The trick is in breaking things down into doable bits that don’t overwhelm you. Heard of How Do You Eat An Elephant?: One Bite at a Time<\/a> OK, so let’s get real and fix all that stuff around you that’s cluttering your head and your physical space.<\/p>\n If you’re like me you rush from one thing to another and don’t take time to put things away before you’re onto the next thing. Or, you have so many projects on the go or in the ideas stage and you put things aside for when you get time. Or, there are unfinished things you need to get back to so you have them nearby for … when you have time.<\/p>\n Let’s clear a path now and stick with it!<\/p>\n Using the same chunking approach, here’s a technique you can put into action now:<\/p>\n Once you’ve cleared the big box and sorted into the little boxes, chuck the BIN box. DO NOT GO THROUGH IT AGAIN!!<\/p>\n Put the File box near your filing station and devote 20 minutes daily to clearing it out by filing it.<\/p>\n Take the SCHEDULE\u00a0box and plug in your diary the exact day and time you will deal with each piece. If you need to do research or involve someone else, note that on the task. Double the amount of time you think you will need to complete each task! Better to have time over than rush.<\/p>\n Take the DO NEXT box and sit down and get it done NOW. As you do each task, if it can’t be done now, pop it into the Schedule box. By day’s end you should be through the DO NOW box.<\/p>\n In future, plot out your projects and tasks then include them in your daily or weekly schedule.<\/p>\n Think about how you communicate with yourself. “Write a 50,000 word book<\/em>” is a lot different to “write 500 words a day<\/em>” or “draft an outline of the book<\/em>” or “write out bullet points for each chapter<\/em>“. \u00a0The latter tasks are much more doable and way less stressful or put-off-able! One thing GTD (Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity<\/a> What’s the Next Action right now for you?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"!\u00a0Chunk it down, baby.<\/p>\n
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) taught me was to think about the very Next Action that needs to happen.<\/p>\n