This article was originally published in The Simplifier #56.

Article: Developing 80/20 Vision

By Shawn Tuttle

Who’d have thought that an Italian economist born in 1848 could have big impact on your life today? Stemming from the observation that 80% of income in Italy went to 20% of the population, Vilfredo Pareto’s “80/20 principle” has influenced the business world since it was rediscovered in the 1940’s. This principle states that for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Nowadays, this rule is observed in all kinds of areas:

Social - 80% of your time is spent with 20% of your acquaintances.
Clothing -  You wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time.
Quality control - 80% of the problems stem from 20% of the causes.
Gardening -  20% of peapods produce 80% of the peas
Service business - 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients.
Your work - 80% of your results are produced by 20% of your efforts.
(Be sure to take these percentages with a grain of salt. Whether the numbers work out exactly, the point that the majority of output is the result of a relatively small percentage of input is widely accepted.)

Simplify with 80/20
Translating the principle into a useful tool, you can apply the 80/20 rule to increase happiness and success. How? Through focus, elimination, and choice. This combination forms a fantastic tool for the dedicated simplifier!

Focus
There are so many ways that focusing on the right activities produce the greatest results. Let the 80/20 rule serve as a measure by which to evaluate your activities.
For example:

If 20% of your offerings produce 80% of your business income… how can you make the most of those? Can you drop the rest?
If 20% of the activities you do produce 80% of your results… which of the rest can you delegate to employees, contractors, or consultants?
If 20% of your Todo list represents 80% of your highest priorities… which of the remaining tasks can be crossed off undone?

By evaluating your how you spend your time and on what, you can do more by doing less.

Elimination
Clutter is anything in your life that isn’t useful or enjoyed. Whether clothing in your closet or items taking up shelf space, if it isn’t enhancing your life, it’s in the way.

If 20% of the things in your house give you 80% of the satisfaction you feel in your surroundings… what could you get rid of?
If you wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time… what could you send to the thrift store?
If you eat 20% foodstuff in your kitchen 80% of the time, what might be a candidate for donating to the food bank?

In other words,  you can increase enjoyment of your home by surrounding yourself with the stuff you use and love the most, and shedding some of the rest.

Choice
Setting high expectations adds to the pressure of a busy schedule. Looking at the 80/20 rule from a different vantage, as suggested by author Seth Godin, if 20% of your efforts get 80% of the job done, and if 80% done can be considered enough, then you can let the rest go.

If a 90-100% clean house is for guests… is 20% effort for an 80% clean house enough for daily living?
If 100% effort for clients sets you apart as a stellar consultant… is 20% effort for 80% completion of day-to-day details enough for running your business?
If you love painting with watercolors and give 100% to that activity, what can you give 20% to for 80% completion so that you’ll have more time to paint?

Acknowledging that some activities are big contributors to your well-being, while others have little consequence can be a challenging experience. However, by choosing what you can lower the bar for in your life, and determining what you want to keep the bar raised for, you’ll make more time for what you love.

Whether applied toward clients, clothes, or just about anything else, developing “80/20 vision” sharpens your focus on what’s important to you. Futurist Joel Barker points out that “vision without action is a dream” while “vision with action is making a positive difference.” Zoom in on the most productive activities in your life and eliminate the things that no longer serve you. Choose when to give your all and when to conserve your resources. Let your 80/20 insights guide the way for a positive difference in your life.

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.

This article was originally published in The Simplifier #53.

Article: The Resolution - Simplified

By Shawn Tuttle

What New Year’s resolutions have you set in the past? Lose a few pounds, quit smoking, help others, get out of debt, perhaps? How often do you hear success stories for these big year-end goals? Not often. The process of making New Year’s resolutions seems to be hit or miss, mostly miss.

What seems to happen is that a wishful idea is verbalized to oneself, “I’m going to get in shape!” and one or two things are done to support this idea, for example a health club is joined, and then nothing else happens. The breakdown? A goal of that magnitude deserves the full planning process—and stating the goal is only the first step!

But jeez, the New Year’s resolution is made in a mood of reflection and imagination of how life could be different, not in the mode of analytical-brain figuring out timelines, resources, and benchmarks! Besides, the traditionally-hectic holiday months probably aren’t the best time for these anyways.

The Resolution Simplified

It doesn’t matter if you smoke, are 30 pounds overweight, and don’t have any friends. You can amplify the positive in your life, and even better, you can start right now, even if it’s still 2007. In fact, using a plan-free resolution will make those other self-improvement projects easier! If you’ve had less than great success with your New Year’s resolutions, then try making one that doesn’t require planning.

Plan-free resolutions don’t require major productions and yet they have lasting effect. You can bring more joy and happiness into your life by choosing a “fragrance” like appreciation, gratitude, or friendliness and applying liberally.

Resolution is defined as a determination, a firmness of purpose. If your intention has to do with improving your life or the lives of those you touch, you’ll have the greatest impact by being more appreciative, more grateful, kinder, or more friendly. Connecting with others through these heartfelt attitudes can have powerful and transformative effects.

You don’t need to set benchmarks with these resolutions, or spend money, or interact with exercise equipment. You don’t even need any will power! All you do is remember your resolution to, for example, have more patience, and adopt it in your life. That’s much easier! Save goal setting and the planning process for another time. Choose your fragrance(s) for the year and let it infuse your self, your thoughts, and your life. Then the next time you are driving on a 2-lane road stuck behind a “Sunday driver” cruising sub-speed limit, choose a response consistent with your resolution, and be patient.

Goals mean planning

This isn’t to say don’t set goals. Challenging yourself to improve your life through setting goals can be an incredibly powerful process. Quitting smoking, losing weight, getting out of debt—those are big goals. As such, don’t underestimate the magnitude of taking them on. There’s a time and place for everything, and big goals require big planning. Setting yourself up for success to achieve big goals means acknowledging the process, and tackling them when you are ready to go all the way with them.

Time for a change?

You’ve heard the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Conversely, if it ain’t working, don’t do it!

If the resolutions you set for the new year usually last until, say, New Year’s Day, then change your strategy. There’s no law that says a resolution has to be one way or another—it’s entirely up to you. If the conventional resolution structure isn’t serving your needs, try the plan-free resolution approach—or another approach of your own design.

Endings and beginnings

I see myself standing at the edge of a cliff. Looking back at the path that led to this point, I smile at the hills and valleys dipping and rising behind me. I turn to look out into the expanse, wondering about the trail of this coming year. Will it be rocky and steep? Smooth and level? What new terrain will there be to explore? What unanticipated challenges will arise?

I desire to step lightly into the new year—a lightness reflecting the pleasure of being on this journey. Obstacles in the path will be dealt with, mountains will be climbed, and rivers crossed. Laughter and joy will outweigh the sweat and tears. Successes will be celebrated as I choose the most interesting path up the mountain. I lift my foot and step forward.

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.

This article was originally published in The Simplifier #52.

Article: Staying on top of your game

By Shawn Tuttle

Have you ever thought about what the term “time management” really means? You can manage a herd of cows, you can manage a baseball team, you can try to manage a bunch of angry people at a meeting. But how do you manage time? You can’t change anything about it. You can’t tell it to go this way or that. You can’t make it behave differently. We each get 24 hours a day. Period. 

What you can manage during those 1,440 minutes a day is what you do and, just as importantly, how you do it. 

The game you don’t want to play
Imagine playing a game in which the objective is getting to the other side of an island by midnight. You come up with a plan to go through the forest, cross the river, and then climb over the mountain. It’s a small island and your plan is totally doable. You get going first thing in the morning, but then half way through the forest, a mysterious character shows up and entices you in a different direction—then takes off! You find your path again…but then another character jumps in your path and lures you in another direction. Sounded fun at the time, but now they, too, have disappeared and you have no idea where you are. You wander around until your watch beeps midnight—you’ll have to try again tomorrow. You feel a bit like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day when he kept waking up to the same day—over and over again.

The metaphor is simple. Sticking with your plan gets you where you want to go. Getting distracted repeatedly leaves you wondering what happened to the day and all the important things you wanted to accomplish. 

Your work most likely involves interacting with others and work that you do on your own. If you are like many others, you have a tough time carving out sufficient time for the work that you need to do alone. Scheduling time for your key work creates a little island for you to protect from intruders. Keeping people at bay during these times doesn’t mean you don’t ever want to associate with them. On the contrary, it means that you recognize there is a better time for them in your schedule. 

To better understand what we mean by “time management”, let’s rename it “the art of staying on top of your game”.

The most common external distractions are: email, phone, and people. 

Email (a.k.a. the ultimate intruder of the 21st Century)

Is email a blessing? A curse? Both? A wonderful accomplice to procrastination, email can suck you into a time warp in nothing flat. Discipline and determination can keep this king of distractions under control. 

Designate email processing times—for example, three times spaced out over the course of the day. (Of course, if you’re expecting time-sensitive e-mails, it’s OK to take a quick glance more frequently.) “Processing” means treating your email inbox like your paper inbox—reserved for items that you haven’t looked at yet. Each email you open is assessed and then either moved to trash, dealt with immediately (if it will take less than 2 minutes), or moved to a Take Action folder to deal with later. 

And NO browsing! The habit of browsing will find you looking through the same email 5 or 6 times before you feel like dealing with it—a big time waster. Very few email messages deserve that kind of attention.

tip summary: 
Designate blocks of time for email. 
No browsing!
Treat your email and paper inboxes the same way—i.e., each item is: Trashed, Done now, or Moved for later action.

Phone (a.k.a., a ringing phone does not mean “jump!”)

There are many types of calls that don’t need to be answered while you are in key work mode: wrong numbers, telemarketers, callers simply responding to a quick question you’ve asked, etc. Plus, if it’s a potential client, do you think you’ll give a better first impression when you are prepared for the call, or when you are engaged in another project?

This may seem like basic phone skills 101, but you wouldn’t believe how many small business owners I’ve talked with who take the call every time the phone rings!

tip summary:
Let calls go to voice mail during key work time.

If you have an assistant who answers your phone…

Create a system for screening calls. For example:
-if your door is closed, take a message. 
-if you are expecting an important call, let them know. 
-if you are selectively available, write down a simple script for your assistant to follow. For example, when someone asks for you: “Who’s calling, please?” “Thank you, Barbara, I’ll see if she’s available.” If you’re not free: “Barbara, she’s not available right now. I’ll tell her you called. Would you like to leave a message?” “And the best number to reach you?” (Again, this may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised…)

assistant tip summary: 
Train assistants on phone screening.

People (a.k.a., What am I? Your hairdresser?)

Treat your key work time as seriously as you would an appointment with the Dalai Lama. While a spontaneous conversation can potentially replace several emails or phone calls, too often they are accomplices to procrastination. 

If you are wanting a short break, then great! Perfect timing. If not, come up with a gracious way of letting the other person know you don’t want to pause work right now. Try something like, “Hey, I’m making great progress on this project. Can we talk later?” or, “That sounds really interesting. Can we talk about it after I’ve finished this?”

tip summary: 
Respect your key work times.
Memorize gracious conversation stoppers.

Gracious conversation stopper #2…

You get a call you want to take but are walking out the door…
“Hi Kim, I’m glad you called! I know we have several things to talk about, but I’m going to a meeting right now. Can I call you when I get back to the office, around 4:30pm? Does that work for you?” That gives Kim the option to suggest a different time and even to ask a simple question while knowing that the rest of her questions will be addressed later that day.

When the desire to avoid the frustrating feeling of no-progress grows strong enough, it’s time to confront your distractions. Dealing with the external influences of other people’s requests is an important aspect of managing your daily 1,440 minutes. A little strategy and planning go a long way in protecting your islands of work-time, and in helping you get through the forest of your day. Now that’s being on top of the game!

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.

This article was originally published in The Simplifier #51.

The sun radiates - and so should you!

By Shawn Tuttle

Whatever your personal worldly goals are, you most likely have a desire to help others. It’s true—we give and receive help all the time. Sharing skills and resources is a fundamental drive.

This is one of the reasons that so many people have chosen to simplify. More free time and energy means more opportunities to help and connect with others. Is it just the act of service that makes us feel good? No. Rather, it’s the emotional feelings experienced—we feel it in our hearts. That’s what makes us feel good. 

More richness for everyone
Now, it’s quite possible that if your life has become complicated to the point of “losing yourself”, the focus of simplifying will be (and should be) on you for a while. Setting goals to help others may go on the back-burner for a while. In fact, it may take some time to get in touch with service-oriented goals. If you feel depleted and frazzled, your goal may simply be: take care of self.

This is entirely appropriate! Taking care of yourself provides the precious water to refill your depleted reservoir. When your reservoir is full, not only do you function best, you are in a position to share generously. To continue to share requires a sustainable flow of giving and receiving. 

Connecting through kindness
Whatever the level of your reservoir, engaging in sincere and kind communication helps fill it up. Maybe it means a conversation in which you listen more than talk. Maybe it means extra patience in a rushed situation. Maybe it means inviting someone to go ahead of you at the store if they have tired and grumpy kids on their hands.

These gentle and considerate ways of connecting touch your heart—and that’s what fills you up. They don’t require planning or forethought, merely a willingness to allow them to happen. (And in your journey for a simplified life, you’ve been building more time into your schedule between activities, right? This allows more time for random acts of kindness!)

Expressing appreciation
While our kind actions make us feel good, we feel even better when we are acknowledged for our efforts. To have a glimpse of ourselves through the eyes of another—to be seen and heard. Isn’t that what the desire for appreciation is truly about? We want others to know that we put in sincere effort for them. We want to be acknowledged for our contributions.

Spiritual texts encourage us to act without expectation of receiving in return, and this is indeed a good place to act from. But how often have you seen someone’s self-esteem boosted when acknowledged for positive action? The child who cleaned their room without being asked. The employee who went the extra mile and finished the task on time. The client who unexpectedly sent you kind words and permission to use them as a testimonial. Even though the child, employee, or client may not expect kudos for their unexpected actions, the response they receive can easily provide the motivation for more positive action.

Painful silence
In a work environment, it can be easy to forget how far a few words of appreciation go. Human resource studies have shown that appreciation and recognition often top the list of employee motivation. Face it, we want to know that what we invest our time and energy into is making a difference. 

A friend recently moved from the area for a new job. The reason she left her former position? Her boss was a bit of “jerk”. What did that mean? She had worked her tail off for weeks on a big project and received zero acknowledgment from him. This had been the case for all of their projects since she began working for him. With neither feedback during the process nor a simple “Thank you” upon completion, it was like submitting her work to a black hole. 

The importance of appreciative words goes far beyond the workplace. One of the public service announcements on TV in the ’80s showed a young boy returning home with a bag of groceries. With a note of pride in his voice he shouted up the stairs, “I’m home from the store!” The mother’s voice responded impatiently, “Did you remember the milk?” The little boy’s frame just sank. You could tell that all he needed was a sincere “Thank you!” to feel good about his successful mission.

You’ve probably seen and heard examples like these around you. You may have even felt ignored or neglected because something you did seemed to go unnoticed. Unfortunately, it happens all too frequently in this fast-paced world. The effects of appreciation reach far beyond each situation. While it’s impractical to demand that others appreciate you, you can do your part and spread joy by appreciating others! 

Spread joy, feel joy
Everyone has a bum day every once in a while. Some people have bum weeks, months, or even years. Help a friend, stranger, colleague, employee, or family member feel a little better about themselves. It’s easy. Show them that you saw the effort they made. Let them know that what they did made a difference for you. Express appreciation to them. Generously, frequently, sincerely. You’ve no idea what kind of impact you can make on them.

It’s easy to take language for granted. Connecting with others meaningfully via the language of appreciation is a key simplifying tool that’s too often overlooked. It cuts past the day to day and goes straight to your heart’s desires. The things that are most important are those that are close to your heart. That’s what a meaningful life is all about. Connecting with others in the spirit of appreciation is good for everyone!

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.

This article was originally published in The Simplifier #50.

Article: A Simplification Potpourri

By Shawn Tuttle

It’s recap time! 50 newsletters is living proof that taking big projects in small chunks works. The following articles and blog posts were begging me for another peep at the light of day through your eyes. I chose ones that contain concepts that come up the most frequently in work with clients. My recommendation to you is to let just one call to you, and enjoy that one. (i.e., Don’t O.D. on simplification concepts—be nice to yourself! I think that should be my new motto: “Be nice to you”–it certainly comes up enough.)Workflow & Filing Tools

About 90% of the time, I’m called to an office because of paperwork gone haywire. Entering an office for the first time, wayward papers will have taken over the majority of horizontal surfaces. The culprits: lack of sufficient workflow files and unclear file organization.WorkFlow Diagram by David Allen
http://www.davidco.com/store/catalog/WorkFlow-Diagram-p-16166.php
How to approach the seemingly endless pile of papers gathered from around the client’s office? One at a time. There is a simple step by step process you can follow in order to get through the pile methodically. The process is summarized by a chart called WorkFlow Diagram (free to download) and is described in depth in his system, Getting Things Done.  It may take a little studying and practice to get the hang of—it is worth it!

Adjusting Your MindsetWhile most people believe they will be organized if they learn the right tools or systems, truth is, mindset comes first. Being or feeling disorganized usually is successfully addressed by a combination of tools and perspective shift to slow the brain down.

Multi-tasking — The Cost
http://projectsimplify.com/articles/multi-tasking-the-cost/
Mono-tasking as a brain soother is sure to be controversial in a fast paced culture that promotes the mottoes, “Work hard, play hard” and “Rest when you’re dead”. I’m a firm supporter of the wildly-acclaimed international Mono-tasking movement. You probably haven’t read about it in Newsweek or the Wall Street Journal—a Google search for mono-tasking turns up mostly blog posts. Truly a grassroots movement!Mindfulness: The practice of being “here”
http://www.43folders.com/2006/04/07/mindfulness?page=2
Merlin Mann of 43 Folders gets to the essence of meditation, calling it “the extreme edge of mono-tasking”. This collection of brief passages by folks such as Jon Kabat-Zinn, Alan Watts, Thich Nhat Hanh, Anne Lamott, and Henry David Thoreau provide a perfect opportunity to relax and enjoy the mindfulness of reading.

• How to add some whistle to your work
• Relaxation ideas

At the end of an appointment my goal is for my client to feel good about the progress of their office organization and to feel more in charge of their situation. Ultimately, I want them to feel better about themselves and their life, even if I don’t say so in as many words. =)  This is why I focus on your experience in addition to the tools and systems. You are a whole person—any approach you take toward simplifying your work should honor this!

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.

This article was originally published in The Simplifier #49.

Article: Time to Get Intentional!

By Shawn Tuttle

The last article offered a definition of intention as “aligning with what you want”. By thinking about intention as creating a culture, we saw how being aware of your intention can inform the thoughts and actions that support a goal.

When referring to intention in the context of space and systems, as we did in the last article, you might get the impression of an a la carte menu–”I’ll simplify the office, my invoicing system, and my inbox.” This is comparable to the separating of subjects in school: there’s English, Psychology, and Economics. They have different textbooks, different teachers, and different objectives.

This is how we typically view our lives: we put ourselves in a central place then look out to the different aspects of our lives: work, family, household affairs, play, and self-growth. We set goals for each one, then do our best to achieve those goals.

Categorizing your life this way can be useful for certain activities, such as planning and goal setting. However, it can be harmful in that it invites a compartmentalized view of your life. In reality, a negative attitude about invoicing indirectly affects your relationship with loved ones; delegating your payroll to an outside agency has an indirect affect on your community volunteer work. Everything is interconnected.

Simplifying your life begins with your Simplicity Statement. But is a statement enough to change your life? Possibly. (Far be it from me to deny the possibility!) For most people though, there is more to be done. Time to get intentional! Meaning, time to line everything in your world up in support of your Simplicity Statement.

A different way of looking at your life
What is “everything” to be lined up? While spaces and systems are not to be overlooked, the emphasis is on focus, attitude, thoughts, beliefs, actions, relationships, communication, physical stuff and commitments—basically, all the ways you relate to the world. From this perspective, the means to your simplified self are your various ways of relating, and not the categories in your life.

Say you are working with a Simplicity Statement such as: “My thoughts and activities support my heartfelt goals in the spirit of fun and gratitude.” Using visualization exercises, you’ve developed a vision and feeling of what this Statement means to you–an inner experience of what it feels like to be thinking and acting in accordance with the statement. This feeling becomes your intention. Then, you set goals that are in line with your intention. (This is where compartmentalizing your life comes in handy!)

Enter: focus. Exercising focus within the culture of your intention can feel like strengthening a muscle that’s been flabby for years. When you recognize how distractions have been pulling you in all directions, training your mind to be decisive when determining what is or isn’t allowed can be like a magical transformation.

Enter: discipline. If each of the means to your goal is a pathway, then it’s your job to stay on the path. Whether you are spending time with friends or working on a project proposal, are your thoughts, attitudes, and words supporting your goals? It’s like building blocks. When you place the blocks strategically according to a plan, you can end up with a great building. But the number of details along the way can seem infinite! As with most efforts to become disciplined, sticking with your intentions gets easier with time.

The list of pathways is numerous, enough to drive anyone nuts trying to monitor all of them all the time. Try taking one at a time. For example you could begin with one that is easy to identify, like time commitments. If you’re a regular reader, you’ve already begun by taking inventory of these commitments.

What about a pathway, such as thought, which is more nebulous? Definitely calling on discipline here! Over the course of the day, as you transition into a new activity, clarify your big-picture intention and the focus of that activity. Then keep an eye on your thoughts, bringing them back to your intention and focus when they stray. Dedicate a day to being hypersensitive in this way for practice. Once you begin catching your thoughts wandering automatically, you can back off a bit.

You can try thinking about this as dedicating your undivided attention to your goals and intentions. A simple example: if one of your goals is to spend an hour of playtime outside with your family every week, then talking on the phone with a colleague during this time is totally inappropriate. As is thinking about the front yard landscaping project, or stopping to talk for half an hour with a friend you ran into. These don’t support your intention of engaging and being present with your family.

This holds true for most situations, ranging from family time, to processing your inbox, or running a meeting. Simplifying isn’t something to go do, it’s how you relate with the world. You do this by being aware of your means of interacting and pulling them in line with your intention.

”Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” —William A. Foster

Since you have limitless possibilities for how your life plays out, consciously providing yourself with direction increases positive results. Let that direction permeate your interaction with the world!

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.

This article was originally published in The Simplifier #48.

Article: Release the Power of Intention

By Shawn Tuttle

Do you park your car in the kitchen?
Do you think about cleaning your shower during a client appointment?
Do you take a week-long vacation right before a big project is due?
No, no, and no! What silliness is this?

Well, why wouldn’t you? Because they don’t belong there!

Without even thinking about it, you use the concept of intention for your surroundings, thoughts, and activities on a regular basis. American Heritage Dictionary defines intention as “an aim that guides action”. A kitchen is for cooking, not storing the car. Client appointments are for providing your service, not planning your house cleaning. And a project needs your presence for completion.

Put simply, intention is aligning with what you want.

Intention is a powerful tool for simplifying. It helps you maintain focus and stay true to your purpose. It weaves through your goals and reflects your desires. You can use it to continuously tap into your quality-of-life desires… perhaps those expressed in your Simplicity Statement. The more your thoughts and actions line up with your intention, the stronger it is.

When you have to deal with influences out of line from your intention, the energy for it is scattered and weakened. Regularly thinking “my work is difficult” is going to get in the way of an intention of attracting easy-going, responsible clients. Papers scattered all over the office will get in the way of the intention of a professional and orderly office.

Refining “an aim that guides action”
The word “aim” covers quite a bit of ground. It could be the function of a system, such as bookkeeping. It could be your understanding of a room’s purpose, such as a highly efficient office. It can also be the desire within an experience—for example, mutual respect in an upcoming meeting.

The word “action” includes any way—no matter how minor—that you express energy. This includes thoughts, words, and body language. You may not think it directly affects you or anyone else; you may not see an immediate result. However, everything you do has an effect on yourself and your surroundings.

Let’s look at intention in two work-related domains: space and systems. (I’ll look at the third domain, time, in the next article.) We’ll set a global intention of “managing all my work with ease”.

Space
Your surroundings have a huge influence on your effectiveness. When you set the intention for your work space, you effectively create a criterion of what does/not belong, and how well something works. Notice the difference between these scenarios:

Scenario #1: “The office is the room I work in.”
In this scenario, almost anything goes.

Scenario #2: “My office supports me in managing all my work with ease.”
In this scenario, not only do you gravitate towards an orderly office in which you can immediately put your fingers on what you need when you need it, you also pay attention to what will promote this intention. This may mean having extra printer toner cartridges on hand, placing the things you use frequently close to your desk, and removing non-office items from the room. By preventing an emergency trip to the office supply store, not having to get up every time you need a paper clip, and avoiding that dirty coffee mug sitting on the bookcase, you are minimizing distractions.

Systems
From simple to complicated, systems should help, not hinder. One of the simplest (and most overlooked!) ways of ensuring this is to clarify purpose. Notice the difference between these scenarios:

Scenario #1: “The inbox, without a clear purpose, has a stack of papers and files in it, some of which have been there for 3 or 4 months. I generally know what’s in it, and will eventually find something when needed. When I dig through, I find important stuff that needs to be dealt with.”
This scenario describes a tray with a bunch of stale papers in it that happens to be called an “inbox”.

Scenario #2: “The inbox, with the clear purpose of collecting incoming items only, is a short-term holding container that I empty 2-3 a times a week.”
This scenario describes a real inbox that helps get incoming items to the appropriate places. The fluidity of the inbox as a temporary collection container supports you in managing your work with ease.

These scenarios illustrate the idea that intention isn’t the action that causes change, it’s more like a culture that informs the actions that occur there. Just as an Italian restaurant would stand out in a Chinese village, a dysfunctional inbox stands out in the culture of a smooth flowing office.As you can see, Intention can be somewhat elusive. Determining an intention requires a combination of understanding your values, priorities, and desires. Often, these aren’t easy questions to answer. But once you do set a solid intention, it becomes a prominent background against which your actions play out. When your thoughts and actions directly support your desired end result, you set yourself up for success.

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.