{"id":3998,"date":"2010-08-12T09:00:51","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T17:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gtdtimes.com\/?p=3998"},"modified":"2018-08-31T09:13:42","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T16:13:42","slug":"how-do-you-control-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/08\/how-do-you-control-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you control paper?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.davidco.com\/store\/catalog\/GTD-SYSTEM-FILE-FOLDERS-p-16211.php\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3999\" title=\"gtdsystemfolders\" src=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2010\/08\/gtdsystemfolders-253x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><strong>Q: <\/strong> I write down everything but I always seem to end up having problems controlling all the pieces of paper and lists; what are your suggestions?<\/p>\n<p><strong>GTD Coach: <\/strong> Writing everything down is a great first step.\u00a0 All those &#8220;notes&#8221; where you&#8217;ve captured and collected what&#8217;s in your head, need to be put into an &#8220;IN&#8221; box and then within a day or two they need to be &#8220;processed&#8221; so that you make decisions about what the work is to be done (an email to send, a call to make, etc.).\u00a0 Once you process them, put reminders of the work to be done in your Next Action lists or on your calendar.\u00a0 If you travel, your &#8220;IN&#8221; box can be a folder, for example. On a regular basis, stop to gather up any notes, business cards, loose papers, etc. that you might have left in a pocket, briefcase, wallet, or which are still on a notepad (tear them off) and put all those in the &#8220;IN&#8221; box or tray to be processed.\u00a0 You can read more about Collection and Processing best practices in David&#8217;s first book <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.davidco.com\/store\/catalog\/GETTING-THINGS-DONE-PAPERBACK-p-16175.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Getting Things Done<\/a> and we have loads of Webinars and educational resources on <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.davidco.com\/connect\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GTD Connect<\/a> about this.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Q: I write down everything but I always seem to end up having problems controlling all the pieces of paper and lists; what are your suggestions? GTD Coach: Writing everything down is a great first step.\u00a0 All those &#8220;notes&#8221; where you&#8217;ve captured and collected what&#8217;s in your head, need to be put into an &#8220;IN&#8221; &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/08\/how-do-you-control-paper\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How do you control paper?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[22,29,61,69,46,91,100,108,109],"class_list":["post-3998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-productivity-tips","tag-getting-things-done","tag-gtd","tag-trusted-system","tag-implementing-gtd","tag-implementation","tag-david-allen-company","tag-tips-and-tricks","tag-coaching","tag-gtd-best-practices","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>GTD Tips for Managing Paper<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do you get control of paper in GTD? A GTD Coach gives helpful advice for managing paper, at home, in your office, and on the go.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2010\/08\/how-do-you-control-paper\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How do you control paper?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How do you get control of paper in GTD? 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