Peace of Mind Organizing

A habit is born

26 March 2008

As I’ve endlessly documented in this blog, I vowed this year to form the habit of clearing my desk at the end of each work day. The idea was that I would start work each morning with a clear desk, a clear mind, and major productivity. It’s something that I’ve strived for for decades and never been able to achieve.

Today I can report that it’s officially become a habit. Last night, as I was finishing up a coaching call for the Level III NSGCD program I’m enrolled in, I was in a hurry to get upstairs to dinner. Without even thinking about it, I began putting everything away that was on my desktop. Four months ago, I’d have pushed my chair away from the desk and headed upstairs to the glass of wine and delicious dinner that was waiting for me without giving my desk a second thought. Last night, even though it was after 8 p.m., I took the time (less than five minutes) to put everything away with nary a thought—and this is important—no resentment about “having” to do it.

I attribute my success to Don’t Break the Chain. At the beginning the satisfaction of clicking that square and keeping the chain going really spurred me on. Now I click as as an afterthought, the next day or sometimes even several days later.

I wanted to show you a screenshot of my Don’t Break the Chain page for clearing my desk for the last four months. But I can’t seem to figure out the technological aspects of that. So I’ll just describe that each and every day, save one, between January 5 and March 25 are filled with red. On February 9 I was knitting at my desk while watching a DVD on my computer and neglected to clear up my knitting, so I got no click that day. But every other day is red. I’m so proud.

I’ve decided to use Don’t Break the Chain to help me form another habit I’m trying to develop: to write a blog entry every weekday. Once again, I’m finding it to be very motivating (and I’ve succeeded in a week’s worth of five-days-a-week blog entries).

Tagged with: accountability, clean desk, desk, don't break the chain, motivation, productivity

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