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!
Do you inhabit a messy workplace? While your desk contains clutter of your own making, most offices have communal spaces that can quickly get out of hand. What is the best approach to keeping these common areas clean?
“Public institutions, such as libraries, schools, playgrounds, and athletic fields, are vital parts of the social infrastructure. So too are community gardens and other green spaces that invite people into the public realm. Nonprofit organizations, including churches and civic associations, act as social infrastructure when they have an established physical space where people can assemble, as do regularly scheduled markets for food, clothing, and other consumer goods.”
“Why should I go to all the trouble to empty my email inbox?”
“I understand the resistance to to-do lists, and the complaints about keeping them. I’ve noticed a couple of reasons for this. The main one is that most to-do lists are incomplete lists of still un-clarified “stuff.” Looking at them creates as much stress as they might have relieved in the first place. Typically, what people have on their lists (if they have them at all) are things like “Mom,” and “bank,” and “marketing VP.” It’s great that they have captured something that has their attention, but there are still critical decisions to make with some critical thinking about that content.”
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!
“Imagine for a moment the perfect organizational system. One that supported and enhanced the work you do, telling you exactly where to put a piece of information, and exactly where to find it when you needed it. … I believe I’ve developed a system for organizing digital information that meets all these requirements. After several years of introducing it to a wide variety of people, I’m confident that it works. In this post I will attempt to show you how.”
