As I go back and think about categorizing posts something occurred to me. Back in the day when I was in graduate school we had to read a book on organization. This was personal organization and I don’t really remember the book, though I’m pretty sure I still have it. But there are two things that I remember from that book.

The first was how to decide where to file something. When you go to file something ask yourself “Where would I look for this if I were looking for it right now?” That’s where you file it. Not the most logical or “organized” place, but the place you could find it later the easiest.

I was going through the Gadget category because it doesn’t have much stuff in it. I noticed that there are probably other items just like these in the Web category. And when I go to look for a post on TIVO software in DirectTV receivers I’m going to use search and not look in gadgets. So I’m thinking Gadgets is going to be gone in a minute.

The second thing I remember from this book was TRAF. It was a way of going through stuff you have piling up and doing something with it.

T was for trash. If it is useless throw it away.

R was for read. If it needs to be read, put it in a pile and schedule a time to read it. Not worth scheduling time to read it? See T.

A was for Act. If you need to act on the thing then do it. Do it right now if it is simple and schedule a time to do it soon if it is complicated. Not important enough to schedule time to do it? See T.

F was for file. File it using the system above.