I wanted to give you an update on how I've been doing with your advice and your products that I've purchased.
Please note, I'm talking massive amounts of paper including TO DO notes from forever that I'm afraid to let go of, financial, medical stuff, family history (after mom died), retirement stuff, hobbies or would-be hobbies, notes from Zoom classes I may or may not ever look at again....so much
stuff.
Please also note, I am dealing with auto-immune fatigue which is kind of unpredictable.
I wasn't honestly sure if your system would "fit" with my brain. Past systems didn't quite lend to changing my habits.
But, I have followed your newsletter and web site for a long time and I like you, so thought I'd try it out.
So, having gone through your guides, I'm really getting that YES...I need an overall structure, and instead of getting caught up in existential inner-debate about how that would look, it's time to just 'DO it.'
I'm also seeing that once I get this all set up, it may help shift me from stacking behavior to having faith that I can handle TO DOs using my darn lists, with confidence that that special piece of related paper will be findable. That for me is huge.
I wish I had taken pictures of my dining room before I started, but let's just say that, two sessions into this, I've emptied a hodgepodge of seven various containers. I've also isolated bunches of Pendaflex folders, label inserts, etc. that were sort of sprinkled around. I bought a Brother label maker after
ditching the idea of printing from my computer. That was because I knew if I did the latter, I'd torture myself 'researching' exactly how to do that well, etc.
My next big step will be piling papers by zone. Somehow when I read your seemingly simple instruction to set up those zone stickies, something major in my mind kind of clicked into place. My problem in the past has been trying to deal with each piece of paper at a time, which meant determining what it was,
how old it was, whether I had a folder for that yet or should stop and make one...or had I already made one but can't find it now...etc.
Often I'd get a sense of urgency, that maybe I should deal with this...soon...so maybe it's better not to file it after all. And after a few pieces, I'd be discouraged, because essentially, every time I dipped into the piles, I was starting from scratch.
Now I have hope. Once I've done the Zone sorting I'll allow myself the fun of label-making and go from there.
Though I also have papers in my actual home office and front room, most of it's in my dining room, where I actually do my paperwork, and I do believe that once I get through the dining room stuff, the system categories will be in place so that I can tackle the other areas. I know you normally say to pull
everything together, but I only have so much floor space, let alone sanity!
One challenge awaiting is letting go of my own school papers from well, last century. Some of my stuff college and later, graduate school, was well-received...but it's a new century, after all.
I hope you don't mind this very long update, but I think you really care and I wanted to let you know you have major'ly helped get me started. Truly, you 'get it.'
A Continuing Fan in Germantown, Maryland
