Post-Holiday Cleanup: Easy Steps to Re-Organizing As Your Vacation Winds Down
Holiday decorations are a resource item. If the décor already has a home, put it there. If it doesn’t, make a home for it quickly. But if you can’t do it quickly, it is a pending action. “Collect” pending actions for your task list. (See here for details about “collecting.”)
Here’s one example: Your son gave you a painting as a present this year. Now it’s propped up against the desk, waiting to be mounted on the wall. Mounting it is a pending action. But you need to get a hammer and nail and mounting bracket first, so put “get hammer and nail” as the next step in your task list. Collect the task instead of doing it right now, and put that painting on an appropriate “Deferred” shelf in the meantime.
Here’s another: A Christmas wreath is hanging on your door. Now that the holidays are over, it belongs in the basement closet. Move it to the Christmas Decorations shelf in the closet and be done with it. Here, there’s no pending action.
Applying one of these two steps will help you recuperate quickly from the holidays, and get your house or office clean and organized for the new year.
Kevin Crenshaw is a time management expert, business consultant, and executive coach. As author of the blog ”Strategy in Principle,” he shares insights on productivity, management, and other organizational hot topics. He is also CEO of Priacta, Inc., a company that helps you get an extra two hours out of your day—for life. Follow him on Twitter for more tips in all these areas.
