- Occasionally, people reach out to me with questions about my Time Management Fundamentals course here on the Library. The most popular question is, "What should I do with stacking trays?" I recommend that people who go through that course have a variety of supplies on hand, one of them being a set of about six plastic stacking trays. What are we supposed to do with these things? In short, stacking trays are for creating homes. Homes are the resting place for things after you process them.
Homes are different than what I refer to as a gathering point, which is a place where unresolved, unprocessed items go. In other words, you take something out of a gathering point, you process it, and then, if you need to keep it, put it into a home. A home can be anything like a filing cabinet or a Tupperware container or stacking trays. Personally, I have four stacking trays that I use. I have the luxury of working in a home office.
So my first stacking tray is for my wife. When I'm processing, any time something pops up that I need to give to her, I put them into a home called Katherine outbox. Then later, when I'm done with processing, I take the entire outbox for her and dump it into her inbox, her gathering point. And then she processes it according to her schedule. The next stacking tray that I use is Waiting for. This is where I put short-term things that are really too big to file away or would take too much time to do that, and I just want to have quick access to them in the next week or two.
That way, when the appointment pops up on my calendar, that tells me I need to work on an item, I know that I can simply reach into my Waiting for tray, and there it is. The third tray is for Shredding. Any kind of sensitive documents that I have, I don't want to take up time during processing to shred them one by one by one. No, instead I put them all into that one tray, and then once it gets full, I do it all at once. Well, in my case, what I do is I pay my son a couple of bucks to do all the shredding for me since that's not the most valuable use of my time.
And last, I have a tray for Reading. This is for magazines or books that I want to go through at some point. Whenever I go on a trip, I just grab a couple of magazines or a book and put it in my briefcase for reading on the flight. Alternatively, if you have a Reading tray, you can schedule time in your calendar to do reading on a monthly or a weekly basis. Then you just pull something out of that tray when the time arrives to read. Hopefully, that gives you a starting point of ideas.
Kind in mind, there's no limit to how many homes that you can create. While I recommend that you have six or less gathering points, you can have hundreds of homes. Feel free to have as many stacking trays or places where you can put stuff. Just be sure that when you create a new home, you clearly label it and don't let anything else get in there. Remember, everything has a home, and no visitors allowed.
Author
Updated
4/15/2019Released
4/11/2016Productivity expert Dave Crenshaw provides techniques on a wide variety of topics, designed to help people better manage their time and ultimately become more productive. Tune in to learn about everything from managing emails and calendars to setting priorities, collaborating with coworkers, reducing interruptions, crafting a "productivity mindset," and creating a more comfortable and effective work environment.
Have an idea for a future video from Dave? Submit it using our course feedback form. If you want more time management strategies now, we recommend watching Dave's Time Management Fundamentals course.
- Reducing interruptions
- Dealing with feeling overwhelmed
- Responding to quick questions
- Making the most of meetings
- Following up
- Implementing a closed door, open calendar policy
Skill Level Intermediate
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Introduction
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Welcome43s
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1. Time Management Tips
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Power tips for sending email3m 14s
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Positive procrastination3m 15s
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Remove the "busy" tag2m 58s
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Manage digital interruptions4m 19s
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Make the most of meetings2m 52s
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Follow up on delegated items2m 58s
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Become tech savvy4m 33s
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Focus on the person2m 37s
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Time management for students2m 59s
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Ending meetings with action1m 44s
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Building a not-to-do list2m 46s
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Avoiding the crowd mindset2m 58s
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Placing a value on your time3m 30s
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How to schedule a meeting3m 35s
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How to develop flexibility4m 19s
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The trouble with texting3m 48s
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Create a perhaps list4m 58s
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Reduce attention switches4m 46s
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Adapt your favorite app4m 33s
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Make time to get more time3m 49s
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Read vs. unread email3m 52s
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Make time to have fun3m 57s
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Create a morning ritual3m 23s
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When to create new homes3m 26s
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How to reduce spam3m 48s
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Why repetition saves time2m 48s
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Productive passwords2m 3s
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Productive web browser tips1m 51s
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Writing a productive email1m 55s
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Commit to your calendar1m 54s
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What to say instead of ASAP1m 46s
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Set voicemail expectations1m 43s
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Set email expectations1m 46s
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How to use an inbox1m 41s
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How to use an outbox1m 53s
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Video: Organizing and using stacking trays