Taming the Desktop Monsters

For those of you who have ever seen my offices, you can attest that my office is often times a disaster, with stacks and stacks of papers and piles of post-its everywhere you look. Just looking at my desk in the mornings gets my stress level rising. There is no feeling of peace when your desktop monster has gotten out of control. When I finally can’t take it and I take charge and start taming the beast that is my office, and I start making progress in sorting through the mounds of paperwork on my desk, I can literally feel my stress level start to go down…ahhhh….it is so nice to get ORGANIZED!…

I can truly attest that having an organized space, whether its your desk, your office, your home, your car, wherever….the fact is that when your environment is organized, your mind feels organized, and your stress level is reduced.

I read a great quote that I feel is 100% true.  It reads:

“Organization is not an option, it is a fundamental survival skill and distinct competitive advantage.”

It’s totally true.  It’s a competitive advantage and a personal blessing to be organized.  It creates inner peace and a feeling of being on top of things which creates confidence in your ability to succeed.

In my many battles with trying to be more organized, the one thing I have learned is that everyone has their own way of being organized, and you have to use what works best for you.  For me, out of sight is out of mind.  If I put something in a file cabinet, chances are I will never look at it again.  If I put something in a folder on my desk, chances are the folder won’t be opened again.  The fact is that for me I have to have everything laid out in stacks by project so I am looking right at it every day until I have finished the stack and the item can be filed away as completed or simply thrown away.  For me I have also learned that keeping a list on a white board that is right in front of my face each day will keep the to do items front and center in my mind, so I list each project name on my whiteboard in my office and keep it there until I finish it.

I use outlook and I found that I only use the calendar option of Outlook and if I enter things in tasks then I never go to the tasks page to see them, so instead I make all day appointments on my calendar each day for every task I need to get done.  Then if I finish the item I change the color from red to gray, with gray indicating I finished it.  If I don’t get it done that day then I drag the all day appointment to the next day and so on until they are all completed.

These are just a few of the little tips that I have come to realize work best for me.  I am still trying to figure out new organizational ideas so please feel free to share good ones on the whiteboard if you have found things that work well for you – because I would venture to guess that I am not the only person that struggles with staying organized and we could all use each other’s tips in this regard.

What I do know is this – I feel so much better when I have gone through the piles and figured out what needs to get done.  Having everything sorted and prioritized by deadline date into a single list, even if there is miles and miles of things to get done, at least I feel good knowing that I have an all-inclusive list of what to do and I know which things to do first, second, etc.  Thus, the value of staying organized and aware of the entire scope of all you need to do will in and of itself help you feel better and more on top of things.

Then I suggest that once your space is organized make sure to add a yummy smelling candle or glade plug in that can make your space smell pleasant and inviting.  Soft classical music in the background is also a way to create a peaceful setting in your space.  Life just seems easier to manage when your surroundings feel peaceful.

Today’s challenge is to get organized and prioritize things so you don’t drop the ball, you focus on the most important items first, and you can feel more at peace in your day.  TAME THE MONSTERS of clutter in your lives, then sit back, breathe in the scented candles, and enjoy your day 🙂

I will close with the famous words of Albert Einstein – “Out of clutter, find simplicity”

~Amy

2 Comments

  • Rogers says:

    Thank you Amy,
    I like this!
    I was verry organised but today i’m not well organised because of my boss! He call me every 15 min or 30,he give me new jobs every 15 min or 30 min,
    so because he is not organised me 2 i’m not organised,

    I have worked with well organised manager, but i still dreaming of him.

  • Jurgen says:

    Have an artist sit in the room and make caricature portraits of attendees of the
    meeting. We create a system for our sustenance and motivation helps every
    individual to work toward the shared goals of this social system for the betterment of every entity as a whole.
    “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.

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