The Blue Folder

Today, I worked with a bright blue folder next to me. A rather tattered, bright blue paper folder, labeled for one of my kids, repurposed for use by another of my kids. The folder was in my eyeline no matter where I looked. And that made it a very productive day.

Why a bright blue folder? This particular folder contained papers related to a phone call I would need to make during business hours. The sight of the folder, I figured, would ensure that I made the phone call. It turned out, however, that seeing the folder made me accomplish not just that phone call, but assorted other personal and family related tasks as well. All because I couldn't get that folder out of my sightline.

I have always attributed my ability to juggle work and family to my ability to separate the two--to focus on work at work and home at home. The only problem with this approach is that certain home tasks can't be done at home after the work day, so while I am focusing on work at work, I end up bypassing those tasks--not on purpose, really, but because they are just not part of my focus when I'm at work.

Enter the blue folder. That folder literally split my focus. No matter how hard I was working, I couldn't help but see the folder and remember that the papers in it had to be taken care of. And while I was at it, other home tasks had to be addressed as well.

I have made lists. Lists on paper, lists in my head, lists on my smartphone. Yet no list has been nearly as effective as the simple presence of that folder in my sightline was today. It didn't interrupt my work, but it ensured that in moments when I paused from work, I remembered the tasks at hand.

Thankfully, there are not always personal business tasks that need to overlap with work. A person could get extremely caught up and distracted. But for the ones that just have to be done, I'll be relying on that blue folder method again. Nothing like a recycled school supply to make things function just a little more efficiently.