On my Twitter feed two weeks ago I spied an amusing observation I believe came from user Anna M @helgagrace:
“In my experience, adulthood is mostly piling stuff up on surfaces and then eventually having to clean off those surfaces.”
While this observation is also applicable to our childhood and teenage years, most of us have a tenancy to pile belongings throughout our living and work spaces. This is because we have not taken the short time required to consider the value of that item, if we want to keep it, and the proper place it should reside. For home and office, the contexts are different. At work, the two GTD questions at the top of the workflow diagram, “What is it?” and “Is it actionable?”, can clear backlog. At home, Konmari’s core question, “Does this spark joy?” can bring the value of personal items into focus.
So with 2019 still fresh and new, why not commit an hour this week to clear off a surface? You may find that intentionally clearing a space can release fresh energy in your life which can be used to accomplish meaningful goals. What do you have to lose? At the very least you will have a clear surface to admire when you are done.
Have fun!
Gift giving is an integral component of the holiday season. Many of your recently experienced that joy of receiving a beautifully wrapped item. It was probably followed by a moment of anticipation where you tried to guess the contents. If fortunate, the gift was truly desired and added to the collection immediately. However, what should be done with a gift that is undesired and unwanted?
“Why should I go to all the trouble to empty my email inbox?”
For most people cleaning and tidying mean the same thing. Both are about bringing order to a space. However, there is a subtle but important difference between the words that can be transformational. In fact, it is not possible to clean successfully without tidying first!
Living in Florida means that I occasionally visit Disney World. If you have been to a Disney park, there is something that you might not have noticed, mostly because it is not there – TRASH! Disney parks are kept to a very high cleanliness standard. Walt Disney himself observed that if trash is left accumulate, it will quickly sour the experience. He figured out that by 
Charles Duhigg is a best selling author of two great books on productivity and efficiency: 
“Physical organization has a huge impact on how we work. For example, I have a habit of taking the pile of paper on my desk and cleaning it out before I work. When my physical surrounding is organized, I feel like my thinking is organized as well. Some people say they find that when they are doing creative work, some clutter on the desk can make them feel more productive. There is no one set way to be productive at work – the physical space primarily works as a cue to a habit, like getting to work in a productive mindset.”
book that provides an answer to this dilemma. In 
Do you know someone who has piles of papers stacked on their desk? Over time, these piles can spill out to neighboring chairs, tables, and even onto the floor. In such cases, it is safe to assume that this person’s filing system has stopped functioning.
Efficient Librarian 