Passin Thru

Yesterday afternoon I was listening to the radio station of Columbia University here in NYC. They were playing three hours of music by a favorite sax player of mine named Oliver Lake. One of the tunes was called Passin’ Thru. I seriously doubt the DJ knew that the following day would be the start of the Jewish holiday Passover. I didn’t even make the connection until today when I was thinking about a topic for this post.

Passover is an interesting holiday in that it has history but it also has a strong degree of Practice involved. There is all the of the cleaning out of the household in order to get the bread out of the kitchen. The family conducts a Chumetz hunt.  Think of it as a ritual cleaning. Everything not Kosher of Passover (or K for P) can be bagged up and donated. The process requires you to look at everything you have and make a decision.  Is this item K for P or not.

In an effective practice of productivity we are looking at our inventory and making decisions. What is this? Does it relate to something I am working on or committed to? Will I need it as future reference? Does it belong to someone else, if so who? Does this represent an action I need to take? Does this represent a project I need to define and initiate? Does this relate to a meeting I have coming up or need to schedule? Does this represent a communication I need to have with someone?

When we make these decisions as items come into our inventory, our systems are always K for P. When we let inventory pile up (see my post about an empty inbox) then we need to periodically undertake a cleansing of our systems and environment (ie, our desk, office, garage, mental holding areas) to get there.