Spring into an Organized and Clutter
Free Home Office (Part 1)
Copyright
Cheryl C. Malandrinos - All Rights Reserved.
Spring is the season of fresh starts
and new life. How appropriate then, that in March we celebrate so many
holidays to help writers de-clutter, clean up, and organize their work
areas.
March 11th was Organize
Your Home Office Day; but even if you missed that, you can still
celebrate National Clutter Awareness Week from March 18th –
24th, which flows nicely into National Cleaning Week that
begins March 24th.
As with everything we writers do, you
need to set goals for cleaning your home office that are specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. If you know that you’ll
be chauffeuring kids around all week to various sporting events, don’t
commit to cleaning your entire work area or home office. You’ll just get
discouraged and abandon the project soon after it starts.
We’re going to learn how to tackle the
intimidating tasks of organizing your home office and getting rid of
clutter in small increments, which ultimately will allow you to
concentrate more on your writing and less on the mountain of stuff
surrounding you.
This month we are going to focus on
your desk.
I want you to stop whatever you’re
doing right now and take a look at your desk.
What do you see?
Is your Inbox overflowing? Are there
piles of paper stacked on one or both sides of your computer? Do
research materials for more than your current project make a home on
your desk? Are there non-writing related papers or objects taking up
space on the work surface?
Okay, now that you’ve identified your
problem areas, you need to have an action plan.
Find three boxes. Mark the first one
"Keep", the second "Recycle/Toss", and the third "Put Away".
Going from one side of your desk to
the other, pick up each item and decide where it goes. This includes
paper and non-paper items like an old stamp pad that has long since
dried up, your son’s MP3 player, and the stress ball you play with when
you’re on a deadline.
Those items that are in your "Keep"
box should only be those objects, papers, and research materials that
are important to your current project. Everything else needs to find a
home elsewhere; this includes pictures, books, papers, and office
supplies. Walls and bookcases make a great place to display your
children’s artwork, and if need be, you can purchase a few containers to
hold office supplies.
Anything that ends up in the
"Recycle/Toss" box should make it out to the garbage can or recycle bin
right away. This will give you a great sense of accomplishment.
Things that might end up in the "Put
Away" box are: reference books for past or future projects, CD’s or
cassettes for music you had listened to while working, miscellaneous
items you or your family dumped on your desk while walking by, or
paperwork that needs to be filed.
Take a few moments to get these items
put away. It’s good for your body to stretch and walk around a bit, and
once again, you’ll begin to see the difference not having these items in
your way will make.
The last thing you need to do is
return the items from your "Keep" box to your work surface. Take a brief
moment to reevaluate each item before you make a space for it on your
desk. Remember, if it’s not necessary for your current project, it
doesn’t belong there.
Now that you have an organized and
clutter free desk, take a deep breath and feel how much more relaxing it
is to sit in an area where you aren’t bombarded on all sides with piles
of stuff threatening to topple over when someone rushes by.
Congratulate yourself on a job well
done and look forward to next month’s article, which will show you how
to assess your office equipment to make sure unsuitable furniture and
office machines aren’t interfering with your productivity.
