Papers, files, information, to-do lists and unfinished work slowly creep across your desk like a lava flow.
Email flows into the Inbox, sometimes in a slow, but steady drip and sometimes like a fast-moving river.
In one instance, you have a physical pile-up and in the other you have a digital one. Yet, in BOTH cases, accumulations will slow you down and hold you back from achieving a higher level of productivity and a faster pace of progress.
The question is not about how pile-ups LOOK to outsiders, whether it’s your office, on your desk or in your email Inbox. It’s about much more than that. Pile-ups are reflections of how you THINK, how you OPERATE and how you EXECUTE. And they very much affect how efficiently, effectively and productivity you will work.
Here’s a list of eight ways pile-ups can hold you back and keep you from reaching the full power of your productivity and your full potential.
Pile-ups can lead to…
#1 – A false sense of security. Accumulations of paper, files, emails, to-do lists and information tell a story that you’re busy, you’re needed and you have LOTS of work to do. Many people thrive on the “busy-ness” of a typical workday and love high levels of activity and energy. And that’s all fine and good, but are you getting your work done? Job security truly lies not in what you intend to produce, but in what you actually produce.
Working reactively amid chaos in a hectic environment can be costly. How much more effective could you be if you dispensed with the pile-ups that are clouding your view and instead, give yourself a more clear direction?
How much more productive could you be with real results to show for your efforts if you could exchange chaos for calm so you could work more proactively with intention and purpose?
#2 – Lost time. Have you ever looked for something you KNEW you had, but just couldn’t find? Whether you’re scrolling through your Inbox, running searches in the computer or sifting through the pile-ups on your desk, it’s going to take you longer to find something when you’re dealing with pile-ups, whether physical or digital. Even when you’re “pretty sure” you know where something is—on your desk, in your file drawers, in your email Inbox, in the hard drive or in the cloud—if you can’t find it in 5 seconds or less, you’re losing valuable time you’ll never get back.
How much more time could you regain in your day if you didn’t have to be the detective, searching so often in the physical or digital pile-ups for the information you need?
#3 – Delays in progress. Not only can time be lost when looking for things, but the consequences of NOT finding what you need can easily hold you up from finishing tasks, replying to emails, answering questions, and being prepared for meetings. Unfortunately, delays in one or all of these areas will delay the progress of the projects and the initiatives that are essential to the current and future success of the company.
How much more prepared could you be if you could readily find each and every kind of information you needed in your day and you could quickly take action on the tasks you needed to accomplish?
#4 – Distractions. Let’s say you are focused on a task. Then out of the corner of your eye, you see something in a pile-up on your desk that reminds you of something you needed to do—or something you forgot to do!
Maybe you’re reading an email, and because you aren’t using a full-screen view for that one email, you can easily see other emails sitting in the Inbox—plus the new ones rolling in—and one of those can pull you off track and out of focus VERY quickly.
Either way, if you’re starting down a new path away from the task you were focused on, you’re using a very reactive and haphazard way to get things done, and it doesn’t ensure that you’re focused on the right tasks at the right times.
How many more tasks could you complete and how much more progress could you make if you could increase your intention to FOCUS on one task at a time?
It’s something to practice, because the more strength you give your focus, the more often you can finish what you start, and then keep moving forward at a steady pace.
#5 – Procrastination. The more a pile-up grows—whether on your desk, in your office or in the email Inbox—the more intimidating it can become. The longer you stare at a pile-up without taking action, the longer you actually put off taking ANY action. Those items and emails need your attention. You feel the pressure. But every day that passes without action from you, the harder it is to get started.
As H. Jackson Brown Jr. says, “Begin, and inspiration will find you.” And he’s right.
Once you’ve started, you will find not only inspiration, but momentum.
How much greater could your levels of accomplishment be and how much better would you feel if you could simply get started?
#6 – Paralysis. Worse than procrastination is paralysis. Procrastinating on something means it will get eventual attention and action, but when something is so overwhelming and seemingly impossible to tackle, you may simply do nothing and stay frozen.
When a task is that daunting—where there is no order, no plan, no prioritization, and no help—it’s impossible for some professionals to know where to begin. So they don’t begin at all.
But as Robert Frost said in one of his poems, “the only way out is through.”
It doesn’t matter if you do it alone or you need to get help. What could you be, do or have if you could get these road blocks out of your way?
Whatever you need to do is worthy of doing. Do what it takes. Then you can be free to move forward.
#7 – Sub-standard quality of work. Are you one of those professionals who feels that you work better under pressure, with a deadline, and NO time to spare? You may take action more readily under these conditions, but are you REALLY producing your BEST work?
The last-minute approach to work that has a deadline leaves no time for thought or reflection, no time to catch mistakes or polish your work, and no time for deeper consideration or creativity. Are you just getting by as a member of “the culture of the average” with average thought, average effort, and average outcomes that are “good enough?”
When you don’t leave yourself enough time, then you’re not giving yourself the opportunity to create excellent outcomes and reach your full potential.
How exceptional could you be and how great could your results be if you gave yourself the chance?
#8 – Holding others back. What if you really can’t find something you need? Now what? Sometimes, you can find or replace necessary information yourself, but at other times, you might have to ask someone to send it to you… AGAIN. Both avenues will cost you in time for sure, but in the case of having to ask someone else to help you, now you’re affecting THEIR time.
In a similar scenario, the information you need—but can’t find—is for someone else and now they’re waiting for you. If they don’t get what THEY need, then their productivity and progress will decrease as a result.
How much time and energy could be saved—for you AND for others—and how much more productive could everyone be if you could find what you need when you needed it?
Efficiency and productivity could increase if there was a reduction in the number of times professionals had to ask other people for information a second time.
This quote from author, Tim Kelley, who wrote “True Purpose,” sums it up well.
“If you’re like most people, the profusion of non-purposeful things that accumulate in your day can distract you from the life you were meant to lead. They also anchor you in your current reality, preventing you from moving forward along your path. The willingness to release these things can accelerate your progress.”
To keep or not to keep? That is the question to ask and the decision to make.
Pile-ups are a problem, yes. But let’s take it a step further. Having “too much” is NOT the real road block. It’s not knowing what to DO with what you have that’s holding you back.
INDECISION is one of two major inhibitors to achieving high levels of productivity and a faster pace for progress.
When you don’t know how to make decisions about what you have or receive—papers, files, emails, attachments, e-documents, tasks, reading, notes and more—these items will build up and stall, which will slow you down as more things back up without a decision.
Do you know what you need and what you don’t need? Do you know which information will benefit you in your work? Do you know where to commit your time and why? Do you know which tasks to pursue first? If you have difficulty answering these questions or making these decisions, it may be because you are unclear about what you want, where you’re going and what is expected of you.
In order to work at your best and produce your greatest results, your mindset needs to be one of being in control. You have the power, the authority and the ability to DECIDE and choose what you need, what to pursue and where to commit your time.
Start making decisions—and never stop!—about the information that you receive, create or bring into your day, whether it’s piling up around you or building up in the computer. What is useful to you? What is not? Slow down long enough to make decisions.
The less you keep, the less you have to manage and the less you have to sift through when you have to find something later… and FAST.
If you decide something will NOT be useful to you, archive, delete or toss it. If you decide to keep something, then move it along to the BEST location for future reference or action.
And that’s the second major road block: WHERE to put information once you decide to keep it. But that’s a topic for another article on another day.
