It's not only our To Do lists that can preoccupy our attention.

At times I've notice a distracting whisper like mice chewing in the walls. It diverts my attention to such an extent that I get barely one-half of my goals accomplished for hours, even days...This past week, I uncovered its source!

I've been distracted by 15-plus years of books, binders and papers that I treasure.

Much like the nibbling of those mice, these precious things call to me from the shelves in my office: books that exemplify the best thinking on leadership, management, teams, and individual productivity.

And there are the 12 shelves of binders and files drawers of paper. Articles that people have said are 'must read' and are not yet read. These are 'resource' materials I hold onto 'in case I ever want to refer to them.' For years, I've added to them, tucked neatly on shelves, or out of site behind closet doors and drawers.

When I use them, I'm profoundly grateful that they're right there, at my fingertips. They hold techniques that have improved my business owner client's planning and execution of their business. They offer processes that have improved my financial advisor clients' work with their partners and clients.

After years of wanting those resources right where I know to find them, I did a calculation. I've used less than 8 percent of them. Ever.

I figured out that I spend 10 percent of my time in my office running over the question of 'keep or toss' very consciously. And likely another 10 percent of the time, in the back of my mind unconsciously, I pick at them, look through them, asking my self that question over and over.

You can probably guess my assessment about all of this. The information I use the most is material I already know very well. AND I continue to read voraciously so I know that new ideas will be available on a regular basis. So this cherished material is seldom referred to, and a major distraction.

So, I'm taking a stand to recover all that distracted attention. Right NOW! I'm going through all of the books and papers, and using the following criteria for what to keep and what to let move on:

Criteria 1 - Do I recall ever referring to this?

I've had many people say to me "Oh, don't worry about it you can find it on the internet." NOT true. If you cannot remember the topic, or the author, you can hardly go looking for it to find it again. The more important reason to keep it is that you WILL use it because you know you have it.

If I cannot remember having the contents, let alone the topic, it's going on the 'sort it' pile.

Criteria 2 - Is this something I'm actively interesting in using?

Don't even ask about the shelves of art materials I have in the other room's closets. Expensive brushes and paints and more. I'm sure I'll use them one day, just not now. However, with materials about business topics the issue is heightened.

There are lots of topics I'm interested in, and I love the materials I collected. That's why I kept them. Yet I have no intention of building a reputation as an expert in even 28 of the 34 topics on my file tabs in the top drawer of the file cabinet.

So they're being emptied into the 'use it or lose it' pile.

Criteria 3 - Will I use it in the next 30 days?

After this many years of consulting to business owners and professionals, I know the issues that come up and the techniques that work well to solve them. What reference material would refer to that will fill no more than 12 linear inches of space?

Everything else I'm putting in the 'let it go' pile.

They're going to new homes - colleagues and the library - in the next 2 weeks, so that I can stop ignoring the call and focus on what I already know and the business I'm building.

Join me and let's free up attention for our High Payoff activities now.

Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Feinholz