"Purge Day"

manynothings

Registered
Hello,

It was mentioned in the GTD book to have a "Purge Day" every year for the reference system. I'm thinking of several candidates for Purge Day: right before an important date or holiday (i.e. Christmas Eve as suggested in the book, New Years Eve) or right before a long break (i.e. before March Break, before Summer Break, before Winter Break).

Do you guys have any "Purge Day"s? Do you do them every year, or maybe every 6 months?

Thanks.
 

cfoley

Registered
I do an annual review about once per year but I'm not too strict about the timing. Big life changes are also good times. New jobs, changing relationships, moving house, etc could all be good times for a purge. Reminds me of this article: https://sive.rs/mny
 

dtj

Registered
I have periodic "Purge Days", which are either more like "Rage Purge" or when I am in a foul mood, for reasons unrelated to my lists or even organizational systems. The reason for that is that I want to dial up the ruthlessness when purging. Mulching extra list items makes me feel better. I haven't felt a sense of regret yet, so it seems like it work pretty well.
 

gtdstudente

Registered
Hello,

It was mentioned in the GTD book to have a "Purge Day" every year for the reference system. I'm thinking of several candidates for Purge Day: right before an important date or holiday (i.e. Christmas Eve as suggested in the book, New Years Eve) or right before a long break (i.e. before March Break, before Summer Break, before Winter Break).

Do you guys have any "Purge Day"s? Do you do them every year, or maybe every 6 months?

Thanks.
Always identifying anything to purge while anything being handled
 

schmeggahead

Registered
while anything being handled
This is the practice I missed that resulted in all of my backlog.
Grandma used to say, "put it away while it's still in your hand."
This kind of applies here: clean it up while you are using it.

The other thing I did was to create a separate file system for project support. I had to make a conscious effort to move the materials to reference when the project was completed, forcing me to remove all next actions or someday maybe from that support materials.

Leakage has to be combatted until it gets easy.

Clayton.
Old Project Manager Axiom: Trust but verify. - Even your own actions ;)
 
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