Have you ever found yourself in this situation: you’ve carved out some time to file a stack of papers, yet as soon as you start looking through the stack you realize that the task is a bit more difficult than it seems; not only are there items that are easily recognizable, there’s items you plain forgot about, not having looked at them in weeks or months.

Today’s post seeks to help you break through this blockage and finally get to the bottom of the “to file” pile! Here’s some tips on how to get back into that mysterious stack of papers:

Know the layout of the land.

It’s been said that we can only hold about seven different items or tasks in our minds at one time, after that, we reach something akin to a multitasking meltdown. This might sound strange, but reviewing what you’ve got is crucial to your end goal; you need to know what items you have in hand so that you can properly process and file them. Do a quick scan of items in the pile. Leaf through a few pieces from the top, middle and bottom of the pile.

Assess and plan a mode of attack.

Given the above recon mission, take a few minutes to evaluate the stack. Do you recognize more items than not or vice versa. If you do recognize items, do they already have a dedicated folder for storage? (in this case it will be easy to file). If you don’t recognize items, it will take a bit more work and more time to sort/identify items and finally determine where they should be filed, if at all.

Group by familiarity level.

To get over the familiarity blockage, quickly sort items into the following piles: familiar, not so familiar, and plain puzzled. Familiar items could be names, bills and information that you easily recognize, not so familiar items could be those items that you have an idea about but can’t remember the specific details, and plain puzzled are items that don’t ring a bell at all.

File the familiar and make plans to tackle other items.

With your familiar items already in hand, file them appropriately — this way, you’ll have at least a few items out of your way. Resist the temptation of jumping into the other two piles at the current moment; these are items that will need more of your attention, time and energy. Mark your calendar and schedule some time for you to review and tackle the not- so-familiar and plain puzzling items.