two-minute rule gets easier in some ways, harder in others
Sometimes it is a matter of creating a situation in which it takes 2 min or less to do something. This can be achieved regarding some things by having the supplies at hand, locating them well, having printed labels on files so you can find them easily, having the optimal number of categories for like items (if too many categories you have to search more folders and you can create confusion, if not enough you have too many papers in a folder to search through fast). For me, keeping supplies at hand includes keeping my reading glasses on a cord around my neck, a supply of trash bags in the trash can itself, roledex cards at hand, scrapbook sleeves at hand, an object to mark the position of a folder so I can replace it readily after I take it out, using some dummy folders that have on the file tab where to find the thing (e.g., Marshall High Schoo SEE Schools, Maine), a box just for items to shred, a bold marker, and a box for scrap pere (I also make a line through writing on any paper that I intend to use reverse side for scrap paper or I end up re-processing it). All this allows faster processing. However, I still don't know what to do with things I want to read carefully--it takes a long time to make a list and it is counter productive to make a stack-- so I don't know the answer. Also, anything I want a family member to review and return I have learned to make a copy of immediatly and then file my copy but this takes more than five minutes. However the biggest challenge to the two minute rule is that when finding a paperwork item that I know is part of project support material , I have to reviw my project list to determine which project, then which pasrt of the project it goes with, then see if it is a duplicate, if I dealt with it or it is otherwise superceded, if it is dependent on another action. Going through that can take me a lot longer than 2 minutes but if I don't do it it then and there it just becomes another pile. This is the price paid for letting things build up. I think you can tell that one of my projects is processing my backlog using GTD methodology.