2. If something is out of place, I put it back to the place;
3. If I cannot put it back at the moment, I put it in my pocket, and goes to 2 after current task is done;
4. If I cannot put it in my pocket, I put it near me in some salient way, and goes to 2 after current task is done;
5. If something is constantly out-of-place, rethink the designated place for that item.
Step 4 is dependent on the fact that the space is well-organized in the first place, such that I could put item in a way that is salient and jarring to future me. If I'm surrounded by a mess, it probably wouldn't work. For example, I often perch something that I have to carry to my room in the middle of the kitchen island while I'm chopping and cooking. It works because the surface is almost always empty. If the kitchen island is already crowded, this wouldn't have worked.
But I think the real secret to how to get the system working, is to do step 2 as much as I could, and avoid step 3 & 4 if at all possible. It's the realization that moving an item to the right place takes less than 20 seconds, only 19 seconds longer than putting it in my pocket. (This of course predicated on the fact that I live in a small apartment rather than a big house.)
I have pretty much the same algorithm, except that I do have misc boxes for the stuff I don't need right now, but I may need later. Those boxes appears after a cleaning spree (1 per room). After a week or so, the items inside will get their proper place based on usage patterns (whatever is left inside goes back to long-term storage).
Small items need proper attention. Anything smaller than my hand get organized on the spot.
1. Everything has a place;
2. If something is out of place, I put it back to the place;
3. If I cannot put it back at the moment, I put it in my pocket, and goes to 2 after current task is done;
4. If I cannot put it in my pocket, I put it near me in some salient way, and goes to 2 after current task is done;
5. If something is constantly out-of-place, rethink the designated place for that item.
Step 4 is dependent on the fact that the space is well-organized in the first place, such that I could put item in a way that is salient and jarring to future me. If I'm surrounded by a mess, it probably wouldn't work. For example, I often perch something that I have to carry to my room in the middle of the kitchen island while I'm chopping and cooking. It works because the surface is almost always empty. If the kitchen island is already crowded, this wouldn't have worked.
But I think the real secret to how to get the system working, is to do step 2 as much as I could, and avoid step 3 & 4 if at all possible. It's the realization that moving an item to the right place takes less than 20 seconds, only 19 seconds longer than putting it in my pocket. (This of course predicated on the fact that I live in a small apartment rather than a big house.)