After a super-busy weekend in NYC and out of my office for nearly three days, things have a way of piling up exponentially. It feels burdensome to walk into my office and see every countertop filled with business cards, unsorted mail and yellow stickies with important to-do’s jotted down on them.
The first thing I did this morning was a gross sort. As you can see from this photo, I have a lot of areas in my life. I just assigned each of them a pile and labeled them so I can spend quality time on book promotion, my new Mastermind groups, speaking and family matters.
By doing this, I opened up space on the other side of the office for actually generating the effort:
Lesson 48 in the new edition of Soul Proprietor is all about getting organized. “What really, really gets me inspired is a clean desk.” (p. 94)
It happened for me this morning. As soon as all the piles were sorted out and that space next to my computer was cleared out, I could feel my creative juices begin to flow and my energy rise. Try it. You’ll like it.
BTW, I set a timer and give myself 15 minutes for the sorting. It’s motivating to know I don’t have to spend an hour doing this, just 15 minutes. Don’t you know, after the buzzer goes off, I’m so into the process I set it for another 15 so I can keep going.
Love it, Jane!
@Andrea
I love being on the same page as an organizer I revere!
Clearing a space is so important. What a great and quick idea!
Yesterday afternoon, I found myself with an empty hour (a rarity for me). Working uninterrupted on my marketing plan has been near the top of my to do list for two weeks, but my desk was a bit unsorted as well and so I felt unfocused.
Rather than waste even a moment of that precious hour (I knew I had desk time calendared this morning), I grabbed the marketing file, a pencil and a notebook and moved down to the Kitchen table. I spread everything out, made some notes and got a whole new perspective on my marketing. Interestingly enough, I discovered that I had a lot more of my marketing plan in place than I had thought. I just need to get away from the ‘busy’ness of my desk, computer, phone to see it!
I agree! I need a clean desk (and a window) to be positive and creative.