My Desk Was A Mess
Of course, I won’t let anyone but me call me this, but I am a slob. So what happens when a slob starts to run his own home business? It gets messy. Real messy.
So…I got started with this handyman business opportunity about a year ago. And with the clients- it’s great. I take care of them, I do the work, I clean up, I go home. No problem. But my office at home, where I do all the paperwork for the business—now that was a problem. A big problem.
Papers sprawled out in pile overlapping pile on the table by my desk. Computer cords weaving through the office to reach outlets. Crumbs on my keyboard from a bagel I ate. Reminders taped and post-its everywhere. Pictures leaning against the wall that were supposed to be hanging on the wall. Socks hanging off the back of my chair from last week when my feet got hot.
One day I visited a buddy of mine’s office. Spotless. An ‘in’ box and an ‘out’ box for paperwork. Cords all stapled under his desk going to a power strip. Actual bare space on his desk to organize his work. No clothes draped anywhere. ‘Huh—that’s a different way of doing things, I thought.’
But it didn’t really hit me until the next day when I spent 18 minutes—eighteen actual minutes—looking for the spare staples. Or a paper clip. Either would have worked. 18 minutes of not working, just looking. If that wasn’t an infuriating wake-up call, I don’t know what is.
‘So—how do you teach an old dog new tricks?’ I wondered. First, I just cleaned. I touched everything in my office and put it in the best possible place. Organized. Thought things through. Took the time to hang the pictures and tack up the cords. When I was all done, I sat in my chair and looked around. Wow, it felt different. I played… ‘Need a spare paperclip?’ ‘Why—here’s one right here.’ ‘How about those invoices from last week?’ ‘Ah yes—stamped and ready to go in the ‘mail slot’.’ What joy. What satisfaction.
But a week later—you guessed it—it was starting to slip. The paper piles were spreading and growing again like The Blob. ‘Nooooooooo!’, I thought, and frantically organized again. I heard it takes three weeks to establish a new habit. And I have to say those first few weeks were the hardest. I’d make up excuses for myself, say I was too tired or too busy. Sometimes I’d let it go for a bit. But now, months later, it’s just a part of my routine. Finish the paperwork, tidy the desk, call it quits.
Every evening before I leave the office, I just take a few minutes to organize. What a difference it makes. I feel more efficient with my time—seems like everything gets done a little quicker. And it just plain feels good to look around and know where things are.