My dad (RIP) taught me more than a few good habits. “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” You don’t need to buy a locator for your keys if you always put them in the same place when you walk in the door.

I extrapolate dad’s advice this to cover non-physical items. Your email inbox doesn’t become a second recycle bin if you take the 2–30 seconds per email to put them in the right place when they come in. Delete, forward or file and reply (leave the draft for when you have time).

When you have too many things for your mind to remember all at once (or don’t need very often) create a place for the list(s) that tell you where the stuff is.

The amount of time you’ll not spend searching for things will be dwarfed by feeling of peace knowing you’ll not be searching endlessly next time you need something.