#30 Taking a Load Off Our Devices iHCPL

I've used the P and S drives for several folders over the last two years. I found a couple of folders on the P drive that I had created and left up since 2006. I had fun deleting these folders knowing that I certainly don't need the files in them any longer.
As I was deleting these folders that I personally created, I came across many more folders that we've created in our department that we can easily delete. This exercise makes you realize how much you can do to get rid of folders and take a load off the system. This exercise also underscores the need to try to be as organized as possible when creating files and folders so that you don't have dozens of folders when you only need a few, well-selected ones to do the job.

Email Clean-Up #29 in iHCPL

I've been doing spring cleaning on my work and person email accounts. I saw my work account's quota usage drop from over 20% to .6%! I feel much "lighter" now that I don't have all those old emails cluttering up my mailbox. I went through each email and just asked myself if I needed the email any longer or if I could easily live without it. If I needed the email, I either wrote down the information or I printed it out. Then I deleted and purged and deleted and purged!

Using some of the GTD principles, I developed three folders that I could initially move emails into so that they would be "collected" in one spot. I analyzed the email that I receive and I decided to name the folders from the three main duty areas that are in my job description. Most of my email falls into one of those areas. I plan to go through my email three times a day (when I arrive, lunch and before I leave) to see if the email falls into one of the three folder areas. If the email doesn't, I will address the email by responding to it or deleting it. If the email does fall into one of those three job areas, I will move the email to that folder. Once a week (on Thursday) I will go through the folders to clear them out completely.

Using GTD to get things done! iHCPL #28

I enjoyed reading the principles of GTD. I've always admired people who are well-organized at work and at home. I've read books that incorporated the basic principles of GTD, but I haven't always put them into practice.

I like the philosophy of collecting the items (ie. emails, paperwork, etc.) in one place to work through. I particularly like the 2 minute rule about doing anything that can be done in 2 minutes. I recently put this concept into practice when going through email that accumulated over several days. I quickly responded to several emails that I no longer have to keep on my mind. It's always gratifying to get things like that done.

I've made a little outline of the GTD principles to put on the bulletin board by my desk as a reminder to keep paperwork or little tasks from getting out of hand.