It’s okay to have a big pile!
Really!
There’s this idea that if you have stacks of stuff or piles of stuff that you are somehow disorganized and scattered.
I disagree!
Stacks are their own form of organization or can be if you work them. Of course if you have unresolved stacks… that can be a problem. So let’s look at the almighty pile and see how we can use it more effectively.
Throwing out the baby with the bath water
I have no idea why I love that cliché perhaps the mental image I get. But the reality is if you do away with piles altogether you just might be tossing out your greatest idea generating and organizing tool.
Here are a few things you can do if you are a “stacker” or “piler” to make the process a more posititve one and also so you can explain to those less creative types why the pile is so important.
Embrace the Pile
Seriously, get positive about your penchant for piling, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it if you are working it. So step one is clearly this, accept that you stack and be okay with it. No matter what anyone says if it works for you then do it.
Use the Pile
One great way to get rid of clutter is to remember your pile and use it. At the end of the day I take everything on my desk and put it in the pile unless it has a distinct place to go. There are times during the day where I refer to the pile. I may have thrown something in there that I can now use like an article for a blog post or some notes on a new idea where some traction has just happened. Not using the pile and keeping things scattered about leaves you much more disorganized and in a state of chaos.
Time for a brain interlude…
If your brain could talk to you here’s what it would say, “Dude I’m limited.”
As amazing as our brains are, they were originally designed for very simple and straight-forward tasks. Thinks like, “run from bear” and “mmmm food”. Not things like remembering several on-board tasks while doing calculus and writing in your mind the grocery list along with “Run! Or you’ll miss the taxi”.
We have a very limited on-board working space for remembering the here and now. Maybe three to six items. So you might remember: go to the grocery store, pick up dry cleaning, call printer, fax report to Dave and review stats for meeting after dinner. In fact, read that list again, go on…
Imagine that’s your list. Because you haven’t written it down or placed it in long-term memory it’s just sitting there in the queue on hold. Imagine the queue is a plank hanging off of Johnny Depp’s pirate ship. That’s the whole queue. So you add a few more items and the first couple will fall off into the ocean. The rest will stand there squeezed together losing balance as Johnny prods them with his sword. (Johnny is kind of cute…)
Now, without out going back, can you remember what was on that list?
Probably not, I just wrote it and I can’t remember it.
In order to hold more stuff in the queue we need to create an external queue. It’s a place where we can put stuff physically. It’s not long term memory which would leave it still in your brain. This place is a physical place. Here are some examples: a pile, a written list, a written note, an audio note or voicemail to yourself.
Once the item is out of your brain and into the physical world you make room in the queue for more pressing things. In this way you free up lots of brain juice to focus on what’s in the queue. You no longer have to waste valuable brain juice “remembering” you can just go to the pile and grab the item back out when you need it.
I’d rather read a book with nothing in the queue to distract me, or paint or draw or spend time with my family. I’d rather be 100% in those moments… wouldn’t you?
Work the Pile
Now that you have all this stuff in the pile it has to be dealt with in some way. Nothing happens with a pile unless you work it. That means you need to assess the pile regularly. Take one hour a week or one day a month to go through the stacks. During this time you re-evaluate everything in the pile. You touch each note, email, paper, article, magazine clipping… whatever is in the pile and determine if it should stay in the pile, if it needs to be acted upon, if it needs to be filed or if it needs to be trashed because it is no longer relevant.
Skip the Re-Pile
Don’t even think about putting something back in the pile! Once you decide to “work the pile” everything that get’s touched or read goes. At that point you’ll need to determine where it goes and if it is still needed. Some things are ready to go to the trash, others can be filed and yet others will become action items. If something is nagging and doesn’t really have an intended home yet then it may need to become a long-term project item to be reviewed in three or six months. By then you’ve either forgotten about the idea or moved on or you are ready to act on it.
Multi-Piles
Having more than one pile might look like chaos to someone else but for me it represents organization! I have a pile for current action items, one for projects, one for books to read, one for my task lists since I generally have more than one, one for blog post ideas and one for ‘everything else’.
During the day I work the piles. I don’t let them get scattered about and as soon as I’m done with a pile I find a place for it. I like the colored cardboard tray/box things. They have handles and can hold a variety of things. Another pile organizer are the file folders that are closed on the sides; accordion style or file jackets. These hold stuff without it falling out all over the place so I can toss in all sorts of things related to the pile.
In this way things stay more organized and more contained. Structure really does make your brain feel better and this simple way of structuring your piles will create some much needed clarity and focus.
Not Convinced?
I’m a piler… I admit it. But, I get a lot done. I don’t have a choice. Running three different types of businesses requires that I be organized and efficient. Although I have piles, different types of piles, I find that most of my productivity comes from keeping them structured. You can spend too much time filing stuff, only to find later it was a wasted effort because you don’t need the filed stuff anymore.
For years, as I went through college, I worked as a legal assistant. Let me tell you… I filed, and filed, and filed. There were so many documents, so many pages, so many things to file. And there was a very specific filing system. Unlike many of the women I worked with, my desk was always clean and my filing was always done. Filing is not foreign to me.
After all that training and practice why do I still use piles?
Because it’s what I do, it comes naturally. It might be what comes to you naturally. The problem is not the pile. The problem is refusing to deal with the piles or structure them so that they become useful. The key, then, is to apply a bit of effort into the act of creating piles.
Do you use piles? Are you a piler? If so, how do you use them? Tell us in the comments, inquiring minds want to know!
I love this! I’m a piler – they’re usually organized, but I always have one pile that I don’t know what’s in it. So when that happens and it’s been sitting a while, I flip it over and start from the bottom. Often times I’ll find that a lot of what’s in there isn’t even needed anymore.
Xllnt idea! “Flip the Pile” !!!
Embrace the pile? Not literally I hope, it’s taller than me…
Maybe you need two piles Sarah!
I am a mad piler. I have a pile for all the stuff I need quick access to throughout the day, a pile of things that are in-progress/wait mode, a pile of stuff that needs to be filed, a pile of things I must remember, and a pile of DVDs/CDs that help go through the piles faster.
So you have a pile system, Yay! This is a great strategy. I especially like the DVD/CD pile idea!
guilty as charged: I am a piler. But I find that piling works really, really well for me because I am constantly involved in multiple projects at one time. All of the essentials for each project are in one stack, and once I’m done with the project, I can usually throw away most of the pile.
On the other hand, on the few occasions when I’ve tried to force myself into an organizing system based on filing, I end up “losing” important materials because I forget where I filed them. Never again.
This reminds me of a book I read years ago called Time Management for the Creative Person by Lee Silber. I think you’d like it, Yolanda.
http://www.amazon.com/Time-Management-Creative-Person-Procrastination/dp/0609800906/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311105907&sr=8-1
Oooooo a book suggestion, thanks for feeding my book pile!
You know it’s interesting because my twin brother has always been a piler and I always got angry with him. For most business paperwork like receipts and invoices I file immediately. He would have stacks of those. But then I realized I also pile. The thing about piles is how you deal with them. I know where stuff is at so it doesn’t create any inefficiency. For my brother, it could take him hours to find the one invoice I was looking for.
If piles work for you great, but make sure they are efficient and that you are using them efficiently… I think that’s the big message.
I am definitely a piler, and for years people looked at me like I was just a slob. No, it’s a system. REALLY. And my 4-color pen is my favorite time management tool, too.
LOL well clearly lots of us use piles! Mine are always very neat and tidy, edges all match up. Dan’s piles on the other hand are all haphazard, papers sticking out. Mine definitely feel much more neat…
And yes, colored pens rock, maybe that’s the next post? Hmmmmmmmm
Yolanda,
Yes, I’m a piler. Have to be. Too many things going on all the time. Mine aren’t tidy piles. Wish they were. And I’ll admit to a pile of newspaper clippings that has been sitting untouched for quite some time. I can live with longterm piles, however.
It’s so refreshing to read about a ‘stuff’ management system for human beings instead of impossible perfection.
I, too, want to hear about the 4-color time management system
Thanks.
I admit it, I am a piler. I organize everything into piles. :d