Free What To Do When There's Too Much To Do by Laura Stack

You’re done! You followed the Start-to-Finish Rule: You reviewed it, made a decision, and took action.
    2. Get the paper into the hands of another person. What are the options for doing this? If you’re both in the same building, you might route it to them through interoffice mail or hand-deliver it. For people located elsewhere, you could scan and e-mail the paper, or fax it as appropriate. You might also snail-mail or FedEx it to them. Remember the Superglue Rule: While it’s in your hand, consider it stuck to you. You can’t un-stick it until you make a decision about what to do it with it. Then once you decide to send it to someone else, don’t put it down and go on to the next thing until it’s in an “Out” box. Whatever it takes, make sure each piece has moved through your system before going on to the next item.
    3. If you can’t throw away the paper or give it to someone else, go ahead and Do it. The very next question you have to ask yourself is, “Can I do this in three minutes or less?” If the answer is yes, then, per the Three-Minute Rule, respond to the request right away (check this box, sign here, comment here, review this, etc.). Move small tasks out of your office immediately before they accumulate. It’s more efficient to do these immediately than to put them down and have to pick them up and reread them again. Get used to completing quick things without delay.
    4. If you can’t do it now, ask yourself, “When do I need to see this again?” and file it in the appropriate Tickler file folder, where it will magically pop up again on that date.
    5. Integrate reference papers into your regular filing system. If it doesn’t require any action, put it in a “to be filed” bin or immediately file it in the appropriate physical file (client, project, reference, idea, subject, etc.) if you prefer.
    6. To prevent a piece of paper from coming back again, you have to remove yourself from the distribution list. Unsubscribe or, as appropriate, tell the person sending you the item you’re no longer on the team or committee, and therefore don’t need to receive that information anymore. If you receive mail for someone who’s no longer there, just write on the outside “No longer here” and put it in the outbound mail.
Voicemail Equivalents
    Now let’s apply the same Ds to a voicemail message on your office or cell phone. Many people listening to voicemail hit “Save” too often—and soon they have many, many saved voicemails. Instead, process the voicemail through the 6-D system. The very first time you listen to it, it’s stuck to your ear, so focus on making a decision to get it out of your voice-mail inbox.
    1. Once you’ve listened to the voicemail, just delete it.
    2. Forward the voicemail to another person and ask that person to respond. If you’re expecting an answer, make sure to indicate in your time management system you left the person a message. I tag my calls on my HIT list with an “M” if I left a message. In your weekly review, you’ll see who didn’t get back to you with an answer. You can also do this with a Reminder on an Outlook Task.
    3. If you can respond right away, leave an answer in that person’s voicemail or call them back.
    4. If you need to call someone back but can’t do it immediately, don’t just hit Save! To date a voicemail, you could write a note and phone number on your HIT list and delete the voicemail. You could create an electronic Task.You might type the message into your CRM database and schedule a return call. You might flag the person in your Contacts with a reminder set for when to call back. You might have a spiral notebook you use just for phone calls. You could write a note and file it in your Tickler file. You might type into an iPad or Droid app. Anything is better than using sticky notes! The point is to get the message off