If you do need to hang onto it, put it in the filing folder. Sched-
ule a short filing session once a day (or week or month, depend-
ing on the volume of paper you’re dealing with), for a time when
you’re not at your mental peak.
8. Strip, Clip, and Flip
If you receive trade publications on a regular basis, tear out the
material you really need and toss the rest of the publication away.
Be especially attentive to lists, tabulations, charts, and graphs that
summarize a great deal of material in a small space. Think about
how you might use this information and how you are going to find
it later. Consider software made for this purpose if you reuse infor-
mation with any frequency. Then recycle the rest.
While you’re at it, toss out periodicals more than a year old,
earlier drafts of written material, old reports that no longer have
relevance. Schedule a brief session at the end of each week so the
clutter level never gets unmanageable. While you’re engaged in
this relatively mindless work, you can decompress from a hard
week of work, ease your transition into evening and weekend lei-
sure time, and reflect on lessons learned.
9. Shift Gears When You read
Reading everything at the same rate and in the same way makes
as much sense as driving at the same speed on all roads and under
all conditions.
You can skim some materials for main ideas, scan others for
specific information, speed-read still others for the essence. A
workshop or training session in speed reading would be time well
spent if your job requires reading large amounts of material.
Save the material that requires time and concentration for your
peak energy times and for times when you can concentrate without
H O W T O C O N T R O L PA P E R F L O W