falling into can help pare down a potential paper avalanche.
If you find yourself collecting paper that falls into the "possibility" category ("oh, hey, this sounds like something I might want to do"), one way of reducing the load of paper would be to get really clear about what you truly want, and what your time situation is actually like.
Every day, dozens of possibilities float into our offices on the wings of paper: seminars, classes, meetings, articles, ideas, etc. And they all sound good, usually because the paper contains the work of a professional copywriter. Plus, if you have a creative bent, you tend to want to say "yes" to possibilities.
But a funny thing happens when you say "yes" to a lot of options: you have to say "no" to yourself. Usually, that takes the form of less time for yourself, less self-care and, at the very least, less space for the stuff that you really want to keep. So while it might seem like you're cutting off possibilities at the root, saying "no" to anything that doesn't immediately captivate you is actually saying "yes" to the value of your time.
If you find yourself collecting paper that falls into the anxiety category ("if I don't hold on to this, I'll find that I need it at the worst possible time"), the best way to reduce that anxiety is to study yourself for a while. Create a designated space such as a bin for every piece of paper you keep for this reason; if the paper has an "expiration date," note that on the paper. Then, every week, go through and remove all the papers it turned out you didn't need.
It sounds like Sue has already done this part and has realized that there's a lot she doesn't need to keep. The next step is to note the patterns and use them to create new rules. For instance, if you keep a certain type of coupon or offer and yet you consistently don't use them, that's a new rule you can institute: I don't use these coupons, so it's okay to get rid of them.
Each person's rules will be different, and the relevant patterns might not emerge immediately, so you'll want to be extra patient and non-judgmental with yourself during this process. But eventually, you can understand and anticipate your paper needs so well that you can avoid some of your paper pitfalls.
Does this sound helpful? I'm asking Sue in particular, but I also want to hear from everyone else. Let me know in the comments!
