Peace of Mind Organizing

The amazing power of a clean desktop

13 January 2008

The habit I’ve been trying to instill with the Don’t Break the Chain method that I wrote about in a recent post is clearing my desktop at the end of the workday.

I know full well that this can be a huge productivity booster: when I sit down in the morning at a clutter-free work desk, I’m able to get right to work. When I’m greeted by teetering piles of paper and other clutter, I usually try to do some tidying up first or just feel overwhelmed and go get a cup of tea. Sometimes I try to ignore the clutter and work around it.

In any case, I’ve long told my clients of the wisdom of taking a few minutes at the end of the day to clear the desktop. Trouble was, I couldn’t seem to accomplish it myself. After a day or two of trying, I’d always need to walk away from my desk for some reason and wouldn’t bother clearing it. Just a day or two of accumulated clutter and clearing the desktop started to feel like a chore I needed to schedule time for.

Everything changed on January 5, 2008. That day, I actually took every single item off my desk, filled three small boxes, dusted my desk (the cat hair!) and put back only those things I actually use. I took the suggestion of taking everything off the desk from an interview John Trosko, NAPO LA chapter president, did with BusinessWeek.com. That podcast is on John’s terrific blog. Truth be told, I had a backlog of papers from my desk that I placed in a decorative box and went through little by little throughout the week. The box was not stored on my desk and it is now empty.

I know you’re dying to see the clean desktop. I took this picture this morning and I didn’t do any photo styling. It’s exactly how I left my desk last night.

My desktop this morning

So once I had a clear desk, it was a breeze to keep clean. In the past week there was one day where I went back down to my office after dinner to clean up my desk, motivated by wanting to highlight that day in red on my Don’t Break the Chain site. Here’s my chain as of this morning:

My clean-desktop chain is now eight days long!

The power of the clean desk has been amazing. I have a list of things to do in the morning in the hour or so after I get up and make coffee and before I shower, walk the dogs, and go see clients. Thanks to the clean desk, I’m actually getting through that list. I know it takes more than a week to form a habit, but this one is so rewarding that I’m very hopeful that it’s actually going to stick.

Tagged with: accountability, clean desk, decluttering, desk, don't break the chain, goals, habits, motivation, productivity, time management, workspace

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