"best forgotten by" date

One unfortunate difference between my old job and my new one is that the bureaucracy and politics in my life have about tripled. That's to be expected in a big system, I suppose, but it's amazing to me how much mental energy is wasted by people worrying and/or complaining about issues big and small- not to mention the people causing issues big and small for petty reasons. The phenomenon certainly isn't tied to my line of work; a friend of mine recently told me that the hens in his office are all clucking about the unwelcome changes forced on them by new printers. So I've devised a method of screening what scuttlebutt is worth my time. I'll ask myself, will this issue outlast the milk in my fridge? When that last inch I never manage to use goes sour, will this latest drama still have any bearing on my life? If not, I'll save myself some time and blow it off now.