The ten minute challenge is one of my favourite organizing techniques. When used regularly, is highly effective at keeping one’s home or office organized.
Find a bag – the new recycled shopping bags are great for this. Give yourself 10 minutes to fill the bag with items that do not belong in your office and need to return to wherever it/they belong. A common variation on this strategy is to fill the bag with items that you are no longer using, no longer want, need etc. If you use this strategy weekly you will soon find your office not only clutter free but a much more productive place to work.
Archive for Clearing Clutter – Page 3
More and more I have noticed that most clients have a glue spot in their office or home. You know this place. Whenever something gets put there, it never moves. That specific spot has really good glue all over it and when an item gets put down, its stuck.
Sometimes we just don’t see the items in this spot once they’ve taken up residence there. Sometimes the location is hard to clear out because of its location or things around it. Whatever the issue, the glue spot will forever keep attracting and holding clutter unless you attack it deliberately with some anti-glue strategies.
- Figure out where the glue is. Prime locations are the floor, just inside the door of your office, (usually the first flat surface), behind the door, under the desk or in a corner behind the desk. Often people have a special glue spot on one corner of their desk. You know the one – you are probably looking at it now.
- Designate 15 minutes today to clear this spot. Make sure the items that you clear find a home that they can be returned to every time you use them.
- Designate 15 minutes tomorrow to clear this spot.
- Designate 15 minutes the next day … and so on until the spot is clear of debris, clutter or anything else that may have been stuck there.
- At the end of each day, keep aside 15 minutes to clear this glue spot. Make this a daily ritual.
Glue spots exist, I believe, as a result of our own organizing personalities. Trying to make them go away may be more futile than helpful. Managing the spot will help you to keep yourself and your space organized so that your work life is as productive as possible.
Have you ever noticed the tendency to walk into your office and immediately put down on the first horizontal surface whatever is in your hands? It is such a common habit that we professional organizers find amongst our clients that if you are missing something, I would suggest you check the first flat surface you find in each of the rooms you have just visited.
To maintain your sanity and stay organized, the next habit to develop is to clear the flat surfaces just inside the threshold of your office. (Notice I didn’t say “…and then get rid of the flat surface.” Maybe later!). Take a few minutes each day – 15 to 30 should do it – and clear off those surfaces. Needless to say, once you do the big clear out the first time, each subsequent day will be easier and require less time.
Concentrate on what is just inside the door or threshold of your office. Is it a shelf, a credenza, a chair or a filing cabinet. Whichever, clear off the surface and put everything in its rightful location. Remember to take anything that doesn’t belong in your office back to its rightful home. You don’t need other people’s clutter in your office!
This series of posts is all about maintaining organization in your work life. The idea is to tackle a little bit each day that ends up as a huge accomplishment and a calmer environment for you in the long run.
I am committed to education. I am committed to educating my clients with new behaviours and habits to keep their lives organized. I have heard it said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If my clients continue to do what they have always done – their lives will once again be full of the clutter that I help them control/purge/manage and they will be no more organized then before we started working together.
This week’s posts will address basic, simple habits to help you keep the clutter at bay. Organizing does not have to be complicated. In fact, the less complicated your routines the more likely anyone – you, your spouse/partner, your children – are likely to follow them. Keep it simple and focused – keep the clutter away.
Habit 1 – Clear the floor.
Spend 15 minutes at the end of each day clearing away the debris off your floor. Refile the file folders that you dropped their. Pick up the paper and recycle or file. Return the books to the book shelf. Look under your desk. Is there an old pile of shoes? Throw out the ones you no longer wear and put the others in the closet with your coat. Anything that doesn’t actually belong in your office can be returned to its rightly location.
If you are doing this exercise at home, and you have children, they can easily help. Bear in mind, it does not need to be a lengthy process. Give the children 15 minutes to run through the house and pick up/put away their toys, books, homework items, sports equipment. Consider giving a reward when they are done like reading them an extra chapter of their book or a Popsicle.
There may be lots of clutter on the floor when your first start. That’s OK. Try this for 28 days without a break and I guarantee you that by day 29 your house will be tidier and you will feel more organized and in control of the clutter.
Today’s book is a little lighter read. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, by Karen Kingston is a handy feng shui and space clearing primer. It is an easy read with practical tips in language that is understandable even to those of us who usually get hung up on the direction finding side of feng shui. In addition Karen addresses the background of clutter and helps identify what it is and how it accumulates – all in 163 pages.
If you are in the Toronto area, you may be interested in the upcoming speaking tour of one of Karen’s students. Tracey Stanton will be in Toronto April 18th to 20th and will be teaching space clearing and clutter clearing in a three day workshop. I have recently heard Tracey speak on clutter and space clearing and recommend this workshop to both professional organizers and their clients who are serious about understanding more of the underlying issues of clutter. For more information contact Cecilia Moorcroft at 416 535 6007.
“Who has time to organize?” you ask. “My boss has just been let go and a dozen colleagues have been downsized. A neat office is not on my priority list.“
While a neat office may not be high on your priority list, A1 performance ought to be. In these difficult economic times, you want to be sure your high performance is facilitated by your organization level and not hampered or impeded by your lack of organization.
And if you think you have hidden your disorganization from your colleagues and boss for these past years – think again. Most managers have a pretty good idea of who is well organized and who is not. For one thing, organization and performance are frequently related – your colleague next door with the clean desk doesn’t waste any time in getting your boss the report he/she needs or following up on that very hot sales tip.
If there were ever a time to commit to improving your organization level, now would be it. Start with either your desk or the floor. Get rid of the extra paper, shoes, garbage, recycling and boxes. It will speak volumes to those in charge about your commitment to productivity.
I’m staying on the limited real estate theme today. With a small desk/work space, it is more important than ever to ensure all your work tools – pens, rulers, paper, drafting tools, memory keys – are as contained as possible. When small items have a home to be returned to, they are less likely to wander around your work space.
The containers for these items could be anything at all that works for you. If you are using vertical storage space, you will want something the fits on the space and is easy to get to. If the work space is in the open and subject to the public eye, you may choose decorative containers. If you have only yourself working in the space, why not use a clear container to help you locate what is inside.
If you are a tosser and dropper, and not likely to open a lid to put something away, then use open storage like bins, open boxes, baskets or a similar item. Once again, make sure the items you use on a regular basis are at your finger tips and the items you use occasionally are not sitting in prime real estate!
What’s dancing on your computer desktop? Virtual clutter can be just as bad as the stuff kicking around the floor of your office.
Do you habitually leave documents sitting on your desktop so that you can find them easily the next time you want to work with them?It’s not a bad idea – until there are so many files or shortcuts on your desktop that you can’t find any of them. That’s right; just like the top of your physical desk.
Don’t panic, the solution can be relatively simple. Set up folders as hot files on your desktop to house the material you are currently working on just like the hot files on your desk. Keep them specific and time limited. When the project is over or completed, purge the folders and move them off your desktop. By then there will be other files that need to be moved into hot files.
When was the last time you cleaned out the laptop bag? First of all, are you still using a carrying bag or have you switched to the more ergonomic backpack yet? These are not always feasible for the business environment but they are certainly better for your back.
Clear out those files that you haven’t used since the last project finished – and while you are at it, purge the files before putting them away.
Reduce the number of pens, pencils you carry around. How many do you really need? And what about all the computer attachments? If you carry your computer regularly, do you really need all the bits and pieces that you use once a year? Could some of that be stored in a dust free container in your office and be packed for the overseas trip once a year when you need the electrical converter?
Do your weight lifting at the gym – not getting in and out of your car or the bus.
Have you scheduled your semi-annual clear out day yet? When was the last one?
Book a day or half day, order the pizza and insist that your staff commit to be present for the clear out. This is a very effective tool to ensure your offices do not become a cluttered, unprofessional place that causes you to cringe when clients come knocking!
