Do you have a backlog of work? One of the things that can put down Li affects our productivity is our concern about a substantial backlog of work. Particularly if you've got an inbox full of emails that you haven't yet got a chance to look at, or maybe you've got a gigantic pile of papers, blocking your view on your desk. backlogs are distracting. So there is a simple process that we can apply to remove the distraction and treat our backlog with the respect it deserves. It's a wise process and we can remember it with the acronym Sage s AGE.

At the start of the process starts with segregating your backlog. physically take it away. From the other work that is on your agenda, your front log. So if you've got a pile of papers on your desk, peel away the top two or three papers, perhaps a day or twos worth, and then put the rest of it in a folder, or a box file, or an archive box, depending on how much you've got. Likewise, if your backlog is on your email inbox, then create a new folder in your email system, call it backlog and give it a date. And then take every email in your inbox that is older than one or two days old, three or four at the most and move it into the backlog folder.

What this does is it isolates your current work and this will start to free your mind. The A stands for assess your backlog and this is an important risk management process. Because it is just possible that there is something that you move off your desk or out of your inbox, which is both urgent and important. So have a flick through the papers that you've filed away. Or take a glance down the list of emails in your backlog folder and look for anything that is genuinely urgent and important. If you find anything, then drag it out of your backlog file out of your backlog folder and move it in with the rest of your current workload, your front log.

Now you're good to go. With a small current workload, you can focus all of your energy on it. Your physical backlog folder needs to be out of your eyesight somewhere where you can access it relatively easily, but somewhere where you don't accidentally stumble upon it too easily. Now as you're starting to work, Through your current work, the next step of the process G is called generate a new system. There are two reasons why we tend to end up having a backlog. The first is perfectly reasonable.

There are peaks and troughs and peaks and troughs in our work. The backlog accumulates during the peaks. That's fine when you get to a trough, and you can clear your backlog, and you don't need to do anything. However, if the backlog has appeared, despite you being in a trough, or despite you being in a fairly steady workload stir pace, then it suggests that the system you have for doing your work is not keeping up with the rate of work. So you need to generate a new system. You need to think of new ways of doing things, perhaps new opportunities to delegate, perhaps saying no more often to the least important work.

Perhaps it's about changing the standards with which to which you do things. Perhaps it's about finding quicker ways to get things done. And you can generate a new system in the shore knowledge that you only have to focus on your current workload. The E of sage stands for eliminate your backlog. Did you see what I just did there? I eliminated your backlog with a word.

Well, how do you go about eliminating your backlog? Because I'm sure you don't want to do what some people might do, which is just take that folder and delete it. By the way, that is a possibility for some organizations. Some people just throw away the backlog. And that's possible because you know what, if there's something in there that someone really wants, they'll come and see you. However, it may be irresponsible to trash important papers.

So the way to eliminate your backlog is quite simple. Choose a time One time during the day, which for many people is going to be either just before you leave work or just before you leave for lunch. And in that time, allow yourself to take one item off the top of the backlog pile. Take it off the top, the most recent item, because that's most likely to be relevant and deal with it. Each item will probably only take you a few minutes to deal with. But as you go down to the pile, they'll get older and as time passes, they will age even more.

So increasingly, or find the things are quick to deal with because they're out of date and can just be either filed or destroyed. One day, you'll have a few extra minutes, you'll pull something off, you'll look at it and you'll know that it can go straight in the filing cabinet or in the bin. And then you think I'll have a look at the next and then next and before you know you'll be in flow, filing and throwing things away or passing them on to other people. And you'll just work your way through the backlog. There's only one further rule to be aware of. If in three or four or five months time you find yourself with a new backlog.

You use the sage process. But if you've got any of your old backlog remaining, that is the time to archive it. Unless of course, you work in an environment where it's appropriate to destroy it. Sage, segregate, analyze, generate and eliminate a four step process for handling your backlog responsibly and effectively. In the next video, we will look at the five things you can do with each item in your backlog.