Peace of Mind Organizing

Help for that scary pile on your desk

14 January 2011

I go on and on here about the value of clearing off your desktop at the end of the work day. I’ve been doing it daily for three years and it’s really enhanced my productivity. It’s now such a habit that I’d kind of forgotten about the scary, teetering pile of paper that can pollute your desktop. (Though I do sometimes let the paper in my inbox — which is not on my desk — pile up.)

If you have a big pile of paper on your desk, I’d like to share with you a terrific blog post, Purge that Pile: 10 Steps to a Clean Desk from Jennifer Hull’s MidAge Mom blog. Jennifer is a writer I know through an online writing community I’ve belonged to for years, Freelance Success.

I love Jennifer’s fresh take on the process of getting your desktop cleared off. My favorite nuggets:

I wanted to feel lighter, not heavier. So … I cleaned out the big pile on my desk.

My first realization: it wasn’t a pile of papers. It was a pile of decisions.

It’s one thing to purge the playroom. But when you clean your desk, you give a gift to yourself. Since eliminating the pile, I feel squeaky clean, like I’d taken a ritual bath. I still have a lot to do. But now I know what it is.

Go read it for yourself. I bet you’ll be inspired to clear off your desk and feel liberated!

Tagged with: blogs, clean desk, freelance success, jennifer hull, paper piles

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