Peace of Mind Organizing

New year, new routines

5 January 2009

On January 5, 2008 I resolved to clear my desk off every day at the end of the workday. I envisioned sitting down at my desk every morning with a clear desk and hoped that it would help me start the day on the right foot.

Exactly one year later, I am tickled pink to report that the resolution made a successful transition to a routine. I am now in the habit of clearing off my desk every night before I close up shop and go upstairs. I don’t think about it, I just do it. And it’s to the point that I don’t remember whether or not I’ve done it. Clearing off my desk has become like brushing my teeth or soaping up in the shower. It just happens.

As long-time readers of my blog know, I attribute my success to a website called Don’t Break the Chain. It displays a calendar and allows me to tick off every day that I cleared off my desk. A block of red covers that calendar date. Once I had a few blocks of red, I didn’t want to break the chain. I found it very motivating.

Here’s a screenshot of my clean-desk chain for the last four months. I’d wanted to show you the whole glorious year (a sea of red), but didn’t take into account that the year view is for the current calendar year only.

I missed two days in October, but had a perfect November & December

My hope that creating this new habit would help my productivity was right on. Not only is it easier to get started working in the morning, it’s also easier to continue working because I typically have the stuff for only a project or two at a time out on my desk. In the past, I was working around teetering piles.

This is a habit I’ve been wanting to instill my entire adult life. That’s 30 years. It took a little focus and a little effort to get the routine going. But now that it’s a habit, it takes no thought and very little effort.

Is there something you could add to your routine to make your life a little easier? Perhaps it’s a trait you admire in others. Or a small frustration you’d like to see go away. (I hated having to clear the decks before I could really get to work.) The new year is a great time to establish new routines. Perhaps Don’t Break the Chain can help.

As for me, I’m hoping to apply what I learned with my clean desk to creating the habit of keeping the top of my bureau clean. I have a bad habit of dumping clothes on it at night, rather than putting them away or throwing them down the laundry chute. Tonight will be day one. I’ll keep you posted!

Tagged with: clean bureau, clean desk, don't break the chain, habits, routines

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