Un-Piling

Okay, so the title of this blog could also be something about the black hole of  my e-mail inbox.

You know what I mean, don't you? Well, you do if you're a pile-er like myself. As I sit in my office here at church, I'm surrounded by at least four piles of papers. Technically, one of those might actually be two that have simply coalesced into one. I wish I could say I'm one of those people who has stacks but each stack is its own file of sorts. Nope. They're just piles. Some items I know are in here somewhere--and the best I can do is judge by the paper(s) on top how old the stack is and thus surmise the first pile to start checking for a particular item.

Often, though, these piles bide their time until they become so incredibly intrusive (or I become so incredibly bored) so as to require their dismantling. And then the hard work begins--the work I've been avoiding till that point. Un-piling requires such a slew of decisions and additions to my to-do list that it can make my head spin.

If I'm lucky, a good portion of the piles will be remnants of some now-finished project (I'm pretty sure somewhere in here are the first two drafts of the photo directory activity pages...the final draft has already been mailed). In my unlucky moments, I come face to face with some item I had happily forgotten (or ignored). When I un-pile, if I'm honest with myself (and don't content myself to simply end up with one smaller pile), then I have to deal with everything that's here. Deal with it and move on.

You know what, it's all quite daunting, but I always feel better afterward. And that wonderful feeling does last for a while (the older I get, the better I get at keeping the piles at bay to begin with).

Life is a lot like that, I think. We all get that "stuff" that pile up, much of which gets relegated to ignored or forgotten places in our mind, even our heart, until we simply cannot continue to function with all that "stuff" lying around. And then begins the un-piling. Now, it must be admitted that some of us never bother to un-pile, but those are the folks, much like the hoarders whose homes become shrines to their piling, whose very unwillingness to un-pile is evidence of deep disorders. For the emotionally healthy, the un-piling is inevitable. How quickly we do it, and how honestly we can un-pile, is up to us.

So...as both guidance to cleaning up one's office, and perhaps also with some help for all of us in our lives, here are my tried and true tips for un-piling (I'm a good pile-er, so I've got lots of experience):

1. Get a good look at all the piles. Take stock, and plan a reasonable amount of time/resources (as best you can predict) to finish the task. It's never good to leave the task half-done, because such situations always seem to re-pile with incredibly speed.
2. If there is any question about your ability to swiftly and easily get it all un-piled, get help. As a child, my best friend and I often ended up cleaning each other's room because our mothers realized it was much more fun for each of us to get to sort through the others' stuff. Instead of requiring us to clean the rooms before we had a sleep over, that was often the first task of the sleep-over. Find someone you're comfortable seeing into your piles (and whose sorting advice you trust) and get them to lend a hand.
3. Decide what will be done with items once sorted. Options might include trash, DO, and file. Avoid option three as much as possible. Only file items for informational purposes. If there's anything to be done, resolve to DO it. If you can't forsee needing that info any time soon, trash it. Chances are it has sat in that pile for a long time and you never needed it anyway.
4. If you've got something in your piles that really should be someone else's task to accomplish, pass it off. If they pile it, that's up to them. But certainly don't let other people's "stuff" add to your piles.
5. Do not, under any circumstances, create a "sort later" pile. This is then death knell of all un-piling attempts. It is capitulation to the "stuff". Do not let the "stuff" win! You are in charge, handle it! It may take a bit more time, but trust me, not nearly as much effort as the trouble that may be caused in further ignoring the "stuff," and of course, it's always difficult to forcec yourself to un-pile, so who knows how long it will be till you get back to it. I know that's the attractiveness of re-piling, but DON'T DO IT!

Those are just a few tips. Got any to share?