Ok, my desk sometimes gets a tad messy. So now I’m working on techniques for whipping that desk back into shape. Looking around, there’s a clear pattern: I’ve got Books-I’ll-read-someday here, along with a bunch of incoming paper mail that needs attention (utility bills? I don’t need no stinking gas! … oh, wait. Yeah, I guess I do), etc.
Question for my friends out there who have messy desks:
What do the piles consist of? I’ll bet you have whole categories of stuff that never end up in piles (men: think back to your teenage years, when you had certain, er, magazines that never got accidentally left out in the room). But what kind of stuff actually does end up in piles?
What stops you from getting the pile clean? For example, some people won’t throw away books, but don’t know what else to do with them. In my case, seven evil gnomes live beneath my desk and threaten to lock me in a tower if I actually clean up the pile.
Thanks!
10 responses so far ↓
1 Kate Olson // May 5, 2008 at 10:00 am
I’m the clutter queen and I HATE that! Here are my piles:
1) Books I need to read for work-related stuff
2) Printouts of “important” stuff that never gets filed
3) Notes on ongoing projects
4) Various gadgets and all of their related cords
I haven’t figured out where to put everything - I desperately need a better filing system and cupboards/drawers. That’s a good excuse, I guess - really it comes down to HATING to clean. And typically if it sits around long enough I end up not needing it and can throw it away! The books, however, taunt me every day……
Any solution you have would probably make my world better
2 stephanie // May 5, 2008 at 10:07 am
Looking around… action figures, printouts of emails “so I’ll be sure to get those problems fixed”, funny lolcats that my coworker printed out for me that I haven’t hung on my cubewall yet, and reference materials. Oh yeah, and sticky notes.
3 isle // May 5, 2008 at 10:17 am
Small desk, 2 computers, one humongous old monitor, hundreds of stickynotes. I have a pile of stickynotes that fell off the monitor. I used to mock sticknote addicts. Now I am one.
I bought myself a nice big dayplanner/organiser for making notes in, but it seems to end up blank on the days that I am busiest.
http://twitpic.com/ss6
My name is Kim, and I am a stickyaddict. Help.
4 Laurent Duperval // May 5, 2008 at 10:50 am
Books, Bills, and Stuff (what’s a good word for stuff that begins with B… Bollocks?).
I try to use Dave Allen’s GTD approach. I’m not very adept at it yet, especially the part that says “revisit all your tasks and projects weekly”.
I usually go for a few days with an impeccable desk, then some event occurs which has me scrambling to find something. When it happens, everything gets thrown into an indescribable upheaval. And it stays there until I can’t take it anymore and the cycle begins anew.
The best antidote I’ve found: have clients come over on a regular basis.
L
5 Carol L. Skolnick, Clear Life Solutions // May 5, 2008 at 3:16 pm
When my desk is messy, it’s a symptom of uninvestigated thoughts.
1. Reference for ideas I think I want to write about (and rarely get to)
2. Lists of stressful beliefs left over from sessions of The Work (see TheWork.com) that I once wanted to inquire into
3. Unfiled expenses for my tax records
4. Objects for which I have not yet found a place
5. Coupons and offers with expiration dates coming up
What keeps me from actingon the piles?
1. Stories about time
2. Stories about money
3. Stories about “I don’t wanna”
4. Stories about having ADD and being disorganized and overwhelmed
5. “I’ll do it later.”
6. “If I don’t keep this in front of my face, I’ll forget about it and won’t act upon it.” (Never works.)
In short…stories…which take up headroom so that I lack energy and creativity to take action.
6 lizkdc // May 6, 2008 at 9:40 am
An entire slide out section of my desk has been taken over by digital cruft: cables, chargers, adapters.
Why don’t a find a solution? Cascading problems: to give this stuff a place, I need a bigger desk, a bigger desk would need the room reorganized, but really I need to move, but for that I need the next steps in my career mapped out.
Wow, that looks a lot more irrational typed out like that.
7 Jim Sewell // May 6, 2008 at 9:52 am
(looking around)
Equipment:
Laptop
Flat screen monitor
iPod Touch
Ink printer
Various wires, some of which are not used but “may” be.
3 Drinking utensils for coffee/water/diet pepsi
Keys
Pens in a cup
Desk speakers
Much of this would not be clutter with better organization. Then there’s the stack of stuff that is just plain clutter consisting of:
Papers for current project
Notepad
Old notes that haven’t been filed
A programming book
A spiral bound calendar I almost never use.
I have clutter most of the time because I don’t make the time to keep it organized and thus waste even more time when it becomes necessary to sort it out. It usually grows to a point where I can stand it no longer and I spend an hour cleaning. All those 10-30 second “do it now” opportunities couldn’t possibly add up to an hour a week so it’s grossly inefficient.
You may have seven evil gnomes, but in my case it’s 4-5 evil company executives that keep changing my direction on a whim - err, I mean, on sound business decisions.
8 Cheryl Smith // May 6, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Currently:
Books to read, sometime.
Family bills to pay or have been paid.
Mother’s Day cards to send (family & friends and some who aren’t moms but are nurturing just the same)
Papers to go through & some already gone through
Chocolate
My pearl bracelet (take off to play with dog & type)
Sunglasses
Two purses (changed colors, kept both on desk)
Legal pad
Advil
Random computer cables
Make up
Let’s don’t even look under the desk…
9 johanna // May 6, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Piles of paper- split into:
1. very important/urgent - between my keyboard & screen
2.currently working on - to my left
3.need to sort out, potentially important/urgent items there - to my right
plus:
>a sky scraper - six levels of in trays, one containing paper for recycling, the rest - who knows, but very important, can’t be thrown away …
>magazine holder with important marketing samples
>to my left, my very important notebook where all tasks to do are tracked
>to my right random coffee mug, water bottle, almonds for snacking,
>of course pc, phone & screen
why don’t i clean up?
feel like other things are always urgent
if i put items of paper to be actioned away, i tend to forget them and never come back to action them
under the desk - I’m with Cheryl on this, coat hangers, shoes.. eeek!!!
Stever, i love your podcast - please help!!
10 yvonne // May 9, 2008 at 2:50 am
I don’t have room on my desk for books. I have stacks and stacks of books from the company library UNDER my desk.
On top of the desk is a huge pile of sticky notes that I have to periodically go through and toss (where periodically means every 8 months or so although it should be weekly) and a small pile of receipts. mostly for expense reports I already filed. Also the empty file folders needed for filing the stuff I haven’t filed and, of course, the stuff I haven’t filed.
Cleanup blocker? Time. And the alarming, offputting enormity of the piles. That don’t get smaller with time. Hrm.
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