I wrote last week about how the Power of Less encouraged me to check email a lot less often. This week I want to tell you how this book has affected my desktop.
I'm one of those people who likes to be able to see everything I'm working on. Because of this, I have not seen the top of my desk in a long, long time.
In this book, Leo suggested that a messy desk is not conducive to a calm mind and productive life. I first thought, "Oh come on Leo. Really. My messy desk works for me. I can see everything I want. It's all at my fingers tips. I don't need to go searching around for anything. It's. All. Right. Where. I Want. It."
And almost as soon as I muttered those words, I started looking on my desk for something important that I needed in that very moment-and I could not find it. After a 30 minute search and rescue mission, I found it underneath another unrelated piece of paper that was also on top of my desk.
"Oh, all right," I thought with a big loud mental sigh. "I'll give your Zen desk thing a try."
So one Saturday morning, I started organizing. I went through the various bins and folders and storage devices on my desk. I rooted through my drawers. I left no part of my desk un-turned.
I found about 30 magazines that I'd bought for research that I truly didn't need. I tossed them in a recycling pile. I found a ream or so of papers that I was saving for God-knows-what-initially-good-reason that I also filed in the recycling bin. I took the various business cards that were scattered here and there, entered the names and contact information into my computer address book, and tossed them.
My recycling pile was unbelievable. Even my husband was impressed.
Then I sorted what was left, trying to figure out some sort of system that would prevent me from getting into this Too Much Paper mess again. I created a:
High Priority To Do folder. Here I stuffed bills that needed to be paid asap, paperwork I needed to fill out asap, and just about anything else I needed to deal with asap.
Low Priority To Do folder. In it I put everything else that I needed to deal with at some point.
Blog Idea folder. Here went numerous scraps of paper with little notes scribbled here and there.
Read This folder. I put interesting stuff I'd like to read, assuming I ever have the time.
Passwords folder. Here I put all of the passwords and user names that I'm constantly forgetting. Now when I can't remember my password for Reddit or some other site, I don't have to type in 600 different variations of what I think might probably work. I just check my passwords folder. Why didn't I think of this before?!
Now, my desk is nice and clutter free. I do feel calmer as I work. I can't say my new system has been completely fool proof, though. Just yesterday I was looking for my written outline for a guest blog I planned to write. I searched my "blog ideas" folder back and forth many, many times. Seems to make sense that I would put a blog outline in a blog ideas folder, right?
Sure, unless you are also thinking that the guest blog is a high priority, in which case, it would be stored in the high priority to do folder, which is where I found it.
I still haven't completely finished writing this guest post, so the outline is just sitting out on top of my desk at the moment, in the spot where I usually store things that I think I might need soon.
What can I say? I'm still in recovery.
If you loved this blog, then you'll also love Alisa's How to Be Happy series at Project Happily Ever After.
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