A new season is upon us. I know I’ve let some things slide over the summer. Here are some ways to get back on track.

1. Declare an email backlog. Create an email folder called backlog and put all the old emails there. Mark Forster in Do It Tomorrow suggests making a daily initiative of taking a few minutes first thing to work on your backlog. And any new email that comes in needs to be dealt with by tomorrow to keep on top of things.
2. Declare a paper backlog. Do you have piles of papers all over? Put them all in a box to be sorted after your email backlog is handled. In the meantime you have a  fresh, empty inbox for your papers. Deal with your papers by tomorrow and you won’t stay behind.
3. Go through your house and clean up clutter hot spots – tops of tables, unused chairs, corners, etc. Better yet, get your family involved to get it done faster.
4. Look over your routines. Did any schedules change? Is your daily schedule unrealistic? Is there any cleaning you can move from weekly to bi-weekly?
5. Get all your to do’s in one notebook or on one list.  I like Remember the Milk.

Now get to work! If you get stuck try numbering your to do’s and go to random.org to pick one to start with. I find once I have one going it’s easier to see what needs to be done next.