It’s no secret that I don’t “let any grass grow beneath my feet” and this means I have no time for extra clutter and things have to stay mostly in order for me to be as productive as I am. As a matter of a fact, one of the main questions I get from other people working to do big things is — “how do you do it all?”

This is a big question. There are hundreds of big and small things that help me do so much and today’s little tip is an easy one to implement that makes a big difference. The mantra is — touch it once.

I don’t remember where I originally saw this trick or I’d credit the source. It’s been life-changing in terms of keeping things organized in my world.

While I’ll always have a messy desk, maintaining some sort of order is important. Your productivity is deeply affected by your environment and if there’s chaos all around you, you won’t get as much done. Plus, cleaning up the chaos eventually becomes another item on your to-do list! By not “touching things once,” you create more work for yourself. The idea here is to do the thing right away instead of saving it for later.

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Here’s a few examples of how it works:

When you bring in the mail, don’t sit it on the table. Toss the junk right then and place the items you need to do something with in a designated area. For me, I pay bills twice a month. When I receive a bill, I put it in a folder labeled “to pay.” On the 10th and 25th, I pull that folder out and pay everything at once. 

If you receive an invitation to an event, put it on your calendar (with all necessary details) right then. Getting into this habit of handling mail right away so that you “touch it once,” makes it easier for you to adopt this philosophy in harder areas. As you know, just a few days of dumping the mail on the table quickly leads to a mess. It only takes an additional 60 seconds to go ahead and process through it and then, you’ve kept things tidier AND saved yourself from having to add “process mail” to your to-do list later. It’s a huge win.

When you take off your shoes or a jacket, put them away now. It’s an extra 30-60 seconds and this keeps you from ending up with a pile to handle later.

When you take the clothes out of the dryer, fold them (and put them away…ugh) right then. You’d be amazed and how much energy a corner full clean clothes that need to be folded can steal from you. Take a few more minutes and go ahead and handle it. 

When you finish a meal or a drink, put away the dirty dishes and supplies right then. Don’t save this sort of thing for later. I say this as there are currently two abandoned cups sitting on the table. They’re not mine, for the record.

When you need to follow up with someone on a task, do it right then. Send the text. Forward the email. Saving tasks that only take a few seconds to complete, slows you down.

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You can apply this mantra to practically anything. The big idea is to do what you can do quickly right in the moment instead of saving things for later. It’s so easy to end up with a mess by letting things pile up. 

I need to be honest here and say that it is NOT in my nature to keep things tidy. I keep things clean (meaning not nasty), but not necessarily tidy (meaning there are piles everywhere). I had a terrible habit of saving things for later. I am quite frequently in a hurry and there’s always something more important to do. My instinct has always been to dump things and come back to it later. Needless to say, this creates a bigger mess. 

Now, after lots of practice, I start to drop the mail on the table and then say to myself — touch it once. I handle the mail and the dining table is spared another pile to haunt me for the week. Doing small things like this throughout my day frees up my mind and my to-do list for doing other things. 

Like they say, “you have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyonce.” I sure Bey has someone handling her mail, so until you get that same luxury, go ahead and toss that junk mail today, ok? You’re not actually going to clip (or remember to use) those coupons.

More on productivity: how I use a to-do notebook