From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Separating work and personal gathering points

From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Separating work and personal gathering points

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- Should you separate work and personal gathering points? In other words, should you have two of each kind of gathering point, both a personal inbox and a work inbox, or a personal notepad and a work notepad? The more gathering points you have, the more switches you make. So extra ones can slow you down, increase mistakes, and add stress. I've found that my clients who process work and personal items from a combined gathering point have more free time because they're more efficient and focused. Be aware that you'll be processing or deciding what to do from these gathering points. That means you'll be scheduling time to complete them. Even if you process a personal task at work, you can schedule time to complete it outside of work hours. The idea is to avoid two of each kind of gathering point, if possible. But for some, combining work and personal, it just isn't practical. For example, a single physical inbox combining both work and personal works well when you're working from home. But if you have to travel to work, you may need a second personal inbox at home to deal with unresolved tasks. Or with email, your work may require you to separate work and personal inboxes for legal or security reasons. It's okay if you need to separate a few gathering points. Six or fewer is the ideal, but a couple of extra won't hurt you. If you're like most people and had between 30 and 40 gathering points when you started, even dropping down to 10 will be a huge time saver. Your ability to save time will increase if you can combine work and personal gathering points, and six or fewer is the ideal. But even if you need to double up, you can still succeed.

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