"Everything should be made as simple as possible. But not simpler." Albert Einstein Every organization has its own reporting cycle, some even have several. Some write annual and quarterly reports, others report by half-year, those related to the education system consider the beginning of the school year to be the starting point... In many organizations there is also an unspoken rule to submit an interim report before going on vacation. How not to ruin your mood before vacation by “opening” unrealized cases that were lost at a time unknown to you - the answer to this question depends not on eloquence, but on the organization of the work process. There are special methods for organizing the work process in an optimal mode that prevent the accumulation of cases postponed indefinitely and the emergence of rush jobs . Accordingly, these methods enhance the positive climate of the entire team through the well-coordinated systematic work of each individual employee. The five-phase method of organizing the work process is simple to implement and at the same time effective. Regardless of other conditions, it is necessary to go through five steps to cope with the task. We (1) collect “stuff” that distracts our attention; (2) clarify what these things are and how to deal with them; and (3) sort out the results, which we (4) consider as guides to (5) action. Separating the five phases throughout the day is very useful, and perhaps necessary. There are times when you just want to collect information and not make any decisions; sometimes you want to sort through notes from a meeting. Or, having returned from a long trip, you need to distribute and organize everything that has accumulated on the road. There are times when you want to make a complete review of the upcoming work or some part of it. And, of course, a lot of time is spent trying to complete the tasks in front of you. The reason for failure in the field of self-organization is incessant attempts to complete all five phases at the same time. Many people, as soon as they sit down with pen and paper to “make a list,” immediately try to prioritize the most important things and don’t think at all about what actually needs to be done to complete them. But if you don't figure out how to go about having a corporate party just because it's "not that important," that corporate party will become an open question that will drain you of the energy you need to effectively focus on the things that really matter. At the first stage, in order to avoid having “holes in the bucket”, you need to collect all the things that seem unfinished to you - everything work and personal, large and small, urgent and not so urgent - everything that, in your opinion, is subject to change, and in something you feel an internal commitment to change on any level. Strategic ideas lost in a pile on your desk, old magazines on the coffee table - all of this falls into this category of "stuff". As soon as you attach the label "would be nice" to something to do”, “should do” or “must do”, it becomes unfinished business. For example, having to make a decision about whether you are going to do something or not is already “incomplete.” This also includes all your “I’m going to do this” when you have already decided to do something, but have not yet lifted a finger for it; This includes all the tasks that have a “in progress” status, and even those tasks that you have already completed, but have not yet decided that you are completely done with them. To properly manage “open issues”, you need to collect them in some kind of temporary "container" until you have a free minute to decide what to do with them. However, it is necessary to empty these containers periodically in order for them to remain functional information collection tools. If you are still trying to keep too many things in memory, you are more likely to.