My life is cluttered. I came to this conclusion late last night as I slogged through a month-long paperwork backlog from my business. I don’t see myself as a slob, but anyone looking at my office might say differently. The following items all lie within 2 feet of my workstation:
Much of this belongs in an office; much of it does not. None of it should be piled upon my desk. Unfortunately, this cascade of stuff radiates outward from the center of my office in a fractal pattern that boggles the mind and throws off the balance of anyone entering the room. I might be OK if this stuff sat inertly waiting for me to attend to it. Unfortunately, all the outward stuff greatly affects the stuff inside my head.
Writers are notorious procrastinators. I’m getting better at turning off the TV, ignoring the laundry, minimizing my web browser and quieting the white noise in my mind before planting myself at the keyboard, but its much harder to ignore all the other stuff right in front of me. I should file some of it, toss a lot of it and find places to store the rest.
Placing things into storage (on shelves or in closets, drawers or garages) is the hardest part of uncluttering. Will I remember where I put the stuff, or will it fall into the out-of-sight-out-of-mind pocket dimension that holds all my keepsakes from high school and college? Even better - if I don’t use my stuff and forget that I have it, do I even need to keep it? I’ll never get rid of mementos that remind me of the people and places that shaped my character, but I too often place items into that category when I should place them in the trash. A fine line separates those who honor their past and those who live in it. I’m guilty of doing the latter more often than I’d like to admit.
Using Zen Habits and Write to Done for inspiration, I’m making a newly concerted effort to live in the present and write every day. I've got stuff available if anyone needs some more. Maybe I’ll check with George Carlin.
- a book of poetry
- a small stack of bills
- four tubes of ChapStick I got in my Christmas stocking
- reminder cards for my kids’ dental appointments
- a hacky sack
- a stress ball
- little nobby fabric softener balls
- a popsicle stick business card holder made by my nephew
- my Front Row remote
- a notepad
- a dry cleaning claim check
- my ipod
- my daughter's headband
- a bottle opener
- cell phone
- index cards
- miscellaneous pens
- an Arkansas Razorback Rubik’s cube
- Transformers: Beast Wars and Beast Machines complete series on DVD
- The Simpson’s Season 2 on DVD
- A 2008 daily Zen calendar show currently displaying January 18
- vehicle mileage logs that should be in my cars
- an orange-blue-and-purple-striped knit ipod cozy
- spent printer cartridges that need to be recycled
- checkbooks
- Optimus Prime
- pictures of my kids
- a working R2-D2 robot (probably needs batteries)
- a pot holder
Much of this belongs in an office; much of it does not. None of it should be piled upon my desk. Unfortunately, this cascade of stuff radiates outward from the center of my office in a fractal pattern that boggles the mind and throws off the balance of anyone entering the room. I might be OK if this stuff sat inertly waiting for me to attend to it. Unfortunately, all the outward stuff greatly affects the stuff inside my head.
Writers are notorious procrastinators. I’m getting better at turning off the TV, ignoring the laundry, minimizing my web browser and quieting the white noise in my mind before planting myself at the keyboard, but its much harder to ignore all the other stuff right in front of me. I should file some of it, toss a lot of it and find places to store the rest.
Placing things into storage (on shelves or in closets, drawers or garages) is the hardest part of uncluttering. Will I remember where I put the stuff, or will it fall into the out-of-sight-out-of-mind pocket dimension that holds all my keepsakes from high school and college? Even better - if I don’t use my stuff and forget that I have it, do I even need to keep it? I’ll never get rid of mementos that remind me of the people and places that shaped my character, but I too often place items into that category when I should place them in the trash. A fine line separates those who honor their past and those who live in it. I’m guilty of doing the latter more often than I’d like to admit.
Using Zen Habits and Write to Done for inspiration, I’m making a newly concerted effort to live in the present and write every day. I've got stuff available if anyone needs some more. Maybe I’ll check with George Carlin.
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2 comments:
I'm a big proponent of the 43 folders system. It works better than any other organizing system I've ever tried, at least for paper, appointments, etc. You can google it to find more info. (It's in the Getting Things Done oeuvre.) Kids dentist reminder cards? Filed in that day's folder. Dry cleaning claim slip? Same thing. And take that damn chap stick to your bathroom.
This is all spoken by a former slob who now tends toward OCD in most cases, especially my work area. Next time we're there, I'll be happy to help you get it sorted out. FlyLady style, if you're lucky.
I'm a big fan of Getting Things Done, too. I use it as a loose basis for my organization scheme. It's just too loose at the moment to prevent the piles of paper from stacking up on my desk.
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