43 Folders

This system has been around for years.

What it entails is using 43 folders to keep yourself organized an in day tight compartments.

You create 43 folders:

TIP: You can use tabs in a binder instead of folders in the same way. PS: In the video, he's using the TUL / ARC binding system.

If you are using the 13 week A-to-Z followup system, you can use the 43 folders binder system as a tickler to revisit with ___ 3 months later.

Google Calendar

The simplicity of this with Gmail is that you can add ticklers within the email itself:

Example: I sent a book to Book Reviewer Bob on 12/11/18.

In my 43 folders + 13 week system, I create a reminder to trigger me to send a follow-up to bob on 3/12/19. I found this date by googling '13 weeks from 12/11/18.' In my 43 folders system, I'd have a reminder on 3/12/19 to send Book Reviewer Bob a followup.

Idea: Consider creating 16 more for each waking hour of the day. You'd have 59 folders.


Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance but to do what lies clearly at hand.

When you live in the Day Tight Compartments mindset you:

Unpack the payload

Do you have a place to write everything down?

Are you using a strategy that allows you to sort out what goes where so you can find it when you need it?

Part of me is a big fan of writing shit down. But the problem is you can't search what's written down and finding what you need when you need it can prove time consuming if not impossible.

I love the hypersearch capability of many programs that allow me to quickly search through multiple documents which more likley results in what I actually need.

I find that many good intentioned organization systems that initially work quickly lose their effectiveness because of their inability to scale. What works well for a 100 pages may soon become a burden at 200 pages.

Killer B's

Watch out for the Killer B's!

Killer B’s are an analogy to explain what happens when the task we are working on (Task A) gets interrupted by task or Task B. The killer B reflects how we let Task B become more significant than Task A. It’s not unlike when someone new walks into a room. Unexpectedly, our attention is pulled away from the task at hand and put on the person. Killer B’s can also show up when ask ourselves “Is what I’m working on the most important thing I should be working on right now?” When we question whether Task A is the top priority, it ceases to be. It kills momentum. We know what we resist tends to persist, so the more we ignore it, the more it begs for our attention. One solution is to keep a Killer B notebook at arms-length so you can jot down those B’s and put them in a jar to battle later.

Further reading & watching

43 Folders Hashtag on... * Twitter * Instagram

Basic overview: https://youtu.be/YG0FU_M_YB8