Productivity Lessons from a 1990s Legal Assistant.
How a brutally simple system from the past can fix modern digital overwhelm.
In the late 1990s, I worked in Leeds as a legal assistant, and we had a brutally simple system for getting our work done. That system was effective, and rarely anything slipped through the cracks.
The late 1990s were a time when there were no productivity apps, and Microsoft Office was very basic. No task managers, smart calendars and minimal email (I averaged around five emails a week).
Yet, we got our work done on time with little stress.
What’s changed?
We’ve overcomplicated our systems in the twenty years since then. In the 1990s, mail was delivered by hand, and there was just as much incoming as there is email today. I’d regularly get 80+ pieces of mail each day (more towards the end of the month) that needed processing. Plus, my desk phone would ring every ten to twenty minutes.
We could not afford complex systems. Everything had to be simple. Complexity would have people disappearing under a mountain of paper. Everything was tangible. Each client had a folder in which we kept all correspondence, documents, and copies of letters we had sent.
Using an in-tray was the key to keeping on top of everything. All new mail went into that tray at the beginning of the day, and the goal was to move whatever was in the in-tray to the out-tray by the end of the day. It could not have gotten any simpler than that.
At the end of the day, we would take everything in the out tray and file it in large filing cabinets behind our desks. Anything we hadn’t got to that day would be carried over to the next day, and we’d process it before the new mail arrived the next morning.
The most significant difference between then and now is that somewhere along the way, we lost our focus on getting the work done and became more focused on planning and organising.
Because we cannot physically see the “pile” of work, we spend too much time looking for work and constantly checking our email for what’s come in over the last five minutes, or checking for new WhatsApp messages. That’s not doing work. That’s, as we used to say, “shuffling paper”.
Haven’t you got enough work to be getting on with than to be constantly checking for more work? (Let that one sink in for a moment.)
Whatever work you do, there will always be a simple way to do your job. If you’re a designer, what design work do you need to do today? Do that. If you’re a salesperson, which customers or prospects do you need to call today? Do that.
If you want to improve your productivity, focus on doing the work and spend less time organising and looking for work. In the morning, start with the work you currently have to do, and at the end of the day, move the finished work where it needs to go.
A Very Special Workshop for those of you feeling the pressure.
If you are struggling to get on top of your workload and feel a system that works for you would help, my 2026 Ultimate Productivity Workshop begins on 8th March.
The workshop covers not only the COD system (Collect, Organise and Do), but also introduces you to the legendary Time Sector System, gives you a simple way to prioritise your day, and shows you how to better manage your communications.
This workshop will take the pressure off and give you a way to keep it off.
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