A friend in need is a friend indeed

I am cleaning out my home office bookshelves for greater efficiency in 2009 - Also known as "Now where did I put that?" syndrome.

I see that my personal library grew considerably this year. I have acquired and read books by Alan Weiss, PhD - most notably both editions of "Getting started in consulting". Also, in no particular order, I have added works by the following impressive authors:
1. David Schwartz
2. Jeffrey Gitomer
3. Shad Helmstetter
4. Larry Winget (self-published and commercially published books)
5. Lilly Walters
6. Dr. Mel Levine (Highly recommended)
7. John J. Ratey, MD (Super recommended)
8. Vincent J. Monastra, PhD
9. Thomas J. Leonard
10. Marcus Buckingham
11. Randy Gage
12. Marcia Yudkin
13. Robert W. Bly
14. Garr Reynolds
15. Anne Miller
16. Jerry Vass
17. Jeff Herman

On a side note - I was forced to abandon my personal library when we left South Africa in 2001. There was no way for us to bring weighty books, and I slowly building up my library again thanks to Amazon's ability to purchased used and out of print books. You should look on Amazon and eBay to find those hard to find books.

The result of my acquisitions is that my bookshelves were sagging and in desperate need of a new-year's cleanup. As I sorted my bookshelves, I realized that I could not cope on my own. Have you ever moved house and thought "When did we accumulate all this stuff?". I wondered why and when I accumulated this stuff in my home office as well. Printouts, outdated contracts, projects in progress and newsletters from organisations that I am involved in.

There was far too much stuff to sort through, and store again. It was time to call in two friends. Firstly, Mr. Garbage Can. It is surprising how much stuff Mr. Garbage Can will take out of your life without you ever missing it. Secondly, Miss. Shred Der happily accepted the confidential documents that have outlived their purpose.

How do you know if you should store something, or give it to one of these two friends? Here is my rule of thumb. If I have not used it in the prior nine months, and don't expect to use it in the next three months, then it goes .

Anything that I keep is put in a box with a label to identify the contents, and the date it was sealed. Then, on the next cleanup round, the same rule applies and complete boxes can be discarded without further analysis.

Use my rule of thumb to help you clean out your workspace. You feel better with less clutter and can work more efficiently in 2009. Then all you have to do is set goals so that you can work more effectively as well.

P.S. Call on your friends (Mr. Garbage Can and Ms. Shred Der) if the task overwhelms you. You can travel lighter than you think. If in doubt, throw it out.