We have a tendency to learn selectively. Our brain is most likely to take in the information that matches the experiences we have already stored. This is alright as long as we do repetitive tasks. But if we have to change things fundamentally, we need to learn how to unlearn. The easiest way of unlearning is getting rid of things we do not need any more. This can happen with a regular purge day.
Applying the purge day
If you haven’t done this yet, establish a purge day in your company, where all employees get to come to work in jeans, put their phone on the not-to-disturb-mode and get current with all the stored stuff. A great time to do this is Christmas Eve day or some similar near holiday that falls on a workday. Most people are in a “party mode” anyway, so it’s an ideal opportunity to get funky and clean the house.
Make large trash bins, recycle containers and “to shred” boxes available and allow everyone to spend the whole time in purge mode – around their office and on their computer. Ask everyone to get rid at least of 10% of all the stuff he/she is storing by applying the following rules:
- Spend 1 hour of looking for things you do not need any more.
- After 1 hour gather at a central place and exchange with others whether what you have decided to get rid of would be of use for anybody else. Don’t use more than 15 minutes for that exchange.
- If no one has use for what you bring to the exchange, throw the things officially away rsp. delete them on your computer.
- Repeat the same excercise 3 times.
If you are hesitating if something could still be useful or not, apply one of the 3 options for your next action:
- Do it, if the action would take less than 2 minutes
If the next action for an item can be done in 2 minutes or less, do it when you pick the item up. If the e-mail requires just a 30 second reading and then a quick yes/no/other response back to the sender, do it now. If you can browse a document in less than two minutes to see if there might be anything of interest for you, do it and either toss it, route it or reference it as required.
The rationale for the 2 minute-rule is that it’s more or less the point where it starts taking longer to store and track an item than to deal with it the first time it’s in your hands. If the thing is not important enough to be done, throw it away. Many people find that getting the habit of following the 2 minute-rule creates a dramatic improvement of their productivity. - Delegate it, if your not the most appropriate person to do the action
If the next action it going to take longer than 2 minutes, aks yourself: “Am I the best person to be doing this?” If not, hand it to the appropriate person, in a systematic format:
– Sent the appropriate party an e-mail.
– Write a not are an over-note on paper and route the note to that person.
– Send him or her a text or leave a voice-mail.
– Add it as an agenda item on a list for your next real-time conversation.
– Talk to him or her directly, maybe when you all come together again in an hour. - Defer it into your organisation system as an option for work to do later
It’s likely that most of the next actions you could determine for things that lie around or in your in-tray will take longer than 2 minutes to complete.
These actions will have to be written down somewhere and then organised in appropriate categories so you can access them when you need to. For the moment, put Post-Its on the material with the actions written on them, and add these things to your pending stack of material that needs to be processed.
Breakout sessions (30 minutes)
Transport the logics of the purge day onto a lower level in your your daily work, now, directly in the breakout sessions. Go through the 3 options for your next action for the next 20 minutes:
- Do it
- Delegate it
- Defer it
Discuss the remaining 10 minutes of the breakout session with you peer:
- What impact had the 2 minute rule for you?
- What is now the result?
Source
Allen, David (2019):
Getting Things Done. The art of stress-free productivity. London: Piatkus.