I grew up in the house of a “neat freak” and immediately rebelled when I left home. I would let laundry pile up in college until I ran out of clothes, and if I had money, I would buy new clothes before doing laundry. Sadly I think this was a rather normal college lifestyle choice.
As time went on I discovered that much of my “college” stress was due to my messy lifestyle. I discovered this when I spent to much money and had to sell everything to pay the bills. I rented a room from a friend and didn't have much to make a mess other than laundry. Somehow I became relaxed and energized all at once. I built a business, bought more stuff, moved to an apartment and began to clutter my life again.
When the stress came back, I blamed it on my business, friends and family, never once looking in the mirror. When I did finally look in the mirror, I noticed the mess behind me and decided to clean it up.
That weekend was spent cleaning and organizing my apartment. The neighbor across the way came by and laughed at me. She said “You keep your car spotless and your apartment looks like this?” Very quickly I realized why I liked my car so much, it was a refuge from my pig sty lifestyle. I am not quite the neat freak my dad was, but I have to admit I am getting there.
Now when I am asked to help a business owner, the very first thing I do is look at their desk. Some people are successful in the midst of clutter and even they improve when their life is organized. I can't tell you why they keep a messy desk when they know it impedes performance.
One executive I know pays someone else to organize his desk. His house is still a clutter collector and he can't figure out why he likes the office so much and why he likes to travel so much. It is clearly to avoid the clutter.
Just helping a business owner or senior manager organize their workspace is an incredible relief to them. Teaching them to keep it that way is a different story, it takes some practice and self discipline.
The method I like to use is the four D's. Do It, Date It, Delegate It or Dump It.
Do It is easy. If it is on your goal list for the day get it done. If you can do it in a couple of minutes or less and it is important, do it. Otherwise move to step II, Date It.
Date It means to put the item on your calender. Things like “read magazine” should fall into a time slot on your schedule. If you put a date on a magazine, and don't fit it into your reading time by that date, then it wasn't that important so move down the list.
Step III is Delegate It. If there is someone that can do a task at least 75% as good as you can do it, send it to them and get it off your desk. The “outbox” is one of the most under used tools on a persons desk.
Step IV is Dump It. This is the toughest rule to get most former clutter bugs to practice. They have a hard time accepting something isn't important. My aunt had a great rule for clothes and household items. If it wasn't used in two years, it goes to the trash. Magazines, newspapers and all kinds of other stuff can be tossed and no one would ever know but you.
The trash can and shredder are the best tools for desk cleaning known to man. You must be able to assign importance to everything that crosses your desk. If something isn't urgent or important, go straight to Step IV and Dump It. Us the four D method to keep your desk clear and your mind uncluttered and you'll be amazed at what you can do.
Thank you. That was refreshing to read and will be even more refreshing to put into practice.
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