"Sure I'd like to get organized, but I've got deadlines, you know!"  Yes, I do.  To handle the array of information and communication overload, and at the same time to get and stay organized, collect everything on your desk and elsewhere that needs attention, or that you suspect may need attention. 

Operation Clean Sweep

Have you collected everything?  Good.  Stack it all up in front of you in a quite temporary pile.  I don't care how high it gets; in fact, the higher the better -- you'll have a much clearer idea of what you've allowed to accumulate and what you're up against.

Within a span of thirty minutes or less, you're going to rip through this collection of breathing space-threatening items.  Ready? 

Without sentiment or hesitation, allocate each item to one of four locations -- an important pile, an urgent pile, an interesting pile, or the recycling bin.  Caution:  Do not attempt this when you are tired or otherwise not fully alert, because the process will seem overwhelming.

If an item is urgent and important place it in important, near the top.  If it's simply urgent, place it in the appropriate pile.  If you are unsure of any particular item, you may place it at the bottom of the large stack, but only once for each item.  On the second encounter, classify it.  Within thirty minutes, the mess is gone.

Operation Clean Sweep has left you with three semi-neat piles.  Rank the items and then re-arrange them in each pile.  Downgrade or toss anything you can.  You're left with three smaller, more precisely arranged piles: important, urgent, and interesting.

Focus on What’s Important

Starting with the important pile, estimate how long it will take to complete each item.  Add all your estimates and multi¬ply that number by 1.5.  Do the same with the other piles.  As the number of task hours before you climbs into the hundreds, as it may, you can dramatically see that there is no point continuing as you have.  Your solution will vary based on the nature of your work, the available resources (such as helpers), and other particulars of the situation.   

What does not vary is the ever-present opportunity before you to get meaner and leaner, and more focused.  What else can you chuck?  What can be combined, ignored, delayed, delegated, done in multiples, farmed-out, automated, systemized, etc?  The more items you can downgrade to interesting, the further ahead you'll be.  Interesting can be relocated away from your desk.

For those items that can be handled another day, simply slip them into a daily or monthly tickler file.  If the materials are too big to go into the tickler file, put a project note in the file, and neatly house the materials in a location away from your desk and out of sight.          

As each new day or period of high anxiety over all the tasks you face ensues, repeat Operation Clean Sweep.  Remember to include the items in that day's tickler file.

Is stacking this stuff a bit cumbersome?  I've used this procedure for eleven years.  After trying dozens of others -- manual and organizing software systems, to-do lists and other job scheduling and project logging systems, I've found that nothing else will get you moving as fast or focused as quickly as Operation Clean Sweep.

In Tandem with Other Systems

This procedure can be used in tandem with what you already use, such as a to-do list, because you may have a need to look at the roster of tasks facing you with one glance.  However, Operation Clean Sweep is so immediate and so responsive to the tasks you face, especially for shorter duration tasks, you may find yourself abandoning the other methods.  You'll also find yourself dropping unimportant, non-urgent tasks.

When you need a change of pace, flip to the urgent pile.  The interesting pile can be reviewed intermittently, perhaps every couple of days or weeks.  It's okay if the piles grow exceedingly thick.

Eventually you'll reclassify them or chuck their contents. 

Ultimately, there are only three things you can do with whatever is glutting your desk and office -- act on it, file it, or toss it.  Whenever you find folders and tasks mounting up on all sides of you, remember how they got there, and that you are in charge of them, not vice versa.

After you've identified the most important project or task -- the one at the top of the important folder -- begin working on it to its completion.  If you can't complete it because it requires input from others or for some other reason, proceed with it as far as you can go.  Then place it back in the folder, either on top or where you determine it now belongs.

In a like manner, begin on the next most important project and proceed as far as you can go.  All the while, your priorities and goals are your guideposts.

The Big Drop

Let me say this as gently as I can -- in this society, in this era, recognize that most items will have to be dropped.  There will always be far more items competing for attention than you can comfortably manage.  To keep your priorities, goals, and daily activities aligned, clear out what doesn't belong.  Dropping is not easy.  Old habits, the familiar, and what once mattered are all hard to give up.  Here’s how to drop activities:

    * Temporarily drop something and see if you miss it -- often you will not.

    * Ease things out; drop a few items periodically.

    * Ask others whether it's something you need to, want to, or have to keep doing.  The feedback may surprise you.

    * Go cold turkey (only for the brave!) -- "XYZ is out of my life."  This is not as harsh as it sounds, since the decision usually follows sound reasoning.

Above all, remember the golden drop rule: The more items of momentary interest that you can drop or ignore, the greater the chance of alignment, and the more breathing space in your life.  I promise!