Taming the Chaos
I’m going to share something with you – something so utterly shocking that I think if you’re drinking anything, you need to swallow and put the glass down before you see this; if you’re standing, please sit, lest you fall and injure yourself. Before I show you these images (and yes, they are safe for work, don’t worry about that), I want you to keep in mind the only reason I’m exposing myself like this is because I believe two things: 1) putting it out there like this will require me to do something about it; and 2) I truly believe that I am not the only person with this problem, and I think what I’m about to do might help you.
Ready? here we go…
This is my workspace.
This is what you see when you walk through my office door.
Yes, this is my office. And what you’re seeing is the majority of it (I couldn’t back up enough so you could see the whole thing – it’s not that big). It’s a wreck, and I can’t stand it.
For the record – and in my defense – I would like to state that all of this mess is not mine. In fact, the vast a majority of it isn’t mine. That Coke can? My husband’s. He came in one night to talk to me, set it down and left it there. (The coffee cup is mine, though, and it’s from this morning. I’m actually drinking it right now. And when I’m done, I’ll take it to the sink.) All those papers next to the lamp? My husband – who thinks when he checks the mail, he needs to set it on my desk (even though it’s personal mail, and mostly his). There’s actually flatbed scanner under there. In fact, most of the stuff here was either brought in and set on my desk by my husband or one of my children. After a while, it just piles up like this until I can’t move, and it drives me insane and I have to go on a cleaning-fest and start the cycle over again.
I’ve reached that point now.
But this time, I’ve decided to share it with you, because I’m tired of this cycle. My office isn’t a pit-stop for all the junk my family doesn’t want to deal with – but that’s something I’m going to have to take on on my own. But I’ll make the point now – when your husband (or wife) starts treating your office like the junk drawer, you need to sit down and have a talk with him (or her).
That aside, I feel like I’m making a New Year’s Resolution six months too late. Better late than never, I guess.
I was convinced by some Twitter conversations (and mailing list conversations) to finally take the plunge and get a Moleskine. (You can see the pile of them to the left of my keyboard – they just came in yesterday.) Instead of getting one, I got ten. Two larger ones and eight pocket-sized ones. I don’t know if you can see the red one – that’s the only one I have set aside for a personal project that I’ve been lightly working on for the last four (almost five) years, and it’s not really gotten anywhere.
Five years. This is an important project to me, yet I can never find the time to work on it. Something always gets in the way. Is that an excuse? I don’t know. All I know is, I’m tired of sitting on it just as much as I’m tired of this mess.
This mess extends to my folders on my computer as well – I try to keep things organized, but every few months I just have to take a day and clean things out. I want to be organized so I can be more efficient (and I say “more efficient” because – despite the mess – I am surprisingly efficient. I just know I can be better.) Emails, phone calls, invoicing, general management of my business.. it all gets piled on until I have to set things aside and deal with putting out fires. This is no way to work.
Anyway, so I got the moleskines, and I’ve been working at “hacking” them. I’ve been reading up on some great tutorials and sites on how to make the most out of them – especially when it comes to Getting Things Done. Now, I know right off the bat that I cannot delve into the GTD system full-force. I’m a “creative” type, and if I’m put into too many restrictions, GTD will be more like Anti-GTD. I found this post last night – it’s 2 years old, but it sounds perfect for me – and I’ve started hacking the moleskine I reserved for my organization (mostly business but some personal). So I’ve begun the process.
Like divine intervention, the first tweets I got this morning were these: 5 GTD apps for your Mac and the Monster list of Moleskine Tips, Tricks and Hacks. (OMG – how weird is that?!?) I think the Universe is telling me I’m moving in the right direction.
I know this doesn’t provide any answers to my issues – it’s just a starting point for me. I don’t know the GTD system, but I’m reading up on it, and I plan to use it. Because this isn’t working for me. And as Albert Einstein once said:
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.
I’m going to let you know how this goes, and tell you what steps I’ve done to find what works for me. Hopefully you’ll learn something from it too that will help you.
But first, I’m going to clean my office 